Description Fitting Pole Spacing Colours Explained? Materials Explained Expectation vs. Reality Specifications

P90 Covers for Archtop Guitars – Epiphone® Casino®

These are metal P90 covers designed for archtop guitars like the Epiphone® Casino®, the older-spec Gibson® ES-330, and a few other models that were either short-lived (like the Epiphone® Wildkat®) or heavily inspired by the originals (like the Vintage VSA550P).

It’s important to remember that these covers are built for archtop guitars — they have curved bottoms and are slanted across the base to match the guitar’s top arch. While they usually fit without modification, Gibson® guitars often require the covers to be shaped to the guitar’s specific radius — similar to how humbucker rings are shaped. (This is partly why modern ES-330s rarely come with metal covers!)

For simplicity, I’ll just refer to the Casino® from here on out.

It’s all fairly straightforward — a metal P90 cover for a curved top. However, the Casino® is a bit of an oddball. While P90s are generally a “standard” size, this version actually comes in specific Neck and Bridge variants. The bridge is relatively close to a normal Dog Ear P90 in most respects, but the neck is much shallower — designed to lower the pickup’s internals into the body of the guitar.

So keep that in mind — make sure you’re choosing the correct position before ordering. Casino necks are just for Casino necks, and bridges are just for bridges. They’re not interchangeable.

Also worth noting: things get even weirder. Traditionally, the Casino® uses a 47.5mm spaced neck pickup, which is narrower than usual. While we do offer all the parts to build a 50mm version, the 47.5mm spacing is standard for these guitars.

And, just to keep things interesting — as of 2025, I’ve personally seen USA-made and Far Eastern-made Casinos fitted with 50mm, 49.2mm, and 47.5mm spaced pickups in both the neck and the bridge. So yes — approach everything with a healthy dose of scepticism. Measure first, and assume nothing.

And as a final kick in the teeth — when I say these are “pickup kits for the Epiphone® Casino®,” I really mean it. The Casino® has an arched top (a bit like a Les Paul), so the pickup covers are actually curved along the base to match that. A “normal” Dog Ear P90 is made for a flat-topped guitar — so if you’re thinking of slapping these on a Tele® to give it a facelift? Forget it.

To complicate things even further — not all Casinos (much like their ancestors, like the Gibson® ES-330®) are built the same. There’s no guarantee that the current curve of these covers will match older guitars. In fact, even offshoots like the Epiphone® Wildkat® or Casino® Coupe, which used these same covers, didn’t always match the guitar body’s curve all that well.

So tread carefully.

Gibson®, Epiphone®, are registered trademarks of Gibson Musical Instruments Corporation. Axesrus® has no affiliation

Pole Spacing

P90 Pole Spacing – What to Expect (And Why You Should Measure Anyway)

I’ve done a bit of a “potted history” on humbucker pole spacing before — and to be honest, it was probably more fun, broader, and weirder than this one’s going to be. But let’s see if we can lay out P90 pole spacing in a way that’s both useful and realistic.

Here’s the quick and dirty version I work from:

• Gibson® P90s are usually spaced at 49.2mm

• Epiphone® P90s tend to be spaced at 50mm

That’s your starting point — but sadly, that’s just the opening salvo.

There are loads of exceptions, quirks, and downright mysteries that make this topic a bit of a guessing game. So here’s what I know for certain:

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Known Exception – Epiphone® Casino®

On the Epiphone® Casino® (and possibly a few other guitars it’s crept into), the pickups are (potentially!) unique:

• The bridge pickup is spaced at 50mm

• The neck pickup is spaced at 47.5mm

Unless...
That particular Casino model didn’t come with metal covers. In that case, all bets are off — I’ve seen them with 47.5mm, 49.2mm, or 50mm spacing in both positions.

This kind of variance is especially common on Made in the USA models, but I’ve also seen imports with oddball combinations.

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So what’s the takeaway?

Frankly — it’s all over the place. I know a fair bit about P90s and can make educated guesses, but I strongly recommend measuring your pickups.

