Taping before, and after wax potting

[LVS]

Hi everybody. I rewound a defunct humbucker coil - for personal use. I applied some tension but also (and intentionally) a lot of scatter. To satisfy my curiosity I'm gonna reassemble the pickup and test how usable it is squeal-wise without potting. If necessary, I'll take off the coil again and wax dip it. A question: would unwrapping the cloth tape first, optimize the potting? Or is it advisable just to leave the tape on?

Thanks,
Lucas

[Jim Darr]

Lucas,

When I pot HBs I always dip the entire assembled pickup in the potting solution. You need to take precautions so the tape doesn't unravel -- like rubber bands or a dab of glue on the tape ends.

Be sure to follow all the safety precautions of heating the wax mixture and keep the temperature well controlled in safe ranges. Never heat the wax with an open flame, etc, etc.

[copperheadroads]

When I pot humbuckers .I do it without the outside cloth tape as most times it ends up hanging off ,as for the paper tape on the coils it seems to stay put & as pointed out a rubber band certainly help out .

[big_teee]

Hi Lucas:
I Ditto what the others said.
I just pot the whole assembly, without the cloth tape.
If it has a metal cover, I pot with the cover on.
I drain the excess wax out the corner holes.
A lot of times the metal components is where the microphonics come from.
A lot of winders agree that a humbucker coil not overly potted has better harmonics.
140-145F degrees is a good potting temp for 10 minutes or so.
GL,
T

[mr fab]

i wrap them before potting, but always put a dab of CA glue on the end to stop unravelling. the tape can feel loose and liable to slip off when hot, but will solidify and stay in place once cooled.... you just have to be careful handling it whilst its hot.

i guess everyone does it their own way....there is no right or wrong.

i sell a lot of my pickup unpotted, i find metal covers the main cause of feedback. i piece of double sided tape under the central cover damps the cover enough to relieve the problem.

[big_teee]

One more point on taping.
I think all of us put on paper tape before potting.
Apparently the question is when to cloth tape.
If a pickup is going to have a metal cover then I only use paper tape, no cloth tape.
If the pickup is left uncovered, I paper tape the bobbins before assembly.
After final assembly, then put a rubber band or string over the paper tape then pot.
I put the cloth tape on after potting so it looks fresh, and clean.
The cloth tape is expensive, & I want it to look nice, So I put it on last.
Like fab said I put a little glue or clear fingernail polish on the end of the cloth tape to keep it from unraveling.
YMMV, but that is how most of us here do it!
GL,
T