The how to pot pickups thread for those with annoying feedback.

[vklobucar]

Long story short, my '82 Les Paul Standard has some very in demand OEM Tim Shaw pups and though the sound great, using any high gain amp makes them instantly feedback and squeal like all hell.

I read up online on how to wax pot pups and decided that today was the day that I would try my own.

A double boiler is as easy as a tin can and a pot full of boiling water.

So I tried out my "double boiler" method first with a set of Jackson humbuckers from a Jackson Pro as a test case. Not that these particular pups needed to be potted but I was not in a rush to destroy a matched pair of Shaw pups.

I bought cheap candles that are 100% paraffin wax and removed all the housing as well as candle wick. I dumped a good dozen into my maple syrup tin can (we are in Canada after all eh?) and within a good ten minutes they were fully melted to a clear liquid.

I then lowered the pup into the tin can by