Luckily, it’s easy:

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✔️ How to Measure Pole Spacing

The simple way:
→ Measure centre-to-centre, from the low E to the high E pole piece.

The accurate way:

1. Use a vernier caliper

2. Measure outside edge to outside edge (either the pole heads or threads)

3. Subtract the diameter of one pole
   → That gives you the true centre-to-centre spacing, with no guesswork.

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🔁 2025 Update: Trust Nothing. Measure Everything.

Just to drive it home — I’ve seen USA-made guitars with both 47.5mm and 50mm spacing.
I’ve seen Far Eastern-made guitars with 49.2mm spacing.
There’s no clear pattern. No reliable spec sheet. No easy assumption.

So again: Trust nothing. Measure everything.

Fitting a Casino® P90 Cover – What You Need to Know

Fitting a Casino® metal cover isn’t quite as straightforward as you’d hope, to be honest.

If you’re replacing an existing metal cover, it can be a real battle. The solder that holds the cover to the baseplate is tough to shift — and I’ve done it a few times, but it’s brutal. You end up pumping so much heat into the joints that, honestly, it would have been safer to just cut the legs off the baseplate and replace the base along with the cover. Especially true on the brass base models, where the thermal mass and solder stubbornness really work against you.

So I’m going to completely skip over how to remove old Casino covers here.
My advice? Cut it off and replace the base — it’s quicker, safer, and way less hassle.

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This guide is really aimed at:

Fitting Casino-style covers to P90s that aren’t Casino-ready.
You’re either upgrading, custom-building, or repurposing parts — and that’s where this comes in.

So, first things first...

Colours Explained

I think this is a little bit redundant, to be honest, because the site’s smart swatch system shows you how everything looks once you’ve assembled it. While it’s a bit too perfect—almost clinical—it’s pretty accurate to what you’re actually going to get.

That said, real photos of real things can be really helpful to get a sense of texture and subtle variations. However, photos often lose some of the more subtle differences between colours, and keep in mind that shades may vary from screen to screen.

So, here’s a photo dump showing as many of the pickup cover colours as I could gather—take a look and get a feel for the real deal.

I'll go into a little more detail on some of the finer detail about some of the topics i've covered above.

Materials - Base and Covers explained

Foreword - this write up is listed, wholsale, from humbucker covers, so, you'll have to excuse the fact that i make extensive references to humbuckers within in.Just remember that P90s for Epiphone Casinos, are suibject to the same rules as covered humbucker, and visa versa, as they are both metal bases/covered pickups

I think I’ve covered pole spacing pretty well under the “Pole Spacing” header, so while bases and covers are obviously affected by that aspect of humbucker design, I’ll gloss over it here and instead focus more on how covers and bases actually impact the signal produced by the coils.

It’s one of those weird quirks with humbuckers — I wouldn’t say it’s completely overlooked, but it’s certainly not as widely embraced or understood as you might expect.

When it comes to humbucker covers and base plates, you usually have two main material choices: Brass or German Silver (sometimes called Nickel Silver or just Nickel). There’s a common belief that “brass is bad because it sucks out the top end,” and “German Silver is good because it doesn’t affect the tone.” Broadly speaking, that’s true — but like most things in engineering, it’s not quite that simple.

So, let’s pull back the curtain and dive a little deeper into this topic!

Ace of Base
So lets start at the bottom, and deal with “base plate material” – Brass vs. Nickel!

	Swap Graphs?
	Base #1 (Purple) Brass German Silver No Base
	Base #2 (Blue) German Silver Brass No Base

From what we’ve seen above, the truth is there’s not a huge difference between the two materials (I’ve thrown in “no base” too, just for completeness).

If anything, a brass base plate compared to German Silver doesn’t simply “suck out the top end.” Instead, it absorbs a bit across the whole frequency range up to the resonant peak. Beyond that peak, its behavior is pretty similar to German Silver.

So rather than dulling the sound, you might actually perceive the pickup as gaining a touch more definition — maybe even sounding a little brighter.

