Ripped 'em off

gball

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Normally I wouldn't muck around with an all-original 41-year-old guitar but I have always thought Customs looked a bit naughty with exposed coils, so...

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I've actually taken the covers off all of the other Customs that I have owned, kind of surprised it took me so long to strip them from this one. I do hear the difference between on and off. I also replaced the original knobs with reflectors to give back a touch of the bling.
 
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I like what you did, it gave the guitar finesse.. Well done Gary! And the colour is Voila!

The only problem with this guitar is that it makes all my others seem hard to play. Still has the original super-low, wide frets (when I bought it there was basically no play wear on them) and so you can keep the action absurdly low and use a very light touch when fretting.
 
Normally I wouldn't muck around with an all-original 41-year-old guitar but I have always thought Customs looked a bit naughty with exposed coils, so...

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I've actually taken the covers off all of the other Customs that I have owned, kind of surprised it took me so long to strip them from this one. I do hear the difference between on and off. I also replaced the original knobs with reflectors to give back a touch of the bling.
Strong Adam Jones vibe flowing there! Beautiful guitar
 
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Wow,,,,very nice
 
Here comes Mich with my ex college smile face to remind me my old job :) thanks Mitch:)

@gball nice LP there , is that Tools guitar?
On most of my guitars they are open and i want to cover them :)

Same thing Adam Jones plays, a 1979 Silverburst, which has aged nicely into what some of us affectionately call Snotburst. I didn't buy it because of Tool/Adam Jones though (although I am a huge fan), I bought it because I remember the first time I ever saw one in the case at Bill's Music House in Catonsville, MD when they were first released and the sight of it was permanently bored into my skull. I always wanted one and eventually found the right one and snagged it.

I do generally like the tone of uncovered pickups better. There is a little more aggression in the sound without the covers that I prefer.
 
It looks like one can simply melt the solder on edges, cut it with a razor knife and remove? Is this wrong?
EDIT I see for non potted. Potted becomes a mess.

If you have a really powerful soldering iron that would probably work. Mine is not the most robust so I have to work my way through the solder one small bit at a time. And at least on the two Norlin-era guitars I own there is almost no slack in the wiring whatsoever, so turning the pickups over to get to the solder is a delicate and annoying task.
 
These old T-Tops are not potted, so just pull the cover. The one time I removed them from a potted set they needed to be cleaned up but the wax came off surprisingly easy.
Hmmm. I don't know if I want to uncover the ones on the 76 wine custom. Gold looks good, a bit of wear but I like that.
 
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