Why are guitar pickups potted in paraffin wax and should you pot your guitar's pickups? If you want to pot the pickups in your electric guitar, here's how to do it.
I use 20% bees wax to 80% paraffin because the bees wax smells good when I'm playing =) Now excuse me I need to smell the cork from the wine bottle I just opened.
Hi Chris. I should also want to mention that the ideal melting temperature of paraffin or other wax is 65 degrees Celcius or 149 degrees Fahrenheit. If you go above that, you can indeed damage the coil or the plastic bobbins. If you see the wax is starting to smoke, put the power immediatly off. Like you said... it will cause fire and that's pretty much the same as an overheated frying pan.. so NEVER put water on it ! Personal i always have a fire blanket next to me and in my workshop i have multiple POWDER fire distinguisers; Never use liqiud ones. And i always use a thermometer in the pot too.Greets from Belgium. Thanks and cheers.
Thank you sir for sharing this video. I had a problem with my humbucker pickup. It was suddenly had a microphonic feedback, and after did this wax potting, now the problem is fixed. I am so happy about it.
For the records, the legend about EVH is just that, or at least he didn't invent the potting but resurrected it. Fender used to pot his hand wound pick ups until the mid 60s. He stopped probably after the introduction of the automatic winders, which allowed for a much tighter and consistent winding.
Man this really helped. I was just about to go the Epoxy route as all the wax repotting videos I watched seemed way to involved as far as the proper equipment, precautions, etc. Heck, even a big dummy like me can do it this way lolol Fantastic!! Thanks a bunch 😀
I learn something new from every one of your videos. That "wax potting" reminds me of old large electric motors where they fill up the voids in the windings with epoxy. Im guessing it achieves a similar end result but for different purposes. I assume the epoxy was to reduce fatigue from constant vibrations over a long period of time. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Excellent tips and content!. I will add that some of the inexpensive guitars and their pickups coming out of Asia are not wax potted and their Single-coil pu guitars can be quite microphonic but the balance of the guitars are okay , so this will come in very handy. Thank you 😊
I came looking for a quick fixing tip to my humbuckers....and left with a hole experience of relaxing knowledge and stories about guitar,really loved it. p.s. all hail Eddie Van Halen
For potting pickups you can use some wax warmer usually used for depilation purposes) They are not expensive and some even have temperature regulators, so you can set 65 C. And vacuum chamber would sufficiently speed up the process of potting
Great stuff Chris, total common sense approach to all your work 😀 Mini crock pot definitely safest way. I do mine in a stainless steel dog water bowl in a larger saucepan of water, sat on four large hex nuts, keeps from getting pan too hot but I also use use a probe thermometer to keep temp just right 😀 let the wax set after and can be re-used several times. All the best, love your channel.
Thank you for this video. Very helpful. The pickups in my squier classic vibe tele need to be wax potted. They sound really nice, but they are microphonic. BTW, EVH did not invent wax potting pickups. Pickups were being wax potted long before EVH was around.
Be careful. You can get them too hot. I had a '70s Dimarzio SD that squealed pretty bad. It was one of the first pickups I potted and it never worked again. Since then I've kept the temperature right around 160F, which is just enough to keep the wax liquefied and it seems to work well.
Great and interesting video. I'm not a guitarist, but my daughter plays. She had won this Epiphone bullet strat, and I took it upon myself to upgrade it a bit (just as a hobby)- so I've been researching stuff. I've already sanded and refinished the neck, conditioned the fretboard and polished the frets. Overall I've been told that despite this being a cheap guitar, it's currently set up well, no fret buzz...so my next project was replacing the pickups and pickguard. Since I wasn't planning on spending a lot, I saw in the Amazon comments about wax potting. I came to this video, and you gave the perfect explanation and procedure of how and why you do it- I figure with cheap pick-up this would be something I would definitely want to do. Thanks!
What does one have to lose if the pickups are already flirting with garbage status? I'm going to give it a shot with several pickups before spending money I don't in the first place.
The feedback is not caused by the loose winding wires bouncing into one another. It is caused but the wires vibrating next to a magnet (pole pieces). This generates spurious high frequency eddy currents in the wire and this is why potting works. Winding them tighter will have the same effect but waxing is a much easier way to hold them still.
This is great. Have a problem with a high dollar set of PAF IV replica's that have unbelievable microphonic feedback at volume rendering them unusable. Otherwise, these pickups sound great clean and with gain. Never had any issues with runaway microphonic with countless other non-potted PAF pickups so this set is a candidate for potting. Seems like the windings might be looser that normal? Going to do this very soon to salvage this set.
Ive been thinking about making pickups, mostly to experiment and I typically overthink and over engineer everything. You have the pickups face down in the molten wax so it fills all internal voids but when you removed the pickups to cool you have them resting face up and I would think that could allow the hot wax to gravitate down out of the voids. Would it be better to allow the pickups to cool face down? Thanks. Good video.
Man thanks now I’m going to pot the bridge pickup on my 2017 tele deluxe with non potted WRHB Tim Shaw designed really they are just humbuckers it squeaks like a pig at even a little bit of gain
I very much appreciated this video. Do the vibrating coils (i.e. caused by microphonics ) add any valid "harmonics" to the guitar string signal or just squeal with external frequencies of the ambient stage surroundings. In other words, does the guitar tone change after potting ? I am a physicist-guitarist and have yet to find a detailed computer siumulation of the electromagnetic physics, beyond a statement of Faraday's law. If you have a solid physics reference, please post. Thank you !
I get cheap hand made pickups off AliExpress and I love the sound of them but super microphonic. I need to do this and then I'm sure the 35$ pickups will be my new favorite pickups.
