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Are these pickups nickel or chrome (pic)...

In The Light

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Hi, Guys. Can you please tell me if these pups are chrome or nickel covered?

I bought aftermarket '57 Classic/Classic Plus pickups in '99, and all the other hardware is stock ('99 LP "Classic"). I just can't remember what pickup plating type I purchased. I'm getting some wear on the top part, as well as, the bottom corner of bridge pickup - it's a clouding effect (you can see it if you look closely at pic), if that's any indicator of plating type. I took this picture in regular daylight. I appreciate your help!

-Mike

pickups - my LP .jpg
 
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Browneyes

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If you are getting some dulling it's probably nickel. Chrome can withstand a nuclear explosion.
 

In The Light

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If you are getting some dulling it's probably nickel. Chrome can withstand a nuclear explosion.


Thanks for the quick reply, Browneyes! I thought I'd heard something about chrome not wearing...
 
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Speedaddy38

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Hard to tell from the pic, but here's something you can try. If you hold a chrome part up to the light, you'll notice a blue-ish tint to it. Do the same to a nickel part and you'll notice a brown - yellowish tint, definitely not blue. Hope this helps.
 

In The Light

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Hard to tell from the pic, but here's something you can try. If you hold a chrome part up to the light, you'll notice a blue-ish tint to it. Do the same to a nickel part and you'll notice a brown - yellowish tint, definitely not blue. Hope this helps.


Thanks, Speed. Well I tried that. It was hard to see any tinting. If I use my intuition - I perceive a more copperish effect than blue. The color of these pups is indeed hard to pinpoint - though my guitar looks about exactly the same in person as with that pic, btw.

They are definitely clouding up a bit in places, as I mentioned too. I'm definitely leaning towards nickel here about 90%, but I can't say that I'm definitively sure yet. I appreciate all the help!
 
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Classic

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I too have a '99 Classic HB and it has nickel hardware.

Also, looking at your pick, the hardware has more of a grey tint than blue (chrome has a blue tint to it).
 

In The Light

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I too have a '99 Classic HB and it has nickel hardware.

Also, looking at your pick, the hardware has more of a grey tint than blue (chrome has a blue tint to it).

Hi, Classic. So our "Classic" guitar hardware is nickel - I didn't know that. I will say that the guitar hardware and pickup covers do indeed look about the same tint too. Thank you.
 

In The Light

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Also, is it true that chrome will not cloud up and pretty much shines forever or just chips off?
 

Tex Ecco

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Also, is it true that chrome will not cloud up and pretty much shines forever or just chips off?

It is ture that chrome will not cloud however it is very thin and will wear thru over time and then the underlying nickel will begin to cloud. Chrome will not peel off it's way too thin. If the plating peels it will be the nickel peeling from the base metal.

On way to tell if it's chrome is to look at the screws in the pickups.
Nickel can be plated in bulk (in a plastic barrel). Chrome is almost always plated on racks or wires making it much more expensive.
Therefore small parts like p.u. screws are usually only nickel plated.

If the p.u. covers look the same colour as the screws, they are most likely nickel.

Small bridge parts and screws being that much more expensive can be chrome or nickel plated depending on the finish specification.
 

Classic

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Hi, Classic. So our "Classic" guitar hardware is nickel - I didn't know that. I will say that the guitar hardware and pickup covers do indeed look about the same tint too. Thank you.

Yup. Tis true!! 99 Classics had nickel hardware!! :2cool

I did a test against my Ibanez (definitely chrome hardware) a year or so back when I was replacing the tailpiece and the colours are not the same.

I'm sure there is a thread somewhere that shows the difference between the two.
 

In The Light

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Interesting, Tex. So, chrome is a thinner plating surface than nickel. Thanks.

Sincerely appreciate all of your help, fellow guitar freaks. I'd really appreciate some more insight into these questions too:

1) Parts of my pickup surface (as pointed out previously) are absolutely clouded by wear, so should I assume this is definitive evidence my pickups are nickel then?

2) Gibson pickups are pure Nickel-Silver base, but is there also a nickel plating put on top of that nickel-silver base? I thought I'd read something about this - not sure though.

3) Can someone please post some nickel and chrome pickup cover comparison pics? That would be VERY cool.


-Mike
 
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Don

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Interesting, Tex. So, chrome is a thinner plating surface than nickel. Thanks.

Sincerely appreciate all of your help, fellow guitar freaks. I'd really appreciate some more insight into these questions too:

1) Parts of my pickup surface (as pointed out previously) are absolutely clouded by wear, so should I assume this is definitive evidence my pickups are nickel then?

2) Gibson pickups are pure Nickel-Silver base, but is there also a nickel plating put on top of that nickel-silver base? I thought I'd read something about this - not sure though.

3) Can someone please post some nickel and chrome pickup cover comparison pics? That would be VERY cool.

-Mike

1) Yes. Chrome won't cloud like that unless it wears of completely. The nickel covers on my Seth Lovers clouded up like that in a month or so. The chrome covers on the Gibson '57 Classics in my ES-135 have not clouded at all after 5 years of use.

2) I believe Gibson does use a nickel silver base. Polishing it ups without plating it would be too expensive for mass production. RS doesn't even offer them that way, although I think Lollar or someone else does.

3) I don't have any pics, but when I put nickel parts on my guitar there was no way that you'd mix them up with the chrome parts when you saw them side by side. The difference in color is bigger than you'd think.
 

dwagar

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here's a pic of Pigtail bridges from Stewmac. You can see how 'blue' chrome is compared to the 'gray' of nickle.

4507_1lg.jpg
 
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