Wax potting vintage pickups

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

It was a wild guess, and I was being a bit tongue in cheek. The Triple Rectifier is a very loud, very high gain amplifier from Mesa Boogie.

Thanks for elaborating on the build, Sonny. I hadn't had those apart before, so I can't really say what the culprits would be. Another idea is to compare the different pickups within the guitar... if they all squeal, potting may make more sense. If it is just one, then perhaps something is broken.

Lots of PAF style pickups can perform well (albeit not flawlessly) in high gain with no wax when they are put together very well, so I'm assuming the same could be said for these. I could be wrong.

[impaJah]

And just as an aside I played it today and with the pedal on it sounded like the distortion was actually a bit worse than before I touched the magnet to the pickups. So I'm guessing it made at least some of the magnets on the pickups a little stronger, ay?

[David Schwab]

And just as an aside I played it today and with the pedal on it sounded like the distortion was actually a bit worse than before I touched the magnet to the pickups. So I'm guessing it made at least some of the magnets on the pickups a little stronger, ay?

maybe.

By the way, as a fan of distortion myself, you are actually better using less distortion and gain than you might think, because it can make your guitar sound really small out in the front of the stage. It sounds good right on top of the amp though, which is misleading. A slightly cleaner tone sounds much larger.

[CRU JONES]

Great photo's Sunny! loose parts, as Funky says, is a good thought

I can verify that Teisco's sound awesome through Dual Rectifiers, SLO's and 5150's Turn it up!

I have a theory, I have yet to test, that the Foil part is the "diaphragm". Possibly the coil could be potted and it would still move with the foil... It would add mass though so, that might not be so good. I do have parts for one more rewind of the type in the second picture Sonny posted. No promises on time, but I will let you know what happens. If you could get acceptable results from Funky's ideas, that would be ideal!

Cheers,
Ethan

[CRU JONES]

And just as an aside I played it today and with the pedal on it sounded like the distortion was actually a bit worse than before I touched the magnet to the pickups. So I'm guessing it made at least some of the magnets on the pickups a little stronger, ay?

You may have disoriented the domains of the magnet. Neo's? They are crazy!

You will be able to re-magnetize with the same magnet The pickup might have to take it apart.

[impaJah]

Okay... I feel like a bit of an ass here... so I decided to play the Zim and test out which pickup I thought would be best to pot and in the process I was messing around with the pedal. Well I kept fiddling around with it and I found a nice high gain distortion setting that really put the the sound up front and the noise in the back... so problem solved!! I feel no need now to fix anything and I don't mind the feedback in between silences - in fact it's more of the good kind that I like!

Either way I want to thank everyone that put their time and effort into posting in this thread... especially Sonny who went above and beyond... I really learned a lot!!! You guys rock!!!!!!

[SonnyW]

Great photo's Sunny! loose parts, as Funky says, is a good thought

I can verify that Teisco's sound awesome through Dual Rectifiers, SLO's and 5150's Turn it up!

I have a theory, I have yet to test, that the Foil part is the "diaphragm". Possibly the coil could be potted and it would still move with the foil... It would add mass though so, that might not be so good. I do have parts for one more rewind of the type in the second picture Sonny posted. No promises on time, but I will let you know what happens. If you could get acceptable results from Funky's ideas, that would be ideal!

Cheers,
Ethan

I have had that same thought about the foil being the diaphragm. Does anybody know a source for that kind of foil? I have another design that I am working on which uses a foil insert. I am using Christmas ribbon for that one but it isn't as good looking as the foil that Teisco and Dearmond used.

[SonnyW]

Okay... I feel like a bit of an ass here... so I decided to play the Zim and test out which pickup I thought would be best to pot and in the process I was messing around with the pedal. Well I kept fiddling around with it and I found a nice high gain distortion setting that really put the the sound up front and the noise in the back... so problem solved!! I feel no need now to fix anything and I don't mind the feedback in between silences - in fact it's more of the good kind that I like!

Either way I want to thank everyone that put their time and effort into posting in this thread... especially Sonny who went above and beyond... I really learned a lot!!! You guys rock!!!!!!

I am glad that your problem is solved and that you didn't have to do unnecessary surgery on the pickups. By the way I learned a bit on this one too, I have been working on the gold foil ones, but I never had taken any of that other one apart.

[David Schwab]

OK (IMHO) so this is the one you've got.

My first bass had the 4 string version of those pickups. I really liked the way that bass sounded.

[David Schwab]

I have a theory, I have yet to test, that the Foil part is the "diaphragm".

In theory it might work like a ribbon mic, but the signal from the foil would be so low that you would never hear it. On a regular dynamic mic, the diaphram moves the pickup coil. On a ribbon mic, the ribbon is conductive and eddy current form on it. The moving ribbon then causes current to flow as it moves past a static magnetic field.

But metal pickup covers can cause feedback, but they are a lot thicker than the foil. I think its just because those pickups are so lightly held together and are not potted.