It's impressive how terrified people are of doing this, judging from the comments. Like they don't want to spend the 10 bucks to get a crock pot. Okay fine. Here's how you do it with basically no tools whatsoever. Go to your local dollar store and get one of those mexican religious candles. You know, the ones in a glass jar that's about 8 inches long or so. Make sure you get one with white wax. Take the pot you normally cook your food in. Put water in it. Put it on the smallest burner at the lowest setting on your stove. Stick the candle in the pot with the opening facing up. Wait. Once the wax for the candle is melted, fish out the candle wick. Throw it away. Dip your pickup in the wax and wait until the bubbles stop. Remove. Continue until all the pickups are waxed. Remove the candle from the pot. Dump out the water in the sink. Now go play your guitar. Note, if your pickups are too fat to fit in the glass candle jar, just go pour the liquid wax into a old clean spaghetti sauce jar or something of that nature. Then place the spaghetti jar full of wax into the pot of hot water, where the candle had been moments before.
Great video!! Iv benn playing for 47 years, and now, for the first time, I gotta do the same process with some single coil 'duncan design's dual-blade pickups, in all your infinite wisdom, do you know of any tips, do"s an dong's thatI need to know about?
I'm re-potting a set of HB pickups because I added covers to them: another reason to do it. Well, one is a re-pot adding back the cover after painting it, and one is a never been potted Schaller from the 80s (that has squealed since 1983) with a new matching painted cover (2x enamel cured for a year)... I'll see if the enamel survives the potting, but at 150F, probably not a prob..??..Lab experiments are so fun. Thanks for the video, a timely find for me :) You and Dylan agree, why bother with Beezwax... unless you leave a guitar in the sun...which I think the pickups would be the least of the problems at that point...
@@rickya3877 I do, to keep the covers from causing a slight vibration noise...some like the non potted sound, but I hate the random sqeal when you use gain or a really hot amp. The last set I did had 2X rust-o-leum on the covers, and they came out just fine. I let the paint dry for a month (in the summer) b4 I dipped them.
@@Bob_at_Quibsonguitarworks much appreciated,Bob...I just learned from other vids that some of the squealing can be from space between the covers and bobbins... something I never knew
Hi Chris! Great video as always! Question... once you're done potting the pickups, you just let the wax cool down until next time? How many times you can reuse it? Thank you!
Yeah, but Eddie didn't invent two-hand tapping either... Yet he brought it to the forefront of pop-culture and because of him, a generation of guitar players adopted that technique. Same thing with the potted pickups, Eddie didn't invent it, but he had an issue and he found a way to fix it, and because it was Eddie, his influence had everybody wanting to do it. Enzo Ferrari didn't invent the automobile, but that doesn't take away from his amazing cars.
For some reason the colored chinese pickups (example Artec) the plastic of the bobbin is less resistant to heat. I have waxed dozens of humbuckers and the blacks and zebras have no issue, but i have melted 2 humbuckers that had colored bobbins. (One red and one blue). They were beautiful and sound great, but they didn't resist the waxing
The T° does not exceed 50° to have a melted paraffin, and this T° does not cause damages to the pickup. be careful of high T°, the paraffin is a derivative of hydrocarbon, highly inflammable and its vapor is very toxic.
I bought a cheap dual rail humbucker that squeals terribly! I'm thinking I should take the tape or the wrap off the windings before submerging in the wax.... yes? Reapply it after the wax has set....Kinda makes sense to me....
Yes, you should. The tape will unravel from the heat if you leave it in place while potting. Be very careful as you remove the tape to protect the coil windings. After potting apply new tape as the old tape may not stick very well.
Hi Chris, I'm looking to install a pickup cover on a humbucker. Would you recommend that I wax pot the cover before installing onto the pickup in order to prevent microphonics? Is this even necessary? Thank you for the very instructional tutorial you put together.
The effect of the tone is the string being the only sound source for disrupting the magnet and producing signal to the amp. Great pickups that are wound properly do not need wax. The unwaxed pickup hears everything from the strings, springs in a tremolo, hardware, pickup surround rings or guard, springs holding pickups, and most importantly, the reflective energy off the speaker that bounces off the guitar that gets to be used in a “feedback loop” allowing this sweet sustain and feedback that you can control and use as a part of your playing style. Loose windings on pickups are the culprit and why cheaper pickups may need wax. You will lose TONE from all the other variables…. But if you play though a ton of processors and pedals…. It may not even matter to you. I love proper unpotted pickups that capture the whole performance and sound.
If the purpose is to prevent vibration from the wound wires, then why not just use thin super glue? It would absorb quickly through the wires and dry within a few minutes. Just curious...
Question. Does the entire pickup need to be wax filled? Or just the winding? I changed a cover on a P90 by Melting the solder and prying it off. There was a lot of wax between the metal P90 cover and the pickup. I lost a lot of it but the windings seem to likely have all their wax. It the pickup okay? Or will it need to be re waxed?
Hi! I have a nerd question here. When you expose the whole pickup in to the melted wax (high temperature), doesn't affect the magnetic strength of the bar magnet or coil insulation of wire?
OK, so I tried this for the first time today on a $10 pair of invader knock offs, and long story short all the plastic parts melted. Do you a have a link to a video on the easiest way to rewind pickups to a new bobbin? Lol, if I didn't screw up I would never learn how to fix things.
I bought a set of second hand Evos years ago, and I figured it put that they are literally covered in wax. They play great, but all that wax is terrible to see. Is there a method to remove the eccess without spoiling the whole thing?
Today I completed my Teisco Japanese guitar restore and while playing it I noticed the pickups were transmitting noise from the scratch plate to the amp. I could knock on the scratch plate or even switch the pickups in and out and it was audible through the amp. Do you think wax potting would help? Thank you.
I actually waxed the pickups a couple of days ago, I was able to test them today, it actually works, I used it with a Rockerverb 100 watts and the whistling/feedback is gone...
Because Beeswax melts at a higher temperature than paraffin it will resist breakdown in extremes of temperature. That is why 20% beeswax is used in the mix with paraffin...stability.
What do you think would happen to a guitar if it was exposed to temperatures hot enough (120-150 degrees) to melt paraffin wax? Hint: wood glue fails at the same temperature.
