Wax Potting

hotpickups

I've always had NON wax potted pickups but are there any benefits for having wax potted ones? I am presuming feedback issues but I do like to use a bit of feedback sometimes

drwiddly

It stops squealing rather than 'proper' feedback (where a note is resonating with the speaker/room). Potted pickups are pretty much essential if you use a fair amount of gain.

hotpickups

drwiddly said:

It stops squealing rather than 'proper' feedback (where a note is resonating with the speaker/room). Potted pickups are pretty much essential if you use a fair amount of gain.

Well I use I suppose I use about the same amount of gain as a Led Zeppelin song which ain't that much I guess to today's standards i.e. metal etc

hotpickups

Maybe worthy of another thread but I thought I'd condense it. Do you guys ever hear of counterfeit (Seymore Duncan for example) pickups? I'm such a pessimist by nature and always feel someone is going to try screw me over but is there a way one can tell a fake etc? I remember one attempt on eBay trying to pass off a fake set of Monty's pickups 

OilCityPickups

As @drwiddly says ... there is a huge difference between squeal and feedback, and I never recommend high gain players to have unpotted. Potting won't change your ability to get controlled feedback. True, potting removes a tiny bit of high end sparkle ... but overall in modern high gain playing it can be the difference between playability and un-playability. 

drwiddly

Buy your pickups from @TheGuitarWeasel and a) you won't need to worry about counterfeits and b) they'll sound better than SD's.

hotpickups

drwiddly said:

Buy your pickups from @TheGuitarWeasel and a) you won't need to worry about counterfeits and b) they'll sound better than SD's.

Ok I'll check Oil City out

hotpickups

Just checked 'em out the 'Scrapyard dog' looks good. Similar to the 'Airship Trooper' i.e. Alnico V but there's no info on that one on the website. @TheGuitarWeasel ?

drwiddly

Not tried the Scrapyard Dog but I have the Scrapyard Dog + in a couple of my guitars and it's probably my favourite pickup ever.

hotpickups

drwiddly said:

Not tried the Scrapyard Dog but I have the Scrapyard Dog + in a couple of my guitars and it's probably my favourite pickup ever.

Yeah I saw that but I think I wouldn't need that much DC / Output

OilCityPickups

hotpickups said:

drwiddly said:

Not tried the Scrapyard Dog but I have the Scrapyard Dog + in a couple of my guitars and it's probably my favourite pickup ever.

Yeah I saw that but I think I wouldn't need that much DC / Output

Repeating myself again ... but DC resistance DOES NOT EQUAL OUTPUT!
The Scrapyard Dog Plus is slightly hotter PAF design. Because it's wound with 43awg wire rather than 42awg as used on a PAF, the DC resistance readings are higher, but the actual output is not a great deal more ... they simply sound a bit thicker and beefier.  

hotpickups

TheGuitarWeasel said:

hotpickups said:

drwiddly said:

Not tried the Scrapyard Dog but I have the Scrapyard Dog + in a couple of my guitars and it's probably my favourite pickup ever.

Yeah I saw that but I think I wouldn't need that much DC / Output

Repeating myself again ... but DC resistance DOES NOT EQUAL OUTPUT!
The Scrapyard Dog Plus is slightly hotter PAF design. Because it's wound with 43awg wire rather than 42awg as used on a PAF, the DC resistance readings are higher, but the actual output is not a great deal more ... they simply sound a bit thicker and beefier.  

Ok in my case I don't think I want to be beefier than vintage spec really. 8.5 K at the most I reckon. Which are hot IMO. I've pm'd you by the way @TheGuitarWeasel  

drwiddly

Your pickup preferences and your forum name are somewhat at odds? 

hotpickups

drwiddly said:

Your pickup preferences and your forum name are somewhat at odds? 

LOL I knew someone would pick that one up ha ha

fretfinder

I’ve got some Throbak PAFs and they were a bit squealy so Spence at Shed did a partial wax potting just between the top of the bobbins and the underside of the nickel cover. His theory was it should stop the squealing but not reduce the sparkle. Seems to work well.

OilCityPickups

fretfinder said:

I’ve got some Throbak PAFs and they were a bit squealy so Spence at Shed did a partial wax potting just between the top of the bobbins and the underside of the nickel cover. His theory was it should stop the squealing but not reduce the sparkle. Seems to work well.

As does what we call a 'short dip': that's giving a pickup about 1 minute in the bath. enough to get the first couple of layers of the coil and fix the other components ... then the pickup is cooled upside down, so any residue collects between the bobbins and the cover. 
Still not good enough for really high gain ... we double soak those for 2 hours bobbin only, then soak the entire pickup for a further two hours.
The type of wax makes a difference too: beeswax deadens more tone than pure paraffin ... so we only use pure paraffin wax now.

hotpickups

You've one me over oil city. Looking forward to getting your pickups installed now

rossi

I noted a  ladies waxing pot going cheap at my local chemist .Looks like a pickup would fit ( guitar that is )

OilCityPickups

rossi said:

I noted a  ladies waxing pot going cheap at my local chemist .Looks like a pickup would fit ( guitar that is )

Often they don't get the wax hot enough ... I use a beauty shop wax therapy 5 litre bath (cost quite a wedge) and use it flat out with a modified thermostat. 

rossi

TheGuitarWeasel said:

rossi said:

I noted a  ladies waxing pot going cheap at my local chemist .Looks like a pickup would fit ( guitar that is )

Often they don't get the wax hot enough ... I use a beauty shop wax therapy 5 litre bath (cost quite a wedge) and use it flat out with a modified thermostat. 

All these  trade secrets pouring out ............

OilCityPickups

rossi said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

rossi said:

I noted a  ladies waxing pot going cheap at my local chemist .Looks like a pickup would fit ( guitar that is )

Often they don't get the wax hot enough ... I use a beauty shop wax therapy 5 litre bath (cost quite a wedge) and use it flat out with a modified thermostat. 

All these  trade secrets pouring out ............

not a secret ... it's what most pickup builders use :-)