Wax Potting Pickups - A Primer With Photos!

[MartyStrat54]

I just wax potted a set of EL34's. Man did that sweeten them up. It lowered the microphonics and now the tubes just sing. Thanks Lane.

 

[LesPaulopolis]

Great tutorial, great writing. Thanks, Lane!

 

[LesPaulopolis]

I just wax potted a set of EL34's. Man did that sweeten them up. It lowered the microphonics and now the tubes just sing. Thanks Lane.

LoL!

I just wax potted my unibrow. Now I sound exactly like Slash.

 

[Lane Sparber]

I am humbled beyond humbled, guys. I can not believe I have a sticky thread. Thanks a million!

-Lane

 

[MartyStrat54]

A cause for celebration and a round of cheer.

 

[00jett]

Did someone say fixing a squeal.. Maybe Zakk Wylde should wax pot his guitar picks..

 

[Marshall Mann]

A cause for celebration and a round of cheer.

Wish I could make that a round of BEER!

Cheers Lane! Nice work!

 

[MM54]

The pickups in my LP, when I tap on the cover, sends a definite pop through the speakers. On my Cort, there's hardly any noise when I tap on the pickups themselves. Think they ought to be potted some time, or is it something totally else?

 

[Landshark]

Will this process help to keep feedback down? I realized I removed the cover from my LP bridge pickup some time ago and removed some of the wax (Not knowing what I was doing of course).

 

[Lane Sparber]

@ Matt - it might help, but if it's not feeding back and squealing, it might be best not to mess with it.

@Landshark - it could help. Once again, if it's not feeding back, don't mess with it. If it is, pot it!

-Lane

 

[carnada]

Lane, you are at the top of your game man I swear to god. This was VERY, VERY informative and fun to read. If I used passives I would be tearing them out of my guitar right now to re-pot them cause you made it look like fun to do!

I wish someone would do this stuff for Re-Tubeing, Biasing, Re-Capping (cause I need to do my head ), Tremolos, Nut repair, Re-Fretting, Scalloping, and so on. The new guys that come on here ask about this stuff all the time and we (in general as a forum) are constantly answering these questions (and answering these questions from each other all the time for that matter). It would be nice to have a Sticky thread just for tutorials on this kind of stuff.

ADWEX, guys, what do you think? is it too much work or is it something that could be done?

I know how to adjust tremolos, I can do nut repairs and a bit of scalloping xD.

But seruiously, I really need to know the biasing bs

 

[TwinACStacks]

Congrats on the sticky Lane. GREAT THREAD.

TWIN

 

[Lane Sparber]

Congrats on the sticky Lane. GREAT THREAD.

TWIN

Thanks, Twin! That means a lot!

-Lane

 

[Spirit]

Very nice posting mate- by the way the wax melt machine is used for hair removel, and is applied with a wood stick and peeled off to remove hair growth, short and long, curly or straight! How do i know- I went out with a girl who worked in a beauty shop, man she was smooth! (as a person I mean...........Cough !!!!

 

[Lane Sparber]

Very nice posting mate- by the way the wax melt machine is used for hair removel, and is applied with a wood stick and peeled off to remove hair growth, short and long, curly or straight! How do i know- I went out with a girl who worked in a beauty shop, man she was smooth! (as a person I mean...........Cough !!!!

I think I was better off not knowing!

 

[Kunnz]

A+ Lane. I soaked that up with no pot.

 

[cagamp1]

Lane great piece. That's wonderful info, especially for those with vintage pickups.

Another great one would be guitar cavity shielding to reduce noise.

Adwex, what constitutes sticky stature?

 

[Lane Sparber]

Thanks, Cagamp1!

I have some shielding info in my Facebook "Workbench Photos" section. Maybe for the next guitar I have to shied, I'll make another one of these...unless someone else beats me to it!

-Lane

 

[MM54]

Thanks, Cagamp1!

I have some shielding info in my Facebook "Workbench Photos" section. Maybe for the next guitar I have to shied, I'll make another one of these...unless someone else beats me to it!

-Lane

Please do! I'd like to shield my LP but I'm not really sure what/how to go about it... it almost seems like aluminum tape to cover the inside of the chamber with a wire going to ground would be all it takes. Alas, it's probably not that simple

 

[diesect20022000]

Very nice posting mate- by the way the wax melt machine is used for hair removel, and is applied with a wood stick and peeled off to remove hair growth, short and long, curly or straight! How do i know- I went out with a girl who worked in a beauty shop, man she was smooth! (as a person I mean...........Cough !!!!

man i don't remember how i knew that....i'm not gay nor have i ever worked in a solon....anyway back to Lane. I just had to say man, GREAT job with this. to the point and actualy FUN to watch....and if you can make wax potting a pickup entertaining i would LOVE to see your band perform!