Capacitance raising potting solutions/dielectric effect....

[David Schwab]

How would you stop the oil from running out of the pickup? Anything you use that's wet will either ooze out, or if it dries you will lose your conductivity.

I'd build a small capacitor into the pickup myself. As far as that's not how it was done back in the day ... if it was, then it would be normal. They also didn't soak them in oil or ink. So what's the big deal? Just put it somewhere where it can't be seen when the pickup is assembled, like between the bobbins.

You can also take two lengths of solid insulated wire and twist them together to make a cap... but the value will probably be too small to be audible.

[frankfalbo]

You want those tones you have to figure out how to crap it up some

Yeah but you seem to be doing a great job of this already. You don't need our help.

I'm kidding of course but you can't leave an opening that big and not expect SOMEONE to walk through.

Have you tried shooting it with this?

[belwar]

OH SNAP!

[Dave Kerr]

If we can't kid each other, who can we kid?

[David King]

That supershield will beat the crap out of your highs, just spray it right on top of your bobbins or flatwork and ground it. It works wonders for grounding magnets and pole pieces too. Keep in mind that it's magnetic and will flow towards any magnetic source provided you can keep it suspended in solution. If you stuck a big Ndym magnet inside your coils and dipped them in that stuff I'll bet it would penetrate pretty well. It dries really hard so don't count on it being flexible later on.

[David Schwab]

Have you tried shooting it with this?

I mentioned trying one of these products early in the thread.

[Possum]

....

It seems if the material is to be conductive it needs to be grounded. What I'm not understanding is why does wet shellac have this effect? I think its the water in the alcohol, what can you use that will do what water does but doesn't dry out? Is it because water is conductive or is it something else? Obviously the water isn't grounded. I've used copper tape grounded and didn't like how that sounded. If I knew why shellac is doing this only when its wet thats a clue to go from.

Frank I use that stuff as a sinus spray, not sure why but I can't smell anything anymore, its great because I don't have to take showers at all now, but people in the grocery store look at me funny and move away, I guess nickel spray is some kind of magic repellent

[Joe Gwinn]

It seems if the material is to be conductive it needs to be grounded. What I'm not understanding is why does wet shellac have this effect? I think its the water in the alcohol, what can you use that will do what water does but doesn't dry out? Is it because water is conductive or is it something else? Obviously the water isn't grounded. I've used copper tape grounded and didn't like how that sounded. If I knew why shellac is doing this only when its wet thats a clue to go from.

Never mind the shellac. Try wetting a coil with straight alcohol. It has a pretty large dielectric constant all by itself, even without absorbed water.

[Possum]

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Didn't know that. So its the dielectric constant thats doing this effect. So now the problem is what to use that hopefully doesn't harden like shellac and doesn't evaporate. So you can get your coils drunk on Everclear and they good for awhile then it wears off, hopefully they don't throw up and miss a day of work....

[Possum]

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So something with a high dielectric constant is also conductive....or not? Is alcohol conductive?

[Possum]

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It would be cool to have some pickups called Oilbuckers..... "They leak like Harley Davidson motorcycles, please change the oil every 700,000 notes, shred players may want to change the oil more often."

[David King]

You could sell them tiny bottles of the snake oil/ magic dielectric solution that they could pump into the pickups via a rubber port on the top using a specially "prepared" syringe that only you sell (for a very large sum). You might want to sell the antidote too -incase they sell their souls at the crossroads and end up ingesting your goop in the process. Charge a lot for overnight shipping of the antidote.

Reminds me of pump-up ski boots with a little rubber bladder on top. Those things were such a pain in the arse. Almost as bad as those bicycle shocks you have to inflate with hydraulic fluid every few days...

Maybe enema solutions have the right dielectric constant?
"Nurse Ratchit? My bum-buckers is sounding a bit tinny and dry. Could you give us a squirt? ...Please?"

[Possum]

..

Could also have BioGreaser bucker set, soaked in french fry oil, beware of hot splattering grease when playing in front of large crowds, careful your dog doesn't eat you pickups right off your guitar. I'd need to get Teflon bobbins made so they don't stick. The india ink buckers could be the DarkPower set, the possibilities here are endless.....

[Joe Gwinn]

So something with a high dielectric constant is also conductive....or not?

Not necessarily. Barium titanate has a very high constant, about 2,000, and is used as the dielectric in ceramic capacitors.

And titanium dioxide isn't too bad either.

Relative static permittivity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Is alcohol conductive?

Not really, if pure.

Fluid Conductivity

[Possum]

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going to try the TOX stuff, got some water based all I could find quick to try out.....