Smoked Nickel Pickup Maintenance

[curlywurly]

Hey guys,
I recently bought my PRS, a nice custom 24/08 wood library, that came with smoked nickel pickups. It's been about 2 weeks and I noticed that the "smokiness/darkness" on one of my pickups where my fingers lay when finger picking is deteriorated already and straight silver. I reached out to customer support and they basically told me that its a thin smoked nickel plating (didn't know before this) and not covered under warranty, which I'm ok with, I'm not necessarily trying to get it fixed under warranty.

What my bigger concern is, will this smoked plating deteriorating this fast impact the guitar rusting faster or tone or is it purely aesthetic? I saw posts online that said to use Blue Magic Liquid Metal Polish to fix the tarnish but I don't think it's tarnished I think it's losing the "smokiness" and any polish may just make it worse. I'm also not the type of guy who's gonna wipe down his guitar after EVERY SINGLE USE....I don't wash my car after every drive so I expect it'll probably get worse but is there anything to protect it at least and do i NEED to protect it? I appreciate any replies, thanks!

 

[FDHog]

If it's Nickel, it's not gonna rust. As far as the finish coming off, I know it's not what you wanna hear, it adds character to the guitar. I'm a little OCD and would probably remove the rest of the finish from both pups.

 

[curlywurly]

Ya but it seemed pretty fast. They are actually really cool over there, even with all my whining they agreed to replace the covers if Id like haha, though they did tell me itll probably wear in the same time frame due to my skin Ph likely. I decided to go for it, presuming they arent so backed up itll take months. At some point id rather just play it than not have it though.

I was told waxing them regularly can help prevent finish wear and since my neck pickup is flawless im not convinced totally its 100% me yet. If it just happens again to the new covers though ill just have no choice but to accept it. Im also gonna take this as an opportunity to learn picking without anchoring, the guitar is now lava.

 

[21Hemispheres12]

Yea the same thing happened on all three of my guitars with smoked hardware. The only thing you can do is try to touch it as minimally as possible but it’ll still happen. Both of my smoked trems have the same wear spot where my palm touches it and the corner of my bridge pickup has another spot.

 

[László]

Purely cosmetic.

I suppose you could try a light clear coat of some kind, but whether that would interfere with the tone, I have no idea at all.

 

[kavo11]

Hey guys,
I recently bought my PRS, a nice custom 24/08 wood library, that came with smoked nickel pickups. It's been about 2 weeks and I noticed that the "smokiness/darkness" on one of my pickups where my fingers lay when finger picking is deteriorated already and straight silver. I reached out to customer support and they basically told me that its a thin smoked nickel plating (didn't know before this) and not covered under warranty, which I'm ok with, I'm not necessarily trying to get it fixed under warranty.

What my bigger concern is, will this smoked plating deteriorating this fast impact the guitar rusting faster or tone or is it purely aesthetic? I saw posts online that said to use Blue Magic Liquid Metal Polish to fix the tarnish but I don't think it's tarnished I think it's losing the "smokiness" and any polish may just make it worse. I'm also not the type of guy who's gonna wipe down his guitar after EVERY SINGLE USE....I don't wash my car after every drive so I expect it'll probably get worse but is there anything to protect it at least and do i NEED to protect it? I appreciate any replies, thanks!

I just got a WL CU24-08 back in June 22 that has smoked nickel hardware. After just a few short months, the finish completely came off all along the high E string. A couple weeks ago, I reached out to C.S. and they happily replaced the pickup cover, said it wasn't considered normal. Dropped it off on a Friday and it was ready for pickup the next Monday morning. Interesting that you got a different response that its not covered.

 

[curlywurly]

I'm really surprised to hear you say that. Mine was gone in the exact same spot within WEEKS. The response I received at first said "we won't do this at all, it's normal wear and tear". I reached out over phone and then emailed again EMPHASIZING it's only been several weeks. He very adamantly basically said "listen we CAN replace it if you really want but it's just gonna happen again, some peoples hands are like this". I went for it and did get it replaced. Surprise surprise it DID NOT happen again lol and is going strong. I don't know why they were so adamant about doing it in the first place, CLEARLY it was a defect as it isnt happening again. It also came back from the factory with more swirls than I left it but i'm at the point I dont care as much about the swirls anymore.

I will say my bridge equally had this issue in the same spots but they seemed so against replacing the first pickup i DOUBT they'll replace the bridge due to aesthetics only lol, which is many more parts and pieces. I'll just have to live with it, it appears.

Im honestly semi annoyed how yours seemed far more effortless and they "called me crazy" (not really) but said it was normal for you heh.

 

[kavo11]

I'm really surprised to hear you say that. Mine was gone in the exact same spot within WEEKS. The response I received at first said "we won't do this at all, it's normal wear and tear". I reached out over phone and then emailed again EMPHASIZING it's only been several weeks. He very adamantly basically said "listen we CAN replace it if you really want but it's just gonna happen again, some peoples hands are like this". I went for it and did get it replaced. Surprise surprise it DID NOT happen again lol and is going strong. I don't know why they were so adamant about doing it in the first place, CLEARLY it was a defect as it isnt happening again. It also came back from the factory with more swirls than I left it but i'm at the point I dont care as much about the swirls anymore.

I will say my bridge equally had this issue in the same spots but they seemed so against replacing the first pickup i DOUBT they'll replace the bridge due to aesthetics only lol, which is many more parts and pieces. I'll just have to live with it, it appears.

Im honestly semi annoyed how yours seemed far more effortless and they "called me crazy" (not really) but said it was normal for you heh.