That said, the difference is subtle. It’s certainly not the dramatic “brass bad, nickel good” story that’s been passed around for years.

We can also see that both German Silver and Brass bases affect the signal compared to the “no base” pickup (and this holds true for Telecaster® bridge pickups or P90s too). Without a base, the pickup retains a bit more signal above the resonant peak.

Saying “humbuckers sound better without bases” is unrealistic — after all, pickup mounting depends on having a metal base. But it’s clear that any base material will always cause some loss in the signal.

In the real world, you’ll likely perceive a German Silver base as a bit warmer, smoother, and more forgiving — which matches its wider resonant peak. Brass bases, on the other hand, tend to sound brighter, crisper, and more cutting.

So, is brass really as “bad” as the old tales say? Probably not, at least tonally. We’re not seeing any dramatic impact on the signal or the plot shape. For uncovered pickups, the difference between brass and German Silver bases is mostly just an extra option for “seasoning” your tone.

And really, that makes sense — the base is under the pickup, far from the strings. The biggest tonal impacts come from anything between the coils and the strings, not beneath them.

However, there are one huge point of note here.

Soldering to Brass!

Brass is a real pain to solder to. It’s much more conductive than German Silver, so it quickly wicks heat away from the spot you’re trying to solder, making it tough to get a solid joint. This isn’t a huge problem if all you need is to solder the ground wire to the base, but if you’re fitting a cover and need a couple of small spot welds to hold it in place, it can be frustrating.

German Silver, by comparison, is a poorer conductor and doesn’t wick heat as effectively, so soldering to it is much easier.

Honestly, when humbuckers were invented, German Silver probably wasn’t chosen for any magical tonal qualities—it was likely picked because it’s easier to solder. Sure, it costs more than brass to produce, but it speeds up assembly, reduces fire risk (a surprisingly big deal in guitar factories!), and requires less specialized tooling and training. All of which made it a practical choice for manufacturing.

Bases – A Conclusion

If you’re building an uncovered humbucker and you’re comfortable soldering the ground wire to the base, brass is just as good as German silver. It’s a bit cheaper and slightly brightens the pickup—though the difference is so subtle it’s probably below what most people can hear. Now you know what’s going on, so you can lean into that brightness if you want, or just ignore it. Either way, brass isn’t bad! (And that’s likely the last time I’ll say that, because things are about to get interesting!)

Covers

I know this is purely personal taste, but I don’t think anything looks as good as a covered humbucker on a Gibson®—and that’s coming from a Fender® guy! So, no judgment here if you feel the same way. Covered humbuckers are beautiful.

That said, their impact on tone has become a bit of a myth over time. Like base plates, covers come mainly in two materials: Brass or German silver. Unlike bases, though, having no cover at all is a viable option with pickups—though stainless steel covers did exist briefly, they never really made it past the prototype stage in original humbuckers.

And here we go again with the old chestnut: “Brass kills the highs, German silver is neutral.” Let’s dive into the data and see what’s really going on.

	Swap Graphs?
	Base #1 (Purple) Brass German Silver Cover #1 (Purple) German Silver Brass No Cover
	Base #2 (Blue) Brass German Silver Cover #1 (Blue) Brass German Silver No Cover

Now, that graph is really unfair—but annoyingly, it’s also completely real-world. If I grab you a Classic ‘50s humbucker, slap a chrome-plated German Silver cover on it, that’s what your signal is going to look like. And let’s be honest—we’d all agree that’s a pretty “affected” sound.

Now before we get into what’s happening with German Silver specifically, let’s just accept that brass is doing exactly what we all expected. It’s pulling a huge chunk of voltage right out of the resonant peak, leaving the pickup sounding woolly and lacking definition. You’d hear that and immediately think, “Yep—top end’s been sucked out.”

So what’s strange here is that German Silver is also knocking a load off the top end. Not as drastically as brass, but still enough to be noticeable. And the why is actually quite interesting.

