Would a chip in the pickup cover plastic exposing a little bit of magnet (or whatever is directly under the plastic) cause issues with pickup function or excess noise?

I ask this because I saw a bass for sale with such a chip in the pickup plastic and was wondering if that would cause any noise issues. Thanks.

I think the first thing you should see is the copper shielding foil, I guess  its not good if you can see the magnet...

On the Alembic Instagram page there's a picture of the pickups before they're casted in the shell, scroll down a long way to find it: https://www.instagram.com/alembicguitars/

I was able to repair a size ablechip in the ear of an AXY pickup (on my Distillate) using some blackened DevCon epoxy. I would guess if the copper shielding is okay, you're good - at least for noise.

Thanks very much for the replies and links.  I think I'm going to pass on this one.