Some guitars DEMAND the classy look of a covered humbucker.

Picture, if you will, two terrifying scenarios. You find the humbucker of our dreams, but it doesn’t have a nice, shiny nickel-silver cover to complete the look of your guitar. Or you’re looking to class up your axe with some covered humbuckers, but you don’t want to go through the hassle or expense of replacing the pickups. What now? I’ll tell you what now: you go out there and you buy a cover for that ‘bucker!
“But Maaaaatt,” you say, “Isn’t putting a cover on a humbucker really really hard? I heard there was an ancient ritual involving melted wax and tongs! My mom won’t let me use the stove … not after last time!” Not to worry! I am here to teach you the quick and easy way to put a nickel-silver cover on a humbucker. No wax, no tongs, and no stove. Your mom can rest easy.
Here’s what you’ll need:

• your chosen humbucker
• a cover that fits your humbucker
• some double-sided tape
• a good soldering iron, at least 40 watts, preferably with a chisel tip
• a small amount of solder
• a bit of sandpaper

Installing Humbucker Covers

Step 1: This is the most important step. Make sure the pickup cover fits your pickup! Put the cover over the humbucker as a test fit. It should fit snugly but easily over the pickup, and the pole pieces should fit right through the holes. Not all humbuckers are the same size, so be certain you have the right cover before you proceed. If you have a good fit, pull the cover off the pickup and proceed.

Step 2: Use the sandpaper to rough up the inside of the pickup cover. This helps the solder adhere to it. You only need to rough up the long sides, because that’s where we will be putting our solder spots. It’s also a good idea to rough up the base plate of the pickup unless it already has some solder spots on it.

Step 3: Apply the double sided tape to the pickup. Position it so that it doesn’t cover the screw coils of the pickup. Use your fingers to put pressure on the tape, then carefully remove the backing (if your tape has backing).

Step 4: Put the cover on and apply pressure with your thumbs to stick it to the tape. At this point the cover should be firmly secured to the pickup by the tape, but we’re not quite done yet.

Step 5: Heat up the soldering iron on its highest setting. Once it’s good and hot, position it so the tip touches both the cover and the baseplate near the center of one of the long sides. Wait a few seconds then apply a small amount of solder. If you did everything right, the solder should flow nicely and adhere to both the base plate and the cover. Repeat this step on the opposite side.

Warning: be careful not to apply too much heat, as this can damage the pickup. It’s always best to use a high wattage soldering iron for a short time, as opposed to a low wattage iron for a long time. You want to flash fry that pickup, not slow roast it.

After the pickup cools, you should have a nice-looking, firmly attached cover. Pause to admire your fine craftsmanship before you install it in your guitar.

One important thing to note with this method: when you buy a covered pickup brand new from Seymour Duncan, the cover is wax potted onto the pickup. This creates a rock solid link between the pickup and the cover, and is the best guarantee you won’t experience microphonics (a.k.a. nasty squealing feedback) from the pickup. Some say that wax potting the cover has unfavorable effects on the tone, and prefer pickups that are attached using the method described here. I’ve used pickups with wax potted covers, and pickups using this method, and I personally can’t hear much of a difference. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks very much to Trevor Johnson of Lockwire Guitars for teaching me this technique.
If you have any questions about this method, please let me know in the comments. Better yet, if you know of an even better or simpler way to attach pickup covers, I’d love to hear about it.