wax potting pickups

[Anonymous]

just did a microphonic single coil tonight, and so far, it was a major success....it sounds phenomenal...back from the dead!!!!!!!!!!

was kind of a headache during it though. and for anyone going to do it, i strongly recommend just leaving on the tape thats on that pickup, but zip tie around the pickup (around the tape). once the wax heated up the wax on the pickup, the tape came loose. i had used a rubber band, but it broke.

it's not too bad though, just tedious. all in all, now that i have the know how, i'll end up doing it again if i need to!

i'll post some brief pics here shortly. nothing special, but glad i know how to do it now!

 

[Anonymous]

if anyone requires a step by step how i did it, i'll be glad to.

 

[bubbastain]

I had to do this to a humbucker a couple of months ago. It sounded good but was really microphonic. Once I potted it, the pickup sounded great and all the squeal went away. I used paraffin and about 20% bees wax.

 

[Anonymous]

that's exactly what i used... worked really well too man!

 

[snowdog]

Sounds like you had some good luck with this. Just a heads up, I have read a few things about this, and apparently it's easy to fuck up a pickup...so if you aren't much of a gambler and have a good one that needs it you may want to have someone that knows how do it.

 

[petejt]

I had to do this to a humbucker a couple of months ago. It sounded good but was really microphonic. Once I potted it, the pickup sounded great and all the squeal went away. I used paraffin and about 20% bees wax.

I usually use 50/50. Just enough bees wax so the total wax gets hard, but isn't super brittle.

I have a friend that made a pipe bomb looking thing with an air chuck that he would load the freshly potted hot pickup into and use pressurized air to force the wax into all the nooks and crannies.

Wow, clever idea!

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you had some good luck with this. Just a heads up, I have read a few things about this, and apparently it's easy to fuck up a pickup...so if you aren't much of a gambler and have a good one that needs it you may want to have someone that knows how do it.

i can see where it'd be easy to mess it up if you're not paying attention and fairly dexterial....you gotta stay within temperature range, that's key. 150º is harder to maintain than one would think.. it's also imperative that if the tape isn't coming off before you dip it, DONT try to rip it off....secure it somehow (rubber band broke, so, if there's a next time, i'll zip tie around the pickup gently to hold the tape on).
i did my homework on this one, and im glad i did. had i gone in blind, it woulda been a frickin disaster.

 

[supersonic]

I can't understand why you do this? You should be able to buy a suitable pickup of the shelf in this day and age.

 

[TeleBlaster]

Ummm... A pickup that is wound super tight will be very, very bright sounding. A looser wound pickup will sound more full and organic, it's the very slight air space in between the windings that give it this kind of character. Microphonic squealing is caused by the windings themselves vibrating at a certain frequency; they are actually moving.
Wax potting fills the air spaces with a solid material so the windings don't vibrate and cause squealing, without changing the good tone characteristics of the pickup.

 

[Code001]

Ummm... A pickup that is wound super tight will be very, very bright sounding. A looser wound pickup will sound more full and organic, it's the very slight air space in between the windings that give it this kind of character. Microphonic squealing is caused by the windings themselves vibrating at a certain frequency; they are actually moving.
Wax potting fills the air spaces with a solid material so the windings don't vibrate and cause squealing, without changing the good tone characteristics of the pickup.

Wax potting can change the tone a little bit. The technique people are doing today is a very light wax potting so that it doesn't affect the overall tone as much.

 

[TeleBlaster]

Good to know.
The goal is not to change the tone, but eliminate uncontrollable feedback known as a "microphonic" condition.
It's not that you are aiming for a tone that you can get from a different pickup "on the shelf", it's that you have a pickup you like a lot that has developed a problem you're trying to correct.

 

[Anonymous]

I can't understand why you do this? You should be able to buy a suitable pickup of the shelf in this day and age.

because i love the one i had, and it had just recently become microphonic.

sometimes my friend, i just want that old, sweet, bonky 20+ year old pickup sound

 

[Anonymous]

Good to know.
The goal is not to change the tone, but eliminate uncontrollable feedback known as a "microphonic" condition.
It's not that you are aiming for a tone that you can get from a different pickup "on the shelf", it's that you have a pickup you like a lot that has developed a problem you're trying to correct.

+1

this was exactly what i said above in response to "why do it in the first place...replace it .....etc"

let's not get into a "this wax sounds better" or "this mixture of wax sounds better" discussion though!!!!!!!!!

btw, i dont recall if i mentioned, i did roughly 80% parrafin and 20% kiwi saddle soap to keep the parrafin nice and soft (beeswax and lanolin if i remember correctly). it was a cool experience, and something that i can add to my skillset regarding useless guitar related things i can make a mess in the house doing!