Self Potting Pickups?

[R.G.]

It strikes me that if one were to swab the wire as it is being wound on to a coil with a bit of whatever adhesive gook you want, it would solidify onto the coil as the gook cures. The coil would set up into a solid. There would still be lots of air in there, but there should be enough adhesive points to bind the wires into non-microphonicity.

Any commercial pickups wound this way, perhaps with a wet roller like is used to wax skis?

[mkat]

What about bondable magnet wire? It seems that it would be easier.

[Rosewood]

I heard some winders had a spray attachment to spray the coil every few turns with a solvent to stick the wire together.

[petemoore]

I was thinking about something like that too.
Soap, paint, something mild like that.
Having never wound a pickup, I can't speculate whether running the wire through guides in a bath of ___ would create too much tension, perhaps somewhat watered down all purpose glue.

[Spence]

I was thinking about something like that too.
Soap, paint, something mild like that.
Having never wound a pickup, I can't speculate whether running the wire through guides in a bath of ___ would create too much tension, perhaps somewhat watered down all purpose glue.

You might be needing an apron and some headgear unless you like being splattered in your potting medium.

[petemoore]

..

If you like re-re-winds, having a pot substance that thins out in water would be nice.
whether water chemically influences any of the PU materials I don't know.
something goo-ey, which also has surface tension [or is it tensile strength]...uh..the ability to stabilize coil turns by just being there whether in goo state or 'cured'...would work.

[soundmasterg]

I personally like pickups that aren't potted unless they need potting to get rid of microphonics.

Greg

[madialex]

You might be needing an apron and some headgear unless you like being splattered in your potting medium.

Please see Spence's comments above
I personally dont want to take a bath in any potting agent, therefore pot after winding. I imagine my landlord would take offense to the spatter from my winder slinging potting goo all over hell and gone.

On another note, what the hell's up with the damn heat here, jesus it is 104 and with the heat index factored in it is 114. I work outside and this crap sucks!!!!!!!!!!

[soundmasterg]

Its 76 here....you live in the wrong place methinks.

Greg

[Mark Hammer]

What kind of substance would be appropriate for that task? The thing about wax is that it doesn't shrink much over time, so it doesn't tug at the wire and risk breaking it. Anything that one could spray/splatter/wipe on that might dry in coats is likely to be stuff that also shrinks over time. Having repaired one Tele pickup that was "potted" in varnish or something similar, I'm not eager to do it again. I'll stick to wax, thankyou.

The other thing is that anything coating the wire as it goes on takes up space, whereas wax that seaps in post hoc finds whatever space is there. Different consequence for the coil properties.

So, ultimately, to my mind at any rate, not really that much of a convenience....regardless of the temperature or your relationship with your landlord.

[David Schwab]

I also think bondable magnet wire might be a good thing to try, if that's what you're after. I think you just need to dunk the finished pickup in alcohol.

[Mark Hammer]

Does the alchohol dissolve the coating, and if so how much?

[jonson]

bondable

I used some years ago from a english company called Barmaper. Just use to dunk the whole thing in metholated spirits (alcohol) and let dry. they said you could put voltage through it and it would bond as well but never tried that. It's two different layers of lacquer and the outer one melts the whole thing together while the inner coating stays stable. got to remember that 2 coatings does mean it's thicker than standard to start with.

[wblakesx]

Slow cure?

Decoupage material ( a two part urethane I believe) might suit. It forms a very high gloss on flat surfaces since it take a day or so to cure. It has a thick consistency and is a two part system, another slow cure is JB weld which is not so pretty but available from auto parts shops.

[jonson]

2 part urethane laquers would worry me in a couple of things. I use a lot of the stuff as a spraying material and I am well kitted up to do so but they nearly all use an isocyanate as the hardening agent and worth reading a health and safety notice there concerning asthma and skin problems. Plus it would have to be a real slow one to penetrate the coil as the market trends have favoured faster drying times and most pu laquers can cure and be polished in 5 hours these days and would slow drying cause any problems of it bitting in to the wire enamel. Question for you guys who ahve been at this for some time. Is there a stigma about self bonding wire. I used it in the 90s making all the pickups for the Goodfellow Basses I built when I took over from Kent and built the pickups by the same method he used, Encapsulated epoxy.
I'm no pickup maker just here to learn about a certain type of pickup but when I made those things nobody seemed to notice any changes as Kent did wax pot his coils. Does bondable give bad tones, cost too much, does not go with history ie it's not formvar or pe as was used in the early days or has not enough been done to experiment with it. I use to take the coils off the formers I made and you could rap a coil on a work surface and it was solid all the way through but no short probs, so why is it not used. what are do you guys think on this?..