@@HighlineGuitars I recently watched a video from Hawaii where a luthier was repairing Les Pauls from the 70s that had the pancake stacked and glued slab bodies that were delaminating and coming apart. Apparently it is not all that uncommon in Hawaii. From what I gathered in the comments it is a combination of the salt in the air and the constant high humidity coupled with the high year round average temperature. I found it interesting that the phenomenon isn't heard of from 70s Les Paul owers in states that have higher extreme temperatures or higher extremes in humidity or warm sea coastal areas. Only in Hawaii where the weather is consistent year round.. By the way, the common Gulf Wax paraffin found in food stores used for canning food actually melts at very low temperatures..only 99 degrees fahrenheit, compared to Bees wax at 145. Combining Beeswax with cheap paraffin will give you a melting point somewhere between the two. I know from experience that stage lighting can easily cause stage temperatures to reach over 100 degrees F in some clubs. Something else to consider when choosing the wax for potting your pickups.
Hi! I was wondering if you could help here.. I would like to change my pickups's (Gibson 490r 498t) cover with new ones and I was wondering if I will need to wax pot the pickups again? Thanks
If you have to use a soldering iron to remove the old covers and attach the new ones, some wax will melt, but it won't run out of the coils where it is needed. I would install the new covers and play the guitar as you normally would at the usual volume levels to see if there's an issue with microphonic feedback. If there isn't, you're good to go. If it squeals, a dip in some wax may be necessary. I'm betting you won't need to dip 'em.
@@HighlineGuitars thanks for getting back to me! I really appreciated it! - I was planning to match the pole screws as well. What do you think? Do I need to deep them in his case?
Hello, Good info .... recently because of hot weather a bit of wax escaped and I can see some wax residue on the face of both pickups ... does it mean I need to re-pot with wax again ? Will loosing few drops of wax impact the sound ?
@@HighlineGuitarsthank you for your reply. We had an extreme weather in UK 35*C ... my guitar is black and it was sitting by the window ... apart from 2 drops of wax didn't find any other problems.
The Van Halen story is a complete internet myth. Based on one interview he did where he was pulling the interviewers leg with silly stories about his inventiveness and she totally bought it. Eddie did not invent guitar pickup wax potting. If Eddie wax potted his pickups he was merely adding more wax to already potted pickups to further reduce microphonic feedback. The first manufacturers to pot their pickups in their electric guitars to prevent feedback was Rickenbacker as far back as the 1930s . Leo Fender was wax potting all the pickups put in his 1951 Telecasters well before Eddie was born.
@@HighlineGuitars All electrical coils and many other electronic components like capacitors were dipped in something to make them more stable, moisture and corrosion resistant. Coils that got hot, like transformers were dipped in lacquer or epoxy. Cold coils like chokes, induction coils, low current electromagnets and transponders were dipped in wax. The practice is as old as electronics itself.
I am sure there are those who will say that vacuum potting is of vital importance. I am not one of them. As for when is hot too hot, you obviously don't want to exceed the temperature the coating can tolerate. My wire's coating can melts at around 155°F so I keep the wax at around 130°F.
I don't have feedback but I have a lot of vibration and the the guitar sounds screechy. So would wax potting help that? At least to eliminate the pickups as a problem.
I use a combination of paraffin wax, 10%, sex wax for surf boards 30%, and 50% beeswax, and 10% massage candle wax. This makes the pickup smell great in the case after playing in smoke full bars…. I don’t know if this works for everyone….. I don’t know if it works for me…. But I keep trying
Just remove the screws of the pickup sole, and then put some solid paraffin in a spoon and heat its back with a lighter or else, but previously heat the pickup with a hair dryer, then pour the paraffin on the back of the pickup, it will go everywhere inside it, then put your pickup in your freezer some minutes (some pickups makers dive the pickups in liquid nitrogen). This in case you won't pot.
I only play at home with bedroom volume, but I still like to squeeze all I can to get optimal tone. Would potting my humbuckers help any with my tone? EDIT. Or perhaps they're already potted? They're stock Seymour Duncan's in an early 90s jackson king v
It has nothing to do with the other artists on stage. The feed back is caused by the guitar amp and speaker affecting the winds in the coils and shanking them around, the shaking sound transfer to the amp and speaker and back to the coil in a infinite loop. This is pick-up feed back. To stop the coils shaking you cover them in wax. Feedback can occur by way of the strings on the guitar vibrating and feeding back through the amp but in this case the string feedback tones can be very musical and can be used by the artist to produce sustained noted and harmonics.
Intentionally-induced feedback via the pickups and the amp's speakers speaking back and forth until loops begin to happen is one of the coolest-sounding techniques ever, you're dead-center right about that. But then feedback which happens because a guitar's pickup isn't holding together tightly and something or things within it vibrate or resonate when they ought to be still and rigid, sounds terrible. That sort of feedback only sounds shrill and harmonically one-dimensional, and not only that, one is unable to control it via manoeuvres and whatnot. No wonder we hate it, lol.
I see people dipping pickups prior to winding, usually using lacquer. Couldn't I do this with wax instead, considering I'll be wax potting AFTER winding?
@@HighlineGuitars Not sure what your question is exactly in reference to, but I have WAX and not lacquer at the moment, so I'm wondering if I can use what I already have instead of buying some. Secondly, I guess you wax before winding to prevent grounding out?
@@HighlineGuitars OK! I didn't know that. I saw one of the guys on Stew Mac rewind a vintage tele pickup, and he used heavy formvar. Prior to winding, he dipped it in lacquer.
@@scottmartinezguitarandbass it’s not necessary and is probably just a nod to traditionalism. If you’re worried about grounding out, use lacquer (dip several times allowing each coat to dry so you’ll be sure to get complete coverage. Kapton tape is faster, easier, and better.
