Does potting pickups actually do anything for feedback control?

[Vidi Wegz]

I recently took a late 90's Squire Strat (in terrible condition) out to the garage, took it apart, sanded all the old paint off, did some very interesting finish work on it (stain combos & sealer variants), fixed up several screwy frets, slapped on a new pick-guard and now it looks awesome! It sounds great too, the new finish/wiring really helped bring out a lot of fullness in the tone of the guitar; I'm left with one problem. If I hook up any kind of modern distortion pedal and crank the amp, the poor thing squeals with unholy feedback - constantly. I've read about potting the pickups, i.e. dipping them in a combo of bees wax & paraffin. Do you think it's actually going to do anything or are the stock pickups just going to do this to me no matter what? I've heard from several people that I should just go active, but I really want to keep the unprocessed sound that I've got going now, the body tone is too good to let go of.
I appreciate any feedback.

[MistaT]

I'm relatively new here, and from what I have read potting your pickups will help. I have build about 20 pickups so far, and all of mine I pot as standard procedure.

Its not that big of a deal to do. I went to the store and bought a small pan for baking bread, a meat thermometer, and some paraffin. I then found a local beekeeper who sold me some beeswax.

Now I have "graduated" to a crock pot that I found at a garage sale and fashioned a self supporting bracket / holder for the thermometer.

Just google it, and you will find out how.

[the great waldo]

Originally Posted by Vidi Wegz

I recently took a late 90's Squire Strat (in terrible condition) out to the garage, took it apart, sanded all the old paint off, did some very interesting finish work on it (stain combos & sealer variants), fixed up several screwy frets, slapped on a new pick-guard and now it looks awesome! It sounds great too, the new finish/wiring really helped bring out a lot of fullness in the tone of the guitar; I'm left with one problem. If I hook up any kind of modern distortion pedal and crank the amp, the poor thing squeals with unholy feedback - constantly. I've read about potting the pickups, i.e. dipping them in a combo of bees wax & paraffin. Do you think it's actually going to do anything or are the stock pickups just going to do this to me no matter what? I've heard from several people that I should just go active, but I really want to keep the unprocessed sound that I've got going now, the body tone is too good to let go of.
I appreciate any feedback.

Hi Vidi

Waxing the pickups will deffinitely solve your squealing problem if it´s caused by loose windings on the coils, you´ll know it´s the windings if you put your hands on the strings and the whistleing does´nt go away as opposed to the guiatar feeding back because of hi volume/gain combination. There´s plenty of information on the pickup makers forum in this forum.
Cheers

Andrew

[Mark Hammer]

There are several sources of what gets classified as "feedback". Potting will solve one of them.

I don't know who you are getting advice from, but the choice of active vs passive pickups has absolutely NO BEARING WHATSOEVER on susceptibility to feedback. Either the pickups have snug windings that don't vibrate in the presence of of higher volume....or they don't.

Feedback generally occurs when the volume is held constant enough to generate energy in the guitar itself. This will be true of any of the various kinds of phenomena called "feedback". If it's loud but NOT held constant, there is much less problem with feedback. Turning on a distortion pedal will necessarily hold your volume at a fairly constant level.

[Vidi Wegz]

Hey thanks to both TGW & MH,
I definitely believe it's loose windings and not just regular old gain inspired feedback. I will definitely check out the pickup maker's forum for more tips. I'll try to get to it this weekend and post back here about my success/failure.
Thanks again.