What is a cheap upright bass pickup?

Guitar/bass- can you buy pickup 'covers' - my old bass guitar has a really old tatty looking pickup?

• on the side of the pickup the paper bit is sticking out. I play with my thumb next to the pickup and I don't want to break it. Is there anything cheap i can do to cover it or should I just get another cheap one fitted

• Answer:

  If your guitar is a classic, you should leave it be to maintain the value. But Im guessing that you are really jamming on this instrument. The correct way to fix it is by using the tape below. If you want to cut corners, you can use electrical tape. In either case, you will need to remove the strings and raise the pickup out of the body/pick guard. If it doesn't raise enough, you will need to remove it from the guitar (not the wires). You just need to do it enough to get the tape around it. Your pickup is called open face, which means that the black part on top (or whatever color it is) is actually the top of the bobbin. You can get a pickup cover if you want. You should measure the distance of the pole pieces to make sure the cover is the correct size. In applying a cover, you will need to remove the pickup, and wax pot the cover on as well as soldering a little between the pickup and cover. At this point, if your guitar/bass isn't anything special, you might as well upgrade to some Duncans or DiMarzios. Its another option, but to fix this... use the tape.