To explain it properly, it gets a bit nerdy—but if you’ve made it this far, and you’re thinking about winding a humbucker for fun, this might be exactly your kind of rabbit hole. So bear with me.

The “problem” with humbucker covers isn’t really the material itself. It’s more about the conductivity of what’s between the strings and the coils. Like I mentioned earlier—anything between the coil and the string is going to have a much bigger effect than anything underneath (like the baseplate).

Now, take that earlier graph again—both examples are chrome-plated covers, right? Here’s where plating gets interesting: it’s primarily cosmetic. You want an immaculate chrome finish? Then first, you plate the cover in copper.

That underplating gives the final plating (chrome, nickel, gold, ruthenium—whatever) a better foundation to stick to. It smooths out the grain from the brass or German Silver underneath, and it helps the finish last longer. Copper underplating is the standard for most pickup covers, purely for finish quality.

The problem is… copper is extremely conductive. Far more than either brass or German silver. So what you’re actually seeing in that earlier graph isn’t just brass vs. German silver—you’re seeing Brass + Copper + Chrome vs. German Silver + Copper + Chrome.

That extra conductive copper layer is amplifying the tonal loss across the board.

So to see what’s really going on with materials alone, you need to look at pickups with no plating at all—just the bare metal alloys. That’s what this next graph shows: the real story of Brass vs. German Silver vs. Plated vs. No Cover at All.

(And yes, I’ve had to use a Tele® neck pickup here—because we don’t currently stock raw brass humbucker covers. No one’s ever asked for one!)

	White - Uncovered - [email protected] Red - German Silver w/No Copper Unplate - [email protected] Pink - German Silver w/ Copper Underplate - 16.4dBv @ 7.37kHz Blue - Brass w/No Copper Underplate - [email protected] Green - Brass w/Copper Underplate - 9.8dBv @ 7.81kHz

And we see something very interesting!

Raw German Silver—with no copper underplate—actually isn’t as bad as we’ve all been led to believe, is it? Sure, we’re still losing a bit of voltage right at the resonant peak, but nowhere near the amount we see with a copper underplated cover. That underplate is doing a lot more harm than good from a tonal standpoint.

And we can see that borne out in a slightly more “real-world” test with a humbucker—where we compare a chrome-plated German Silver cover with copper underplate, against a chrome-plated cover without copper underplate.

Now remember—both of these are German Silver underneath. Both are chrome on top. The only difference is the copper layer, and yet it’s that single extra layer that’s responsible for the biggest drop in high frequency signal. It’s not the nickel, not the chrome, not the base alloy—just the copper.

So what we’re seeing here, and what we can now say with some confidence, is that the copper underplate is the problem. It’s doing wonders for cosmetics, no doubt about that—but sonically, it’s the thing that’s getting in the way.

	Blue - Uncovered - [email protected] Green - German Silver w/No Copper Unplate - [email protected] Purple - German Silver w/ Copper Underplate - 18.7dBv @ 7.21kHz

So that does give some credibility to the old “Brass bad / German Silver good” argument.

I still can’t sit here and say “German Silver doesn’t affect the pickup”—because it clearly does—but we can say that unplated German Silver covers (with no copper underplate) have the least impact. Add a copper underplate? That changes. Use brass instead? That changes it even more. In short: covers affect pickups. It’s as simple as that.

If you’ve got a humbucker you adore that’s currently uncovered? You’ll want to seriously consider the consequences—fitting a cover is going to change it. No matter what material you use, there’s a very real chance that it won’t sound the same again.

A Quick Note on What I’ve Skimmed

Now—if it feels like I’ve skipped a few things here, I promise you, I haven’t. I’ve just had to trim it all down so it doesn’t turn into a full-blown dissertation. So, quick and dirty, here’s what’s “missing”:

• Cover material behaves the same regardless of base plate
  A brass base and a German silver base have their own distinct effects, and those remain even after you add a cover—but once the cover is on, it’s the cover doing the majority of the heavy lifting (or muffling, if you like).

