Metropoulos Forum

I got this PU ( a Jackson J-95 ) It is the stock PU on my Charvel Limited 88'. It's passive,but I took the EMG looking plasic cover off. Well the pole pieces rusted a bit over the yrs.

Whats the best way to get it off ?

Reinstall the cover???
(Just kidding!! )

You could try something like NeverDull, but it probably wont work, and sometimes NeverDull WILL dull plastic (the bobbins).
I would go directly to the little wire wheel used in a Dremel tool. That would work really well for something like this, but you've gotta be super careful not to scratch up the bobbins, IF you're concerned with them looking nice.
Use masking tape to protect the bobbins, and if you can even use it double thickness to be sure the bobbins are well protected. 2 strips of tape running the length of the bobbin, with the tape edge just touching the poles to give max protection to the bobbins. Then use small cut up pieces between the poles to protect the area of the bobbins between the poles.
If you tape the pickups pretty well, and use care when using the Dremel, that rust should definitely come off, and your pickups will still look kewl!!
(BTW, if you dont wanna knock yourself out with cutting up all the masking tape, and you happen to have a paper hole puncher, you could always just cut squares of masking tape (I would still go double thickness), punch a hole in it, and do the poles with the Dremel individually. )


(There is a worst case scenario here too... if the poles are ultra-rusty and you cant get the rust off any other way, you can always sand the entire top of the bobbin (light paper, like 320-400 grit) until the rust comes off the poles, and then use a combination of finer and finer grit automotive sandpaper (like 600-1500 grit), and then liquid plastic polish (the stuff used to polish motorcycle helmet faceshields) to get the bobbins shiny again, but thats a lot of work, and again, you gotta be careful, especially with the plastic polish. You dont want any liquid getting in the pickup windings.)

Thanks Fill, great info there ! I sorta scratched the bobbins on an old Ibanez (probably a Duncan) PU. The pole pieces were painted black, but I wanted them silver. I scratched the bobbins with the sandpaper a little . Not too bad though.

I guess sanding is best then. The taping off is a great idea, I just never thought of it. I am now in the process of looking for that plastic pu cover. I know I saw it within the last 6 months somewhere, just cant remember . It might have been at my parents house (There is still remnants of me there, like worn out guitar picks,clothes, a mag here and there, as well as a cassette or two) I hope I can find it, I hear this particular Charvel/Jackson model is becoming fairly collectable. Thanks again for the cool tips.

I have corrosion on my '57 reissue pickups (1983) and it still sounds fine, in fact don't the relic guys add corrosion to their pickups??
yngwie308

yngwie308 wrote:I have corrosion on my '57 reissue pickups (1983) and it still sounds fine, in fact don't the relic guys add corrosion to their pickups??
yngwie308

WHADDA YA MEAN, RELIC GUYS???????? HEY!!! NONE OF US ARE GETTIN' ANY YOUNGER, BUDDY!!!

Yeah, us "relic guys" add rust to make it look old, and it doesnt affect the sound that I've ever been able to hear, but some guys (including myself) like their shit shiny sometimes.
Relic-ing polepieces (not the adjustable screws) is pretty tough. I just about ruined a pair of Burstbuckers using muriatic acid trying to relic them. The tried and true practice is to just leave whatever you're relic-ing in the presence of some open muriatic for a few hours. It works OK if the pickup is well wax potted, but if its not, the pickup can go dead for a few days (that pair of burstbuckers took nearly a week to recover).
That stuff is SUPER corrosive, and Im not sure whats going on in the coils after that shit gets in there, but it cant be good. The other way to do it is with PCB etching solution, which works REAL fast, and you've gotta be an artist when applying it... it etches EVERYTHING, but it works very fast (like minutes), and does 90% as nice a job as muriatic... but not quite 100% as good a job.
IMO, if you've got patience with muriatic, it can be indistinguishable from actual aging.

(I MUST have gotten some on mah ass, cause its startin' to look... relic'd)

Fillmore, we don't age....we relic, and I wasn't with respect referring to you personally, !!
Years ago I would polish every oxidized parts on my guitar ect. If you go to a guitar show and look at the guitars on Jim's Guitars stand, he spends hours and hours polishing and cleaning the vintage guitars he sells, hell, they all look mint/mint. But some don't like that, we like 'em as they were, should be. I think the relicing that goes on for the most part, looks fake and unrealistic. Hell, I dont want to pay the Fender Custom shop tons of cash for them to beat the crap out of their overpriced to start with guitars!! The Murphy relicing with the razor blade induced lacquer checking, which he then rubs dark stuff into, looks equally fake. But don't tell that to them over at the LesFoolem Forum.. !
I like my Fenders the NOS way really.
I am all for the laquer being off the back of the neck, that improves the playability immensely, that's kind of as far as I go.
So we aren't really older, we just get more relic'd each year.
yngwie308

yngwie308 wrote:So we aren't really older, we just get more relic'd each year.
yngwie308