I think beeswax help keep the wax hard if your guitar may see hot weather. Living in NM and AZ in the summers, it only takes 15 minutes for your car to get to 130 degrees or more. Paraffin would be quite soft, possibly starting to melt at that temp. That's my guess, other than people wanting organic, vegan, hippie pick-ups. Maybe the beeswax smell is like incense when you shred hot licks?
Didn't work for me! I put two humbuckers in my wax and when dried I tested the resistance. Now I have NO readings. Somethings gone wrong!! Thank god they were cheap pickups used to try this method. I would NEVER do this with good pickups. Good quality pickups should not be feeding back anyway. I may try and re-wax to see if I rectify
As long as I'm not concerned about how it looks, I wonder if dripping wax onto an installed pickup still on a guitar to soak it sufficiently enough for internal vibrations which cause microphonics to be dampened/"frozen", then leaving it for a couple of days to fully dry, would be a reasonable and effective way to do this. Of course, I'd remove the pickup covers, lol. I have no "handyman"-like instincts at all, is why I ask. Were I to remove the pickups, there's no way I'd know how to reconnect everything 100% correctly. I bet this is the stupidest question anyone has ever asked you, LOL. Meh, if I own it, I own it. 🤷
"Molten" is definitely not the right word, but made me laugh every time you said it. What do you want for lunch? How about some molten tomato soup with a molten cheese sandwich?
@@HighlineGuitars Probably "melted" or "melted liquid" wax. Molten is for things like metal or rock with super high melting points. Great video btw, hope I didn't dampen your day!
I use 20% bees wax to 80% paraffin because the bees wax smells good when I'm playing =) Now excuse me I need to smell the cork from the wine bottle I just opened.
90% beeswax : 10% ear wax
I’ve used 85% paraffin 15% beeswax just because I wanted to be edgy and different lol.
I mix coconut oil with mine.
Will that mixture melt in a place like Texas?
I live in Arizona which is pretty damn hot at times and have never had a problem.@@godzilla964
Hi Chris. I should also want to mention that the ideal melting temperature of paraffin or other wax is 65 degrees Celcius or 149 degrees Fahrenheit. If you go above that, you can indeed damage the coil or the plastic bobbins. If you see the wax is starting to smoke, put the power immediatly off. Like you said... it will cause fire and that's pretty much the same as an overheated frying pan.. so NEVER put water on it !
Personal i always have a fire blanket next to me and in my workshop i have multiple POWDER fire distinguisers; Never use liqiud ones.
And i always use a thermometer in the pot too.Greets from Belgium. Thanks and cheers.
Thank you sir for sharing this video. I had a problem with my humbucker pickup. It was suddenly had a microphonic feedback, and after did this wax potting, now the problem is fixed. I am so happy about it.
For the records, the legend about EVH is just that, or at least he didn't invent the potting but resurrected it. Fender used to pot his hand wound pick ups until the mid 60s. He stopped probably after the introduction of the automatic winders, which allowed for a much tighter and consistent winding.
I was certainly potting my Gibson and Fender humbucker/single pickups back in the 70’s, so there you go...
probabily one of the best videos on the tube about pot waxing...thanks a lot sir...
Wow, thanks!
Your videos are very informative. I wish I had found you sooner! Thanks for what you do.
Really liked the lesson on potting pickups. I love learning about ways to improve my guitars.
Glad you liked it!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I’ve been trying to figure out this issue for ever and now I’ve got it. I will get to work!
That pretty much answered all my questions, Thanks for that video
The host was very knowledgeable and easy to follow.
Thanks for once again sharing your knowledge. Really appreciate the tip about the plumbers tape. Got to try that!
Plumbers take is made of Teflon to help seal the threaded connections of two fittings or appliances.
Man this really helped. I was just about to go the Epoxy route as all the wax repotting videos I watched seemed way to involved as far as the proper equipment, precautions, etc. Heck, even a big dummy like me can do it this way lolol Fantastic!! Thanks a bunch 😀
Best video I have seen on wax potting. Subbed!
Wow, ur explanation was exceptionally good. 🔥
RIP Eddie Van Halen. A wonderfully talented man. Made so many innovations in the guitar industry and music in general.
Did he invent wax pot??
@@mywaveinwoodswoodperfumes he made it a more common practice amongst musical instrument companies
I learn something new from every one of your videos. That "wax potting" reminds me of old large electric motors where they fill up the voids in the windings with epoxy. Im guessing it achieves a similar end result but for different purposes. I assume the epoxy was to reduce fatigue from constant vibrations over a long period of time. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.
some old school guys pot their pickups with epoxy!! definitely more permanent solution but gets the job done.
Great video Chris! Thanks for the info bud 🎸🎸👍
Excellent tips and content!. I will add that some of the inexpensive guitars and their pickups coming out of Asia are not wax potted and their Single-coil pu guitars can be quite microphonic but the balance of the guitars are okay , so this will come in very handy. Thank you 😊
Well said!
Great....very usefull relaxed explaining how wax pot...thank you
Great tutorial. Thanks!
I came looking for a quick fixing tip to my humbuckers....and left with a hole experience of relaxing knowledge and stories about guitar,really loved it. p.s. all hail Eddie Van Halen
For potting pickups you can use some wax warmer usually used for depilation purposes) They are not expensive and some even have temperature regulators, so you can set 65 C. And vacuum chamber would sufficiently speed up the process of potting
Great stuff Chris, total common sense approach to all your work 😀 Mini crock pot definitely safest way. I do mine in a stainless steel dog water bowl in a larger saucepan of water, sat on four large hex nuts, keeps from getting pan too hot but I also use use a probe thermometer to keep temp just right 😀 let the wax set after and can be re-used several times. All the best, love your channel.
What temperature did you get on your probe thermometer?🤣
Thanks for posting!
My crockpot has a glass lid. It helps add to high-frequency separation, especially on bridge pickups.
lmao
I use a rice cooker. It's the residual starch that does the trick and stabilizes the harmonics.😁
Fender was wax potting pickups before Van Halen was born. The 1950 Tele specs include wax potting.
