LB 1 Pickup Cover Fading

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,583
Reaction score
17,802
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
I'd love to see the back of one of these. If the cover is plastic, how is it soldered to the pickup, if it even is.

I just looked at my NS HB1 and it's soldered, but I haven't done any testing on the cover. It seems to be metal, but then I'd bet the cover on the LB1 seemed to be metal, too.

I might have to buy one of these NS LB1s for some testing...
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,583
Reaction score
17,802
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
Found a pic: http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g279/Drewolf47/20170830_162611_zps2nmukegb.jpg

daerf5pu3wse2w9dlbrq.jpg



They look just like the HB1s I have, though interestingly the cover solder joint on the bottom one appears to be broken. Maybe the top one, too. No way to tell if the original owner messed with them, though.
 

T-Wolf

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2016
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Location
Cape Town South Africa
What year is this guitar?

It's a 2016.
I really love the tones and the playability, and it looks so cool!
But I'm really disappointed, not just with the fading and the cheap nature of that, but with Guild's response.
I understand that everyone has QC challenges, but this looks like a cost cutting decision compounded with crap customer service.
 

T-Wolf

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2016
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Location
Cape Town South Africa
That's interesting..If it's soldered in place then naturally it must be a metal cover.
Wonder what happened to the chroming.
I dug out some pics I took when it was new, just to check if I hadn't noticed at the time (most unlikely), and they were fine.
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,583
Reaction score
17,802
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
That's interesting..If it's soldered in place then naturally it must be a metal cover.
Wonder what happened to the chroming.
I dug out some pics I took when it was new, just to check if I hadn't noticed at the time (most unlikely), and they were fine.

I may try some experiments on my HB1s to see if they buff to white like that.

There can be advantages from an electronics standpoint of using plastic covers, but I'd think they'd be lost by plating with chrome. I don't see how plastic covers could be soldered.
 

Default

Super Moderator
Platinum Supporting
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
13,596
Reaction score
3,008
Location
Philly, or thereabouts
Guild Total
11

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,583
Reaction score
17,802
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
Lead free solder. I have/had a NS M-75 that had a pup issue, due to lead free soldering. Gave it a "touch of the bullet" and everything is grand now.

Could just be a cold solder joint, but yeah that RoHS stuff isn't nearly as good as the old days when lead poisoning from solder fumes made it all the more fun! :)
 

matsickma

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
4,280
Reaction score
1,028
Location
Coopersburg, PA
The edges have the look of a stamped or formed part from a mandrel. I'll have to at a set or two also. If they are formed then they would gave to be a soft metal.
M
 

DThomasC

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
1,283
Reaction score
187
Location
Finger Lakes, New York, USA
I have a LB-1 that I bought from the Guild Store several years ago. The cover is not plastic. The metal beneath the chrome plating is silverish which I assume to be a nickel alloy sometimes called nickel silver or German silver even though it contains no silver.

The base plates and covers of pickups made by any manufacturer from any era are typically made from either brass or nickel silver, though I have seen a few made from copper. I'm talking about plated parts, not the obviously plastic covers of P-90s, Franzs, or a few others. A chrome plated plastic cover could not be soldered; the plastic would melt at a lower temperature than the solder.

I can't see the photos at the start of the thread. Is it possible that the white that looks like plastic is really nickel silver, or a layer of pure nickel under the chrome?
 

T-Wolf

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2016
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Location
Cape Town South Africa
I think it's probably an alloy of some kind.
As you correctly stated if it were plastic, it could not be soldered.
Which is all very interesting, but my first real issue was how can the plating fade inside 11 months?
My current issue is the complete lack of interest from Guild themselves post their first response, which was to sell me a complete new pickup.
 

matsickma

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
4,280
Reaction score
1,028
Location
Coopersburg, PA
As a consumer we want service. Guild offer to sell you a new pickup was reasonable reply. If they offered to just sell you a pickup cover you may have found the price of just the cover to be unreasonable. It is a plus that Guild is offering OEM parts. You could consider having it replated, purchasing a cover from Hans or on eBay. I suspect any of these options will cost more than buying a new pickup.

My dog has Cushing's disease. Every month I have to purchase a pack of medication of 10 mg caplets. When the vet started the dog on 5mg caplets the price for a box of 30 was $50. When it was increased to 10mg caplets a box of 30 cost $50. When it went to 20mg caplets a box of 30 cost $50 and when it went to 30 mg a box of 30 cost $50. The point here is all the packaging, handling, shipping, etc had the largest impact on the item cost.
BTW they over medicated the dog so much she almost died! Now she is back on 10mg and doing fine. 🐕

It does suck that your plating wore off so quickly. Never had that happen on a chrome part before. On the other hand I have a number of gold plated humbuckers, both mini and full size, where the gold wore off on guitars that were pretty expensive.

M
 
Top