leather covered top bobbin pickup

[Jedi Clampett]

I debated what forum to put this on, but am thinking about gluing some leather on top of a humbucker pickup, have done this or see any problems in doing this? Obviously punch holes for the magnets.

[Jason Rodgers]

Is this an existing pickup? Does it already have a cover? Are the magnets/screws protruding? How thick is the leather and what sort of "finish" does it have (not sure of the terms- suede, smooth, wrinkled/worn)? What kind of glue are you thinking about using?

Aside from getting scuffed up by pick scrapes, I don't see anything wrong with it. I would glue to a cover, myself.

[Hans Bezemer]

I say: go for it. I saw someone covering the whole body of an electric with alligator leather, looked very nice.

[Jedi Clampett]

I don't how thick the leather will be, obviously thinner is better, it doesn't have a cover and the coils are slanted, so would glue to the top of the bobbin and punch for magnets as stated in the OP. Just wondering if you have done it? Experience can be a great help. Not really interested if it can be done, since that is easy to figure out, but how to do it and benefiting from experience is a different story.

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

I have worked on players (as opposed to collectors) guitars with leather pick guards. They absorb sweat, never dry out and tend to be odiferous. I've also seen pick ups with covers killed by sweat. So if you want to do this, you may want to pot the pick up and put a layer of shielding (grounded, of course) under the leather.

[David King]

No need to punch holes for the pole pieces since leather is generally nonmagnetic. Barge cement is the stuff leather workers use for bonding and it works pretty well if you read the instructions and use it in a well ventilated space.