I've been in this situation before and it's not a problem. You can actually equip nothing in a slot to effectively de-equip an item. It might not be readily apparent, but when in the equip screen for a slot, if you move all the way to the top it shows an X with no name beside it. That will equip not...

James got me hooked up with an upgrade to alpha. These guys have great customer service. The game's awesome, too.

I would also like to do this. I got all excited thinking I would have access to the game and realized that I only pledged $15.