• From here on, I’ll mostly talk about German Silver
  Just to streamline everything. The material differences still exist, but German Silver is far more common, and far easier to solder to—so it makes sense to treat it as the “default” moving forward.

• Does the “colour” (i.e., the plating) matter?
  Yes—but mostly just with Gold. Chrome, Nickel, Black Chrome, etc.—they all behave basically the same (particularly when there's no copper underplate). But Gold is different. Gold is more conductive than Nickel or Chrome, and the higher the karat, the greater the effect on the signal.

So yes—gold sounds worse. Arguably.

Not by a huge margin, and definitely not in a way that’ll ruin your tone—but it’s enough to measure, and enough to notice if you’re listening closely. Gold adds a little extra roll-off at the top end, and while it might look stunning under stage lights, just be aware—it’s a trade-off.

	Blue - Uncovered - [email protected] Purple - German Silver w/ Copper Underplate & Chrome Colour- 18.7dBv @ 7.21kHz Green - German Silver w/ Copper Unplate & Gold Colour- [email protected]

So… Are Covers Bad?

That’s a very loaded question—and I don’t really have a straight answer for you, if I’m honest.

Electrically?
If we were talking about Hi-Fi gear, then absolutely—any essentially cosmetic component that alters the signal this much would be considered a major red flag. If I were trying to sell you a high-end stereo, I’d never suggest sticking a piece of conductive metal in the signal path that demonstrably cuts voltage at the resonant peak.

But pickups aren’t Hi-Fi.
Guitars aren't sterile, clinical machines built for absolute accuracy. They’re full of quirks and compromises. Pickups are part of that. And frankly? A big part of what we think sounds “right” comes from what we’re used to hearing.

We Like What We Know

The reality is, most of us have spent our lives hearing humbuckers with covers. And we’ve loved them. Some of the most iconic tones of all time were produced using pickups with chrome-plated German silver covers, complete with copper underplates. Some were raw. Some were brass. Some were gold. Some were none of the above.

We’ve liked all of them, at one point or another.

So, what does that mean? It’s just horses for courses. One person’s “muddy and muffled” is another person’s “smooth and warm.”

Rough Rule of Thumb

If you’re looking for a generalisation:

Covers make a pickup feel more rounded, a little softer, and a touch less defined.

The more conductive the material, the stronger that effect becomes. But that doesn’t make it bad. It’s just different.

You might love the way a brass cover rounds off some shrillness. Or you might hate that it takes the edge off your articulation. It all depends on your frame of reference and what you want from your guitar.

Is This True for All Pickups?

In short: yes.
I’ve got partial graphs that prove it across the board, but I’ll spare you the deep dive. It doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with:

• 42 AWG plain enamel or 44 AWG polysol wire

• Alnico V slugs or ceramic bars

• 12 screws, 6 slugs, 2 coils, 1 coil

• £3 import or £300 boutique

• A Tele® neck, a P90, or a Strat® single coil jammed into a humbucker cover

The effect of the cover is always there.
Sometimes it works with the pickup—like on historically accurate PAFs. Sometimes it works against the pickup—like on Epiphone® Casino P90s, where even unplated covers seem to get in the way of the tone.

So That’s Covers and Bases, Broadly Speaking…

It’s not the full dissertation (though it’s getting close!), but hopefully that clears up the major myths and misunderstandings.

But—we’re not quite done yet.
There’s one last piece of this puzzle we haven’t touched on…

Let’s get it over with.

Cover Style

With cover material and plating out the way, it’s probably worth taking a look at cover style too.

Now—within the scope of this kit, it’s not strictly “true” cover style is a free choice. We tailor the cover to match your pole layout:

• Traditional (6 screw, 6 slug) → 6-hole cover

• 12 screw → 12-hole cover

• 12 slug → no-hole cover

So while I'm going to prove that cover style does affect the tone of a pickup—and it’s worth understanding—it’s important to keep in mind that your pole choice has its own tonal impact as well.

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Pole Choice and Tone

This comes down to the amount of ferrous material inside the coil.