Thank you for this video. Very helpful. The pickups in my squier classic vibe tele need to be wax potted. They sound really nice, but they are microphonic.
BTW, EVH did not invent wax potting pickups. Pickups were being wax potted long before EVH was around.
Thanks very informative !
Be careful. You can get them too hot. I had a '70s Dimarzio SD that squealed pretty bad. It was one of the first pickups I potted and it never worked again. Since then I've kept the temperature right around 160F, which is just enough to keep the wax liquefied and it seems to work well.
Good explanation 👍 cheers
Great and interesting video. I'm not a guitarist, but my daughter plays. She had won this Epiphone bullet strat, and I took it upon myself to upgrade it a bit (just as a hobby)- so I've been researching stuff. I've already sanded and refinished the neck, conditioned the fretboard and polished the frets. Overall I've been told that despite this being a cheap guitar, it's currently set up well, no fret buzz...so my next project was replacing the pickups and pickguard. Since I wasn't planning on spending a lot, I saw in the Amazon comments about wax potting. I came to this video, and you gave the perfect explanation and procedure of how and why you do it- I figure with cheap pick-up this would be something I would definitely want to do. Thanks!
What does one have to lose if the pickups are already flirting with garbage status? I'm going to give it a shot with several pickups before spending money I don't in the first place.
Squire made the bullet strats not epiphone
@@motorcyclemark2889 yup my bad
The feedback is not caused by the loose winding wires bouncing into one another. It is caused but the wires vibrating next to a magnet (pole pieces). This generates spurious high frequency eddy currents in the wire and this is why potting works. Winding them tighter will have the same effect but waxing is a much easier way to hold them still.
Great video thank you
This is great. Have a problem with a high dollar set of PAF IV replica's that have unbelievable microphonic feedback at volume rendering them unusable. Otherwise, these pickups sound great clean and with gain. Never had any issues with runaway microphonic with countless other non-potted PAF pickups so this set is a candidate for potting. Seems like the windings might be looser that normal? Going to do this very soon to salvage this set.
Ive been thinking about making pickups, mostly to experiment and I typically overthink and over engineer everything. You have the pickups face down in the molten wax so it fills all internal voids but when you removed the pickups to cool you have them resting face up and I would think that could allow the hot wax to gravitate down out of the voids. Would it be better to allow the pickups to cool face down? Thanks. Good video.
Man thanks now I’m going to pot the bridge pickup on my 2017 tele deluxe with non potted WRHB Tim Shaw designed really they are just humbuckers it squeaks like a pig at even a little bit of gain
Yeah man I've got shawbuckers too. Nice sound, but squel like a bitch!!!
I very much appreciated this video. Do the vibrating coils (i.e. caused by microphonics ) add any valid "harmonics" to the guitar string signal or just squeal with external frequencies of the ambient stage surroundings. In other words, does the guitar tone change after potting ? I am a physicist-guitarist and have yet to find a detailed computer siumulation of the electromagnetic physics, beyond a statement of Faraday's law. If you have a solid physics reference, please post. Thank you !
Awesome.
Wow, never knew
Sweet! This is just what I needed! Seems simple enough. Would you recommend also adding a cover to the pickup?+
Go for it!
I get cheap hand made pickups off AliExpress and I love the sound of them but super microphonic. I need to do this and then I'm sure the 35$ pickups will be my new favorite pickups.
It's impressive how terrified people are of doing this, judging from the comments. Like they don't want to spend the 10 bucks to get a crock pot.
Okay fine. Here's how you do it with basically no tools whatsoever. Go to your local dollar store and get one of those mexican religious candles. You know, the ones in a glass jar that's about 8 inches long or so. Make sure you get one with white wax.
Take the pot you normally cook your food in. Put water in it. Put it on the smallest burner at the lowest setting on your stove. Stick the candle in the pot with the opening facing up.
Wait.
Once the wax for the candle is melted, fish out the candle wick. Throw it away. Dip your pickup in the wax and wait until the bubbles stop. Remove. Continue until all the pickups are waxed. Remove the candle from the pot. Dump out the water in the sink.
Now go play your guitar.
Note, if your pickups are too fat to fit in the glass candle jar, just go pour the liquid wax into a old clean spaghetti sauce jar or something of that nature. Then place the spaghetti jar full of wax into the pot of hot water, where the candle had been moments before.
Great video!! Iv benn playing for 47 years, and now, for the first time, I gotta do the same process with some single coil 'duncan design's dual-blade pickups, in all your infinite wisdom, do you know of any tips, do"s an dong's thatI need to know about?
I'm re-potting a set of HB pickups because I added covers to them: another reason to do it. Well, one is a re-pot adding back the cover after painting it, and one is a never been potted Schaller from the 80s (that has squealed since 1983) with a new matching painted cover (2x enamel cured for a year)... I'll see if the enamel survives the potting, but at 150F, probably not a prob..??..Lab experiments are so fun. Thanks for the video, a timely find for me :) You and Dylan agree, why bother with Beezwax... unless you leave a guitar in the sun...which I think the pickups would be the least of the problems at that point...
Do you leave the covers on when potting?
@@rickya3877 I do, to keep the covers from causing a slight vibration noise...some like the non potted sound, but I hate the random sqeal when you use gain or a really hot amp. The last set I did had 2X rust-o-leum on the covers, and they came out just fine. I let the paint dry for a month (in the summer) b4 I dipped them.
@@Bob_at_Quibsonguitarworks much appreciated,Bob...I just learned from other vids that some of the squealing can be from space between the covers and bobbins... something I never knew
Hi Chris!
Great video as always! Question... once you're done potting the pickups, you just let the wax cool down until next time?
How many times you can reuse it?
Thank you!
I let it cool down for the next time. I just keep adding wax to the pot, so I'm not really reusing it.
