Interlude - pickups

Since I decided to switch all the hardware over to chrome, I had wondered what to do about the pickups. Leave them gold? Maybe buy new ones? I really like '57 Classics and they're not cheap so I looked at just replacing the covers and pole pieces. I ended up buying genuine Gibson chrome neck pickup covers for about $12 each ('57 Classics are the same for both neck and bridge positions). The pole pieces took a little more effort. I found one online source that had genuine Gibson pole pieces but they were $2 for EACH screw!!?? After more searching I found some inexpensive pole pieces on eBay that were made of 1022 alloy which supposedly will improve the tone of the pickups. I figured for such a low price it was worth a try. Here are all the new parts including pickup rings and all screws necessary to mount the pickups.

Here they are after replacing just the pole pieces (new covers in the foreground). The pole pieces fit perfectly and looked correct too. I bought 2 sets (6 each set) but they actually included a few extras too which I thought was a nice gesture. Since these are slotted screws, it's very easy to slip with the screwdriver and scratch up the covers so it seemed prudent to change them before putting the new covers on.

Setting up my 'work space'. Soldering iron, solder, pliers, cork sheet as a work surface so the covers don't get scratched up.

To remove the old covers, I used a utility knife to carefully cut through the two solder beads on each side of the cover.

Cover removed:

Before putting the cover on, I used a small flat file to file the inside lip where the solder would attach it to the pickup. Otherwise the solder won't stick to the chrome. One down, one to go:

Both done. Just like new!