De-microphonicing Gold foils

[dadydg]

I have an old Teisco/Decca solidbody with De Armond Gold Foil pickups. The have adjustable pole pieces.

I love their tone, but they are very microphonic. They are mounted directly to the pickguard. I tried putting a bit of foam under the bridge p'up to get it closer to the strings and possibly isolate it from vibrations, but it still squeals when the volume gets a bit loud (not real loud, just loud for a bedroom).

By the way, I play Teles and am accustomed to playing guitars with microphonic p'ups. It's just that these are so bad I can't hardly turn the amp up without them screaming (in a bad way ).

Any suggestions on how to reduce the "squeal" without altering the tone?

Thanks,
Dan

[Sweetfinger]

Those aren't Dearmonds. The problem is that all the internal bits in those Japanese pups are really loose. Pretty much the only cure is a dip in hot wax, which will, as a side effect, reduce a bit of the 'groov-a-lishus' factor.

[David Schwab]

I've been dipping some of my coils in polyurethane, which seems to reduce the squeal while not rounding off the top end like wax.

Might be worth a try. Just make sure you let it dry thoroughly.

[oahu]

Teisco Gold Foil pickups

hello. i'm interrestet in getting those pickups. as i found out there are at least 3 different looking ones. what is the difference in sound?

where can i find more information on these?

as i did see on a photograph, there are 3 wires coming out of them, and as they're no humbuckers, what is the 3rd wire?

by the way: does anyone make replicas of teisco, valco string-thru lapsteel pickups and supro/national/airline singlecoil pickups?

i know, i know, lots of questions. would be very fine, if someone can help me with that.

greetings from vienna

[parentheticalfact]

I own many of these pickups and I've potted the crap out of way too many of them. I personally believe the tone suffered a bit, but they still sounded good.
Be very careful because the thin plastic the bobbins are made out of melts VERY easily. Keep the temp as low as you can. You may not be able to penetrate the coil completely using this method, but as you said you're used to some microphonics.
As for oahu's question, the three wire gold foil pickups have a ground (to the casing of the pickup), and two signal (coil) wires. You can wire the phase with other pickups easily with these.
And as far as sound I think the really flat ones with the poles on the side have a much fatter tone than the type with the screws in the center. The ones with screws in the center sound like a weak little p-90 with more top in a good way of course.