Potting Pickups with something other than wax.

[charrich56]

The melting point on that is 148° F. This is the problem I had with some candle wax. The melting point was too high and it wouldn't melt very well.

I like to buy the paraffin used for paraffin wax baths that people stick their hands in:

Amazon.com : PARAMED Paraffin Wax Refill Unscented 6 lbs. Qty of 1 : Paraffin Baths : Beauty

A mixture of paraffin and beeswax seems to be a widely used potting wax.

There's a thread on this in the TDPRI forum that's interesting -- there are different "formulas" or ratios that various pickup makers use.

No more beeswax for pickup potting... - Telecaster Guitar Forum

David, that's interesting that you use the low temp mixture used for hand and foot wax baths -- obviously it has to have a melt point somewhat less than 135 degrees F , since that is the threshold of burning human skin.

I just wonder if there are other things that might be added to that product to depress the melt point and whether they might have any unwanted effects on the potted pickup. But if you have been using it with your customers' pickups for a while with no untoward effects, then that's all good.

-Charlie

[David Schwab]

A mixture of paraffin and beeswax seems to be a widely used potting wax.

There's a thread on this in the TDPRI forum that's interesting -- there are different "formulas" or ratios that various pickup makers use.

No more beeswax for pickup potting... - Telecaster Guitar Forum

David, that's interesting that you use the low temp mixture used for hand and foot wax baths -- obviously it has to have a melt point somewhat less than 135 degrees F , since that is the threshold of burning human skin.

I just wonder if there are other things that might be added to that product to depress the melt point and whether they might have any unwanted effects on the potted pickup. But if you have been using it with your customers' pickups for a while with no untoward effects, then that's all good.

-Charlie

I don't use beeswax, and have no plans on doing so. They add paraffin oil to the wax to make it softer. The ingredients are printed right on the wax. Some have other oils and fragrance, but I don't use those, I use pure paraffin. You can get different grades of paraffin that melt at different temperatures.

Beeswax has lots of other ingredients in it too (From Wikipedia; Its main components are palmitate, palmitoleate, and oleate esters of long-chain (30–32 carbons) aliphatic alcohols, with the ratio of triacontanyl palmitate CH3(CH2)29O-CO-(CH2)14CH3 to cerotic acid[8] CH3(CH2)24COOH, the two principal components, being 6:1. Beeswax can be classified generally into European and Oriental types. The saponification value is lower (3–5) for European beeswax, and higher (8–9) for Oriental types.)

If they don't cause problems, anything added to paraffin that's safe for your skin shouldn't matter either.

[big_teee]

I do the same as David.
I use canning paraffin wax, and soften it with pure paraffin oil (paraffin Lamp oil).
It works great.
I've never seen any signs of anyone using bees wax.
I think it is an advertising Myth, like snake oil!