This was the verbatim response. It happened to mine in a matter of weeks too, I just didn't bother reaching out to them until about 2 months after purchase. The new cover seems better, but we shall see with time.

"Thank you for writing PRS Guitars. I'm sorry you are having issue with your new guitar and the plating peeling on the bridge pickup. I would not find this to be normal on a new guitar and we can take care of this under warranty. We can have the guitar come back to the factory for evaluation and replace the pickup. If you could please provide me with the guitar's serial number along with your return shipping address and contact number, I can issue you a return authorization number along with shipping instructions."

 

[curlywurly]

Response 1:
"Thank you for contacting PRS Guitars. The plating on the pickup covers is a Smoked Nickel plating that is applied very thin for the best tonal response. I'm sorry, but hardware plating and the wear it experiences would be considered normal wear-and-tear and is not covered under the PRS Limited Lifetime Warranty"

At this time I was just asking and didn't want a warranty repair, this was their response. I attached screenshots of the swirls FROM FACTORY and tarnished plating on both the bridge pickup AND bridge. I asked him how to maintain the hardware and said "OK it's PROBABLY my fault" in my head. I maintained the hardware AS ADVISED and it got substantially worse. I kept track of humidity in my home amongst other factors and presented these screenshots to support.

Response 2:
"Thanks for following up. We'd be happy to bring the guitar in to our factory have the pickup covers replaced. Please keep in mind that the replacement covers will wear in roughly the same timeframe. The plating used on these pickup covers is very thin and will begin to wear from regular use. The wear experienced on the pickup covers will depend on the pH of the oils on your hands, and it can sometimes wear quickly for certainly players."

No resistance, clearly they are willing to fix it, but they are seriously urging me this is normal, but for you its abnormal is what they are saying. I'm sincerely confused by this, why for you it was so quick and easy and abnormal but for me they URGE it's just my body chemistry. One says it's normal one says it's weird heh, which is it!

My new pickup cover has not had this issue since, it's perfect. My bridge has since gotten worse. I would LOVE it if I could get the bridge replaced too referencing this post as to it being abnormal lol (and fixing those swirls would be a plus). Funny enough, I also bought mine around june and the repair also happend in august and i also sent it in friday and got it back monday haha, VERY similar stories. I'm guessing yours may have been from Chuck's too haha.

 

[kavo11]

Response 1:
"Thank you for contacting PRS Guitars. The plating on the pickup covers is a Smoked Nickel plating that is applied very thin for the best tonal response. I'm sorry, but hardware plating and the wear it experiences would be considered normal wear-and-tear and is not covered under the PRS Limited Lifetime Warranty"

At this time I was just asking and didn't want a warranty repair, this was their response. I attached screenshots of the swirls FROM FACTORY and tarnished plating on both the bridge pickup AND bridge. I asked him how to maintain the hardware and said "OK it's PROBABLY my fault" in my head. I maintained the hardware AS ADVISED and it got substantially worse. I kept track of humidity in my home amongst other factors and presented these screenshots to support.

Response 2:
"Thanks for following up. We'd be happy to bring the guitar in to our factory have the pickup covers replaced. Please keep in mind that the replacement covers will wear in roughly the same timeframe. The plating used on these pickup covers is very thin and will begin to wear from regular use. The wear experienced on the pickup covers will depend on the pH of the oils on your hands, and it can sometimes wear quickly for certainly players."

No resistance, clearly they are willing to fix it, but they are seriously urging me this is normal, but for you its abnormal is what they are saying. I'm sincerely confused by this, why for you it was so quick and easy and abnormal but for me they URGE it's just my body chemistry. One says it's normal one says it's weird heh, which is it!

My new pickup cover has not had this issue since, it's perfect. My bridge has since gotten worse. I would LOVE it if I could get the bridge replaced too referencing this post as to it being abnormal lol (and fixing those swirls would be a plus). Funny enough, I also bought mine around june and the repair also happend in august and i also sent it in friday and got it back monday haha, VERY similar stories. I'm guessing yours may have been from Chuck's too haha.

Yup! Got it from Chuck's. Makes me wonder if they just had a bad batch of plating material? I'd hope its not normal, otherwise it seems like a design flaw from square one to use it in the first place, unless they don't expect people to play the instrument?

 

[vchizzle]

Back in the day, I had a LP with gold hardware. I wore the gold off in spots pretty quickly. Nickel isn’t quite as bad for me but tarnishes over time. Metal polish can be used there since it won’t remove the color. IMO it’s the nature of the beast with tinted hardware and the rep who stated wear and tear is correct. Surprised PRS was willing to replace under warranty even though 2 weeks is a very short time period. Not sure reason for different responses other than maybe there were more complaints than average so they decided to oblige people on it. I’m almost certain if you read the warranty info it would be labeled as wear/tear.

 

[Valker]

Black nickel is usually applied over nickel finish. If it comes off, as others have stated, it is purely cosmetic, but like any plating, if the prep work isn't done right, it won't adhere. Platers make mistakes just like anyone out there. I work in aerospace, and the plate shop I have used for that same finish is from Anoplate. Not trying to plug them; it's just their website has a good explanation of the process and what it is. I have no idea what spec and thickness PRS specifies for their nickel or the black nickel application or who does it. I think it's interesting that the pickup covers aren't really that black, because black nickel really can be applied very black (that's how I have used it for my applications). The PRS pickup covers are really more smokey/lighter. Here's a link with a description of the process:
https://www.anoplate.com/capabilities/anoblack-ni/