Potting

[other1152]

i'm starting to attempt wax potting some pickups now, (after noticing my cellphone ringing through my amp with the lacquer potted single coils i did before), and the first one the wax got ALMOST NO penetration... any tips or tricks out there? was it just not hot enough do you think? i'm mixing beeswax to paraffin btw


let me get some opinions... what do you guys prefer? wax?? lacquer? specify if your talking single coils or humbuckers.

[Chuck H]

Most guys use wax, not lacquer. Varnish OR urethane are also popular choices but require long dry times compared to wax. Hearing your cell phone through the pickup is NOT a sign of microphony. Even well potted pickups can introduce noise from EMF's. If the pickup doesn't ring on it's own under high gain conditions it is potted well enough. The pickup coil acting like an antennea to your cell phone is more of a shielding issue. Though most guitars will pickup cell phones at close range the effect can be reduced with ideal shielding.

[David Schwab]

How long did you leave it in the wax? I leave mine in for 10 minutes and they are solid all thew way to the core. I used to use varnish or urethane, but it takes too long to dry, and if it's not fresh it doesn't penetrate. I had a batch of microphonic pickups using that stuff.

Cell phones are notorious for getting picked up by audio gear.

[other1152]

lol, ok, the cell phone was real close to the pickup.. i thought i heard it coming through the amp in my pocket so i held it right up to the pickup.. lmao

also i dont think i potted it for long enough, that with the fact that there was so much wax in the container i think made the wax as a whole alot harder to warm and keep warm.

do i need to worry about my flatwork/ plastic bobbins being cooked against the surface of the warmer? (it only goes to like 70c, i believe)

(EDIT my wax warmer goes to 80c.)

[Chuck H]

do i need to worry about my flatwork/ plastic bobbins being cooked against the surface of the warmer? (it only goes to like 70c, i believe)

Use bailing wire to make a skeleton stand and set the bobbin on it. That wil keep the bobbin off the bottom and You'll get better saturation that way too.

[other1152]

there wasnt any damage doing it the way i did. i'm thinking i got enough saturation this go around, i'll when i put it in a guitar.. which might be after the holidays sometime.... busyy..

[John_H]

Try preheating the pickups before immersing. If they are close to the temperature of the wax the penetration will be much better.

[copperheadroads]

You just need the right temp , have your wax to about 145 F TO 150 F this works best for me
Your wax warmer can is probably hot enough to warp plastic bobbins 80 C is 176 F & deform your butyrate bobbins
sometimes you notice wax solidifying on the pickup just after you drop it in (but like John_H said preheating the pickup will prevent this ) & this don't help if you are trying to do a quick 5 MIN potting