• A screw pole is about 3mm in diameter.

• A slug pole is closer to 4.75mm.

That means a slug has more iron than a screw, and more iron means more inductance, which lowers the pickup’s resonant peak.

So, in broad strokes:

12 slug pickups will sound darker,
12 screw pickups will sound brighter,
And traditional (6 slug / 6 screw) sit somewhere in the middle.

That’s before we even start looking at the covers. So, just to be clear, your pole choice is having an effect, and your cover choice is having an effect, but they’re separate things.

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The Test Setup

To isolate the effect of cover style, I’ve kept the variables as locked down as possible:

• Traditional humbucker layout (6 screw, 6 slug)

• German silver baseplate

• Same coil, same pole pieces

• Same cover material and plating: German Silver + Copper underplate + Chrome top layer (again, not the “ideal” tone-wise, but it’s the most common cover construction in the real world)

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Common Belief: More Holes = Better Tone?

You’ll often hear:

“The more holes (or the bigger the hole) in the cover, the better it’ll sound.”

And that’s a perfectly logical assumption—especially considering everything we’ve talked about so far. After all, the less metal between the coil and the string, the less the tone is impacted. Makes sense, right?

So, in theory:

Open Cover > Half Open Cover > 12-hole cover > 6-hole cover > No-hole cover

And yeah, when you strip it down to fundamentals, this simply an exercise in “sticking conductive material between coil and string” and seeing what happens.

	Traditional - 18.7dBV @ 7.21kHz - Blue (including 12 Hole, Half Open, H Gate, 11 Gate, 3x3 etc) Open - 22.4dBV @ 7.37 - Green Closed - 17.4dBV @ 7.46kHz - Pink

Cover Style – The Final Word (for now…)

Following on from the graph above, we can see something very interesting.

There is absolutely no tonal difference between any of the covers that partially cover the top of the bobbin. So whether you’re using:

• Traditional (6-hole)

• 12-hole

• “H-Gate”

• “11-Gate”

• “Half Open”

• “3x3”

…they all behave the same (to the point where I’ve just included one of them on the graph to avoid visual clutter—they all trace the same line).

That was a little surprising, honestly—I expected the half open cover (with one coil essentially exposed) to behave a bit differently… but you can’t argue with the results. So there we have it.*

Where It Does Change

What does show a difference is:

• The Open cover (basically one big hole on top)

• The Closed cover (no holes at all)

Here’s what happens:

• Closed cover has the biggest impact on signal (surprise surprise)

• Open cover has the least impact—but then again, it barely qualifies as a cover, so maybe that’s expected too!

So… Does Cover Style Matter?

Yes—but only in broad strokes.

Here’s the distilled version:

• Covers with holes (any kind, any size): behave the same

• Closed covers (no holes): affect tone more

• Open covers (big hole): affect tone less

So, the common myth—“Less Cover= better tone”? Not totally true. But not totally wrong either.

Footnote 1 – The Half Cover

Our test methodology involves exciting the coils via inductive coupling, with the drive coil positioned directly over the centre of both bobbins. This doesn’t account for any asymmetry in the cover.

So, is it possible the half cover behaves differently in real-world use? Possibly. But if the test isn't showing it, and we can't hear the difference either… then maybe it’s not a big enough deal to stress about.

Footnote 2 – Not on the Graph

We’ve tested a bunch of other styles too (11 Gate, H-Gate, Black Top, “other” H-Gate, Tall covers, 3x3s) – they all behave identically to the traditional 6-hole and 12-hole options, so we’ve left them off the graph to keep things simple.

Footnote 3 – Plating and Material Rules Still Apply

Whatever rules we’ve already discussed about material and plating still hold true—no matter the style. So:

• A gold open cover will still impact tone more than an unplated one.

• A brass closed cover will still affect tone more than a German Silver one.

We’ve skipped those variants here just to keep things digestible.

 

Covered Humbuckers Aren’t the Same as Uncovered Humbuckers

Sadly, they’re really not. The impact that a cover has on a pickup’s signal is so significant that, if I were more of a purist, I’d argue it actually becomes a different pickup altogether.