@@HighlineGuitars So you reuse it but you keep adding more wax as you need it then?
Thanks Chris!
Absolutely not invented by Eddie Van Halen. Potting has been around a lot longer than that
That’s not the point he pioneered that company’s didn’t do it until he did
@@stimbobis yes they did. I absolutely love Eddie and he pioneered a lot of things. Wax potting of pickups just isn't one of them
Yup, Brian Mays father wax potted his pickups IN `64!!
Yeah, but Eddie didn't invent two-hand tapping either... Yet he brought it to the forefront of pop-culture and because of him, a generation of guitar players adopted that technique. Same thing with the potted pickups, Eddie didn't invent it, but he had an issue and he found a way to fix it, and because it was Eddie, his influence had everybody wanting to do it. Enzo Ferrari didn't invent the automobile, but that doesn't take away from his amazing cars.
For some reason the colored chinese pickups (example Artec) the plastic of the bobbin is less resistant to heat. I have waxed dozens of humbuckers and the blacks and zebras have no issue, but i have melted 2 humbuckers that had colored bobbins. (One red and one blue). They were beautiful and sound great, but they didn't resist the waxing
Must have something to do with the material makeup of the colored bobbin?
The T° does not exceed 50° to have a melted paraffin, and this T° does not cause damages to the pickup. be careful of high T°, the paraffin is a derivative of hydrocarbon, highly inflammable and its vapor is very toxic.
Thank you for making this video. Personally I think the trend for non-potted pickups is silly ;-p
I bought a cheap dual rail humbucker that squeals terribly! I'm thinking I should take the tape or the wrap off the windings before submerging in the wax.... yes? Reapply it after the wax has set....Kinda makes sense to me....
Yes, you should. The tape will unravel from the heat if you leave it in place while potting. Be very careful as you remove the tape to protect the coil windings. After potting apply new tape as the old tape may not stick very well.
I use a rice cooker as it heats much faster and has a "warm" mode . you can also remove the "pot" from inside it
I like this idea. I might pick one up since they seem pretty cheap.
Hi Chris, I'm looking to install a pickup cover on a humbucker. Would you recommend that I wax pot the cover before installing onto the pickup in order to prevent microphonics? Is this even necessary? Thank you for the very instructional tutorial you put together.
Wax pot the whole thing at once.
The effect of the tone is the string being the only sound source for disrupting the magnet and producing signal to the amp. Great pickups that are wound properly do not need wax. The unwaxed pickup hears everything from the strings, springs in a tremolo, hardware, pickup surround rings or guard, springs holding pickups, and most importantly, the reflective energy off the speaker that bounces off the guitar that gets to be used in a “feedback loop” allowing this sweet sustain and feedback that you can control and use as a part of your playing style. Loose windings on pickups are the culprit and why cheaper pickups may need wax. You will lose TONE from all the other variables…. But if you play though a ton of processors and pedals…. It may not even matter to you. I love proper unpotted pickups that capture the whole performance and sound.
Great Work Chris. I shared this on the Kemper Amp Forum.
I own your #43. Is it Potted?
Probably. That was a hundred guitars ago, but I always pot unless a customer requests unpotted.
Hi Chris
Awesome tutorial, I take it that is the mini crock pot without temp control, what temperature does the wax get up to?
Good question. I'll check it the next time I pot some pups (probably today) and let you know.
160-165°F
Highline Guitars awesome, give me a good idea for when i buy my crock pot to do this, thanks.
If the purpose is to prevent vibration from the wound wires, then why not just use thin super glue? It would absorb quickly through the wires and dry within a few minutes. Just curious...
Super glue generates a lot of heat as it cures. That heat can destroy the insulation on the wire which will kill the coil.
Nice! But why wax your pickups when you can go pickup wax?
I read that Eddie first used surfboard wax to sort his pickups out....ahh coconut!!
Question. Does the entire pickup need to be wax filled? Or just the winding? I changed a cover on a P90 by Melting the solder and prying it off. There was a lot of wax between the metal P90 cover and the pickup. I lost a lot of it but the windings seem to likely have all their wax. It the pickup okay? Or will it need to be re waxed?
Just the windings and that is optional itself. You don't need to wax pot your pickups at all unless the coils are wound loosely.
Some builders lacquer their strat pickups before winding, and after from what I have seen on the TUBE!
Have you done this also???
B
No. Totally unnecessary.
Hi! I have a nerd question here.
When you expose the whole pickup in to the melted wax (high temperature), doesn't affect the magnetic strength of the bar magnet or coil insulation of wire?
No, it doesn't get hot enough, or at least it shouldn't. Too hot and the plastic bobbins would melt. Mine is around 135-140°F.
@@HighlineGuitars Thanks for the reply!
? For wax potting humbuckers that have chrome covers, would you leave the covers on since they are in most cases soldered?
I prefer to leave the covers on. Soldering the covers back on after potting will get messy.
Chris, dropped you an email earlier this week, did you get it Sir?
OK, so I tried this for the first time today on a $10 pair of invader knock offs, and long story short all the plastic parts melted. Do you a have a link to a video on the easiest way to rewind pickups to a new bobbin? Lol, if I didn't screw up I would never learn how to fix things.
Sorry, I don't. Rewinding from one bobbin to another isn't something I have ever done and I don't think I ever will.
I bought a set of second hand Evos years ago, and I figured it put that they are literally covered in wax. They play great, but all that wax is terrible to see. Is there a method to remove the eccess without spoiling the whole thing?
Maybe try wiping them with a cloth dampened with Naphtha?
@@HighlineGuitars thanks for your answer, I'll give it a try at the next strings change.
Today I completed my Teisco Japanese guitar restore and while playing it I noticed the pickups were transmitting noise from the scratch plate to the amp. I could knock on the scratch plate or even switch the pickups in and out and it was audible through the amp. Do you think wax potting would help? Thank you.
have the same issue here, with a silvetone guitar.... I'll give it a try....
it would stop that yes
I actually waxed the pickups a couple of days ago, I was able to test them today, it actually works, I used it with a Rockerverb 100 watts and the whistling/feedback is gone...
