Shellac potting done right

[DrStrangelove]

Sorry man
who the hell are you, isn't that poor taste?
If its a big deal I'll just change the name.
It was a simple question that didn't require a snarky response.

Shitfart, your lusername is painfully unsophisticated, infantile actually,
even below the standards of juvenile and sophomoric.

We here aspire to a better quality of sociopathic rudeness.
For example, witness the past epic discussions of sheep shagging.

At the very least, mix latin and greek roots ... Coproflatus, for example.

[David King]

I was about to change my user name to phoquefart and pile on but I decided that the more sensitive elements might take offense so I declined.

[Peter Naglitsch]

We here aspire to a better quality of sociopathic rudeness.

Amen to that!

[salvarsan]

I was about to change my user name to phoquefart and pile on but I decided that the more sensitive elements might take offense so I declined.

Douglas Adams, while writing Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, named a character the name Phartiphucborlz. The censors complained and the replacement name was Slartibartfast. Given that bone, the censors didn't bark when Adams named two philosophers Vroomfondel and Majikthise.

The lesson is that if someone wants to exhibit juvenile humor in public, it should be clever and literate.

I kinda like the word "scatocephalic" meselfs.

[David King]

The end result to a poor choice of onyma is that it instantly and irrevocably derails any further discussion.

[Jim Shine]

Is there a right way to do this?
I cant inagine it would dry if fully saturated through and through like wax potting.
Can I just dip it in a can of fresh shellac for a few seconds then let them hang dry, or use a spray??

I will try to get it back on track.

Fender used finishes to pot pickups for a very long time. All of the PE pickups they wound from the 50's-80's were dipped in lacquer and maybe sometimes schellac.

You are right, it does not penetrate the coil. When you start unwinding old ones, you find there is a "skin" on the coil where the finish makes its way in a little from the outside, but inside the winds are unpotted. This very well may play some sort of role in how these pickups sound, but I am sure it is negligible. In theory it should sound like a cross between a potted and unpotted pickup. Only a small amount is potted, the area on the exterior and most likely to create microphonics.

I used to pot old rewinds in shellac, pure blonde flakes melted in alcohol..but it took forever to dry. I started dipping in lacquer to speed things up. I do not believe there is any sonic difference between the two materials. I would use a musical instrument grade lacquer if you go that route. The finish is made to be flexible. Many old ones die after the finish gets brittle, cracks and breaks a coil wire.

[Jazz P Bass]

onyma .

I love learning a new word.
Thanks.

[David Schwab]

I used to use varnish for potting. It never dried all the way and if it was getting old the pickups were microphonic. I wouldn't bother with it.

[tedmich]

I thought Big_Teee just hated SF, maybe not a Niners/Giants fan... no harm no foul IMHO

[David King]

Welcome to the forum SF. Glad you decided to jump through our tiny hoops. The hazing rituals were a lot worse in the old days. They made me walk 20 miles to a hardware store to ask for "brass magnets and a pail of propeller pitch."

[kayakerca]

Welcome to the forum SF. Glad you decided to jump through our tiny hoops. The hazing rituals were a lot worse in the old days. They made me walk 20 miles to a hardware store to ask for "brass magnets and a pail of propeller pitch."

barefoot. . . in the snow. . . uphill. . . both directions! ! !

[tedmich]

I relish profanity, but it does have its place, often mysteriously defined

[Mark Hammer]

Without passing judgment on anyone, I'll simply note that, as much as people love coy handles, ideally one's handle ought to be something that other people can refer to you by in a respectful manner, and feel comfortable doing so. It just makes for smoother conversation and dialogue, when there is a discussion in which people refer back and forth to the points being raised by the many discussants.

As for shellac potting, having worked on a Telecaster neck pickup that I believe was shellac potted, I can only say NEVER AGAIN! Look up the word "nuisance" in the dictionary, and you see a picture of a shellac-potted pickup.

[Bryan Jeppson]

While I pot my guitar pups in wax, I pot my bass pickups in cheap bullseye shellac. Just let'em soak for 15min or so, pull them out, wipe off excess, and let cure for a week. Sometimes I take a small strip of wax paper, wrap it around the coil, and use a very small weak plastic spring clamp for about the first 30 minutes of drying so that the coil dries a bit tighter.

[David Schwab]

Just let'em soak for 15min or so, pull them out, wipe off excess, and let cure for a week.

Make sure the can isn't old, or it won't dry completely. I can't afford to have coils sitting that long, so I switched to wax.