A build without Pickup Covers?

[Watchie]

I am in the middle of a rear routed Strat body build, S-S-S.  I was planning on using black pickup rings for the hardware (no pickguard), and have selected the GFS Alnico Premiums for the PUPS. These come without covers, which of  course are readily available.  That said, my question is whether I even want/need them?  Has anyone seen or done a build like this (no pickguard, using mounting rings), and installed the pickups as they come?

Input/guidance appreciated.

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Premium-Alnico-Strat-Pickups-Our-Best-Vintage-Set_p_616.html#

 

[bagman67]

Well, the pickup covers are plastic and don't serve any electrical or mechanical function beyond, I suppose, isolating the coils from sweat and accumulated goo from your grimy guitar-pickin' paws, and looking like what we've all come to expect Strat pickups to look like. 

I don't know how durable the black spool material is in its own right - if you're a hard strummer, you could conceivably beat the hell out of the bobbins.  Otherwise, do what feels aesthetically right for you.

Bagman

 

[Watchie]

Thanks for the post.  I am trying to figure out whether the set up would look better with or without the covers.  On my last build I similarly used pickup trim rings, but that was with uncovered humbuckers, which looked great. 

 

[Cagey]

Humbuckers had metal covers on them for many years, which made for a variety of problems and side effects both in manufacturing and use, so it became popular to not include them or simply remove them. That's why those look natural that way. But, as Bagman pointed out, the Strat (or single coil) pickup covers have always been dime-a-dozen plastic for the most part, so you don't see them removed.