Because Beeswax melts at a higher temperature than paraffin it will resist breakdown in extremes of temperature. That is why 20% beeswax is used in the mix with paraffin...stability.
What do you think would happen to a guitar if it was exposed to temperatures hot enough (120-150 degrees) to melt paraffin wax? Hint: wood glue fails at the same temperature.
@@HighlineGuitars I recently watched a video from Hawaii where a luthier was repairing Les Pauls from the 70s that had the pancake stacked and glued slab bodies that were delaminating and coming apart. Apparently it is not all that uncommon in Hawaii.
From what I gathered in the comments it is a combination of the salt in the air and the constant high humidity coupled with the high year round average temperature.
I found it interesting that the phenomenon isn't heard of from 70s Les Paul owers in states that have higher extreme temperatures or higher extremes in humidity or warm sea coastal areas.
Only in Hawaii where the weather is consistent year round..
By the way, the common Gulf Wax paraffin found in food stores used for canning food actually melts at very low temperatures..only 99 degrees fahrenheit, compared to Bees wax at 145.
Combining Beeswax with cheap paraffin will give you a melting point somewhere between the two.
I know from experience that stage lighting can easily cause stage temperatures to reach over 100 degrees F in some clubs. Something else to consider when choosing the wax for potting your pickups.
Thank you for this video! Can I send a Stratocaster bridge pickup to you so you can wax pot it?
No. I made the video so you can pot your own pickups.
@@HighlineGuitars yeah I understand. I have a vintage one so I’m afraid to touch them 😄
Is there a way to de-wax the coils? I have Kiesel Lithium humbuckers and underneath I saw a whiteish layer and I scraped it off. Now I know it is wax
Hi! I was wondering if you could help here.. I would like to change my pickups's (Gibson 490r 498t) cover with new ones and I was wondering if I will need to wax pot the pickups again? Thanks
If you have to use a soldering iron to remove the old covers and attach the new ones, some wax will melt, but it won't run out of the coils where it is needed. I would install the new covers and play the guitar as you normally would at the usual volume levels to see if there's an issue with microphonic feedback. If there isn't, you're good to go. If it squeals, a dip in some wax may be necessary. I'm betting you won't need to dip 'em.
@@HighlineGuitars thanks for getting back to me! I really appreciated it!
- I was planning to match the pole screws as well. What do you think? Do I need to deep them in his case?
Hello, Good info .... recently because of hot weather a bit of wax escaped and I can see some wax residue on the face of both pickups ... does it mean I need to re-pot with wax again ? Will loosing few drops of wax impact the sound ?
If your wax is melting, you've got more serious problems. Wax doesn't start to melt until 125°F.
@@HighlineGuitarsthank you for your reply. We had an extreme weather in UK 35*C ... my guitar is black and it was sitting by the window ... apart from 2 drops of wax didn't find any other problems.
Not sure if it was asked, but can you wax pot the humbuckers with their metal covers on?
Yes, you can.
The Van Halen story is a complete internet myth. Based on one interview he did where he was pulling the interviewers leg with silly stories about his inventiveness and she totally bought it.
Eddie did not invent guitar pickup wax potting. If Eddie wax potted his pickups he was merely adding more wax to already potted pickups to further reduce microphonic feedback.
The first manufacturers to pot their pickups in their electric guitars to prevent feedback was Rickenbacker as far back as the 1930s . Leo Fender was wax potting all the pickups put in his 1951 Telecasters well before Eddie was born.
And potting electrical coils wasn’t even invented by anyone making guitar pickups.
@@HighlineGuitars All electrical coils and many other electronic components like capacitors were dipped in something to make them more stable, moisture and corrosion resistant. Coils that got hot, like transformers were dipped in lacquer or epoxy. Cold coils like chokes, induction coils, low current electromagnets and transponders were dipped in wax. The practice is as old as electronics itself.
@@williardbillmore5713 czcams.com/video/k6GTZrcoWEM/video.html
Any benefit to doing this in a vacuum pot? Also, how hot is too hot where it degrades the coating of the wire?
I am sure there are those who will say that vacuum potting is of vital importance. I am not one of them. As for when is hot too hot, you obviously don't want to exceed the temperature the coating can tolerate. My wire's coating can melts at around 155°F so I keep the wax at around 130°F.
@@HighlineGuitars totally agree. I regulate at 130 to 140 😀
@@HighlineGuitars Excellent. Thanks for the reply! Appreciate it
Should the pickups make a horrible noise when you touch the coils? My Parker fly deluxe does.
Might be a grounding issue. Check all of your ground connections.
will this work for ceramic pickups? im thinking maybe not
I assume you mean ceramic magnets? Yes, you can pot those as well.
Eddie Van Halen of the 20th Century.
I don't have feedback but I have a lot of vibration and the the guitar sounds screechy. So would wax potting help that? At least to eliminate the pickups as a problem.
poseidon3032 Yes, definitely
@@bhp1162 Yes. If you the cover starts to vibrate, it causes a resonance, then a feedback.
My pickups have hollow pole pieces similar to a rivet, is it ok for wax to get down in that cavity?
It won't affect anything.
@@HighlineGuitars Many thanks!
Very nice video, could you tell me if it is right to use paraffin OIL instead of paraffin WAX?
Dear God no!
6:22. Damn.
Do you guys have any experience waxing p90s?
Is that also possible?
Thanks in advance
Of course you can pot P90s The process is exactly the same as with humbuckers.
I use a combination of paraffin wax, 10%, sex wax for surf boards 30%, and 50% beeswax, and 10% massage candle wax. This makes the pickup smell great in the case after playing in smoke full bars…. I don’t know if this works for everyone….. I don’t know if it works for me…. But I keep trying
I can tap on my guitar and it picks it up. Will this help?
your pickups are microphonic, potting them may help
My pickups have covers...I'm guessing they should be removed before potting
You guessed wrong.
