JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

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BobL
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JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by BobL » Sat Mar 09, 2019 8:54 pm

Picked up one of Wildwood's '59 Thin Skin Jazzmasters, and the guitar is great... but it came w/ that ugly yellow 'cream' plastic pickup covers for the AV '62 pickups. I ordered some white strat knobs to replace the knurled metal knobs, and they seem to be the right color, but I can't find any JM pickup cover that is the 'right' off white. I have a '65 Thin Skin with the AV '65 pickups, and they are perfect - not yellow at all, but not glaringly snow white. I picked up a pair from Mojotone, but they are too white... so I'm wondering if anyone can point me to a source for something more like the AV '65 covers?

Attached is a pic showing the '65s, the (removed) cream covers, and the white ones I got from Mojo, which look way more like what I see on Vintage '59s, but... are really damn white.

Image

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BobL
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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by BobL » Sun Mar 10, 2019 5:41 am

I may have posted this in the wrong forum, sorry... I found this thread in Mods & Projects for anyone who comes across this later...

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=111644

Guess maybe watching for the '65 covers is the only option out there. :/

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Embenny
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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by Embenny » Sun Mar 10, 2019 6:28 am

The white looks nice to me, and would mellow with age anyway.

If you want it darker now though, white Fender plastic parts are really easy to stain with tea. The longer you leave them in there, the darker they get. A lot cheaper and more controllable than re-buying more pickup covers.

It's one of the oldest tricks in the book, but I feel like it's become a less common practice these days, maybe because a greater variety of shades are available to purchase?
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BobL
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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by BobL » Sun Mar 10, 2019 6:31 am

mbene085 wrote:
Sun Mar 10, 2019 6:28 am
The white looks nice to me, and would mellow with age anyway.

If you want it darker now though, white Fender plastic parts are really easy to stain with tea. The longer you leave them in there, the darker they get. A lot cheaper and more controllable than re-buying more pickup covers.

It's one of the oldest tricks in the book, but I feel like it's become a less common practice these days, maybe because a greater variety of shades are available to purchase?
Yeah, I've been considering that... I do agree the white looks pretty good, and definitely much improved from the 'old lady toenail', as my wife calls the yellow.

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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by BobL » Mon Mar 11, 2019 6:23 am

Tried some tea yesterday - had literally no impact whatsoever on the Mojo covers. After 6 hours, I scratched off a bit of the top layer of the inside of the cover - no difference at all. Guess I'll just have white. :)

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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by Embenny » Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:52 am

Bah, I just looked this up and apparently Mojo's covers are made of a different type of plastic from the Fender ones, and doesn't pick up stain at all - found someone who soaked them for 2 weeks with no effect, but just needed a few hours with official Fender covers.

So I guess you could stain white Fender parts but not the Mojo ones. Sorry about that!
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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by BobL » Mon Mar 11, 2019 10:00 am

mbene085 wrote:
Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:52 am
Bah, I just looked this up and apparently Mojo's covers are made of a different type of plastic from the Fender ones, and doesn't pick up stain at all - found someone who soaked them for 2 weeks with no effect, but just needed a few hours with official Fender covers.

So I guess you could stain white Fender parts but not the Mojo ones. Sorry about that!
Doesn't seem like white Fender brand ones are something I can find easily as well... :)

Oh well, white it is!

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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by lastlol » Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:50 am

The WD Music Aged white are really nice, thay are parchment, neither stark white nor cream like the AV62. The AV65 are a little bit greener.

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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by BobL » Fri Mar 15, 2019 6:20 am

lastlol wrote:
Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:50 am
The WD Music Aged white are really nice, thay are parchment, neither stark white nor cream like the AV62. The AV65 are a little bit greener.
Do you have a picture comparing these to any of the Fender ones?

I wonder how much I'll spend on covers before I get there? :)

Their 'white' looks off white to me as well... and possibly a better off white than the parchment? Anyone know?

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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by lastlol » Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:18 am

Image
Here they are.
The pickguard is the original Japanese one (parchment/eggshell or whatever), the knobs are Fender US Pure Vintage eggshell ones.
As I said, the original AV65 pickup covers were greener, that's why I changed them.

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Re: JM Pickup Covers - the 'right' white...

Post by BobL » Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:33 pm

I did end up getting a set of the WD 'aged' white, and they are definitely 'right' for this '59 RI JM.

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