Think of it like this:
If I built two uncovered humbuckers—same wire, same magnets, same everything—but one had a resonant peak of 20dBV @ 5kHz and the other was 15dBV @ 5kHz, I’d probably give them different names and market them as different voices or flavours.

But when we fit a cover and that same shift happens, we tend to just… gloss over it.
We all vaguely know something changes, but we rarely acknowledge how much it changes.

Realistically? Adding a cover—or comparing a covered version of a pickup to its uncovered twin—is as much of a tonal change as redesigning the coils from scratch.
The numbers might look similar, but the sound is absolutely not.

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So Should We Treat Covered Pickups as Different Models?

Maybe… but eventually, and especially if you’re winding pickups, you’ll learn to bow to common sense.

Covers are primarily a cosmetic decision. You can (and should) explain the tonal effects to your customer—but if someone’s after that classic shiny nickel humbucker to drop into their Les Paul®… you’re not going to talk them out of it.

Trust me. I’ve tried.

Expectation vs. Reality

I’ve been going through the site in recent months, and “myth busting” a lot of stuff to do with pickups and parts, and even on this page, I’ve laid bare a lot of what’s going on with humbucker covers and how they’re going to affect your sound, both positively and negatively, and, personally, I like being honest about this stuff. If you know what to expect, then we all come away from this a whole lot more fulfilled, and no one has to sit there and gripe after falling for a marketing hype and flowery descriptions.

And in that vein (and this is a good rule for the whole of the internet!) – remember, every photo I’ve put up on this website, is “the perfect example” of what the thing should be. It’s been edited, tidied up and made to look immaculate.

Now, honestly, I wish that every single part I unpacked and stored on these shelves, was finished to the level of the ones in the photos (It’d make my life easier, and I wouldn’t have to write this!), but let’s be honest, that’s not the case.

These are, in the grand scheme of things, pretty affordable parts – they’re well made, well plated and generally, higher end examples of what they are…. But they’re still “affordable” – it’s a £5-15 humbucker cover, right? Go into buying this stuff, knowing that, if you look closely enough, you will find something wrong with them. There are ALWAYS minor imperfections in guitar parts.

That’s not to say that the majority of covers won’t be “very close” to perfect, nor is it to say that we wash our hands of “real” faults, but I do have to ask, that we all have some realism with this stuff. It’s a £8 cover – its not a £50 cover (although I doubt, they’d be any better*) – expecting superior grade, faultless electroplating, 24 karat gold, tolerances down to 0.001mm, or whatever, is wholly unrealistic. I appreciate that you may be fitting these to a pickup that you’re selling for £500… I appreciate you might have a really picky customers yourself, but Axesrus® does have to draw the line somewhere.

We will not replace covers with what we consider normal levels of imperfection.

We WILL accept them as returns, and refund as per our Ts & Cs in regards to “unwanted goods”

I’m not saying these covers are cheap, second rate, and riddled with flaws you understand? They are, really, some of the best covers I’ve worked with, and we do have a very high level of quality control both at manufacturing, and in house when picking and packing. But, really, no one is spotting an isolated a 0.25mm “dimple” or “divot” in a finish, or a 0.5mm scuff. (and that’s how small these flaws are!).

And remember too (and this is scant consolation to anyone making pickups for a living, because you will suffer this just as badly as we do) – minor imperfections that look minor on the part, vanish once the part is fitted to a guitar. We’re damned by looking at this stuff under the microscope of isolation, and, in reality, that £10,000 guitar you’ve got hang on the wall? I guarantee, has exactly the same manufacturing imperfections in its parts.

So, with that said, and in an effort to be WHOLLY honest, here’s a what I’m talking about.

*Sinse doing this write up, we've started carrying the "Premium Gold", which costs an arm and a leg, and take it from me - whilst the Gold is of a higher karat, it has the same "flaws" (if not more so, because high karat gold is softer then lower)