@@HighlineGuitars yep..I .just got that info from other vids
High gain and live can get everyone’s attention. At times. Screeech! Lol.
When I wax p90, did I need to wax with plastic cover too?
No. Only the coil.
@@HighlineGuitars thanks 👍👍
Crazy idea - would injecting Krazy glue into the Openings on the back and let him get solidify have the same effect?
CA glue (aka Krazy glue) cures through exothermic reaction which would likely damage the insulation and cause the coil to short out.
Just remove the screws of the pickup sole, and then put some solid paraffin in a spoon and heat its back with a lighter or else, but previously heat the pickup with a hair dryer, then pour the paraffin on the back of the pickup, it will go everywhere inside it, then put your pickup in your freezer some minutes (some pickups makers dive the pickups in liquid nitrogen). This in case you won't pot.
I only play at home with bedroom volume, but I still like to squeeze all I can to get optimal tone. Would potting my humbuckers help any with my tone?
EDIT. Or perhaps they're already potted? They're stock Seymour Duncan's in an early 90s jackson king v
They're very likely already potted. And no, it doesn't help tone. All it does it keep the windings from vibrating and causing squeal.
Doesn 't heat damage the magnets ?
Yes, it can but it takes more than this produces for longer periods of time.
It has nothing to do with the other artists on stage. The feed back is caused by the guitar amp and speaker affecting the winds in the coils and shanking them around, the shaking sound transfer to the amp and speaker and back to the coil in a infinite loop. This is pick-up feed back. To stop the coils shaking you cover them in wax. Feedback can occur by way of the strings on the guitar vibrating and feeding back through the amp but in this case the string feedback tones can be very musical and can be used by the artist to produce sustained noted and harmonics.
Intentionally-induced feedback via the pickups and the amp's speakers speaking back and forth until loops begin to happen is one of the coolest-sounding techniques ever, you're dead-center right about that. But then feedback which happens because a guitar's pickup isn't holding together tightly and something or things within it vibrate or resonate when they ought to be still and rigid, sounds terrible. That sort of feedback only sounds shrill and harmonically one-dimensional, and not only that, one is unable to control it via manoeuvres and whatnot. No wonder we hate it, lol.
I see people dipping pickups prior to winding, usually using lacquer. Couldn't I do this with wax instead, considering I'll be wax potting AFTER winding?
Why?
@@HighlineGuitars Not sure what your question is exactly in reference to, but I have WAX and not lacquer at the moment, so I'm wondering if I can use what I already have instead of buying some. Secondly, I guess you wax before winding to prevent grounding out?
@@scottmartinezguitarandbass modern wire insulation makes it unnecessary to coat the bobbin prior to winding.
@@HighlineGuitars OK! I didn't know that. I saw one of the guys on Stew Mac rewind a vintage tele pickup, and he used heavy formvar. Prior to winding, he dipped it in lacquer.
@@scottmartinezguitarandbass it’s not necessary and is probably just a nod to traditionalism. If you’re worried about grounding out, use lacquer (dip several times allowing each coat to dry so you’ll be sure to get complete coverage. Kapton tape is faster, easier, and better.
skip to 6:45
Can you pot, say A cheap P-90. that's Micro-phonic ? And, is it worth doing?
Yes, you can. Is it worth doing? Only you can know for sure and you won't know until you're done.
Ive read sone guys mix parrafin wax with beeswax 75/25 ratio ?
I don’t know. I just use paraffin. I’ll leave the fancy blends to the big city artisanal pickup crafters.
I think beeswax help keep the wax hard if your guitar may see hot weather. Living in NM and AZ in the summers, it only takes 15 minutes for your car to get to 130 degrees or more. Paraffin would be quite soft, possibly starting to melt at that temp.
That's my guess, other than people wanting organic, vegan, hippie pick-ups. Maybe the beeswax smell is like incense when you shred hot licks?
Didn't work for me! I put two humbuckers in my wax and when dried I tested the resistance. Now I have NO readings. Somethings gone wrong!! Thank god they were cheap pickups used to try this method. I would NEVER do this with good pickups. Good quality pickups should not be feeding back anyway. I may try and re-wax to see if I rectify
First of all, the wax cools. It doesn't dry. Second of all, I'd say your wax was too hot and you've damaged the pickups. Maybe.
@@HighlineGuitars Thanks for the feedback
How much wax did you use.
Enough to cover the pickups as they sit in the pot. A couple of bars worth.
As long as I'm not concerned about how it looks, I wonder if dripping wax onto an installed pickup still on a guitar to soak it sufficiently enough for internal vibrations which cause microphonics to be dampened/"frozen", then leaving it for a couple of days to fully dry, would be a reasonable and effective way to do this. Of course, I'd remove the pickup covers, lol. I have no "handyman"-like instincts at all, is why I ask. Were I to remove the pickups, there's no way I'd know how to reconnect everything 100% correctly. I bet this is the stupidest question anyone has ever asked you, LOL. Meh, if I own it, I own it. 🤷
Pickups have to soak submerged in wax for potting to work. Dripping wax onto the pickup won't do anything more than make a mess.
Can I use candles? :)
I wonder how scented candles would affect tone?
@@HighlineGuitars I really don't know but are those paraffin wax the same materials they use for candle making?
Of course, it is made of paraffin
@@gelosoriano yES
"Molten" is definitely not the right word, but made me laugh every time you said it. What do you want for lunch? How about some molten tomato soup with a molten cheese sandwich?
So what's the right word?
@@HighlineGuitars Probably "melted" or "melted liquid" wax. Molten is for things like metal or rock with super high melting points. Great video btw, hope I didn't dampen your day!
@@douchecraft3113 Not at all! I'm about to fix me a molten cheese sandwich for lunch!
At what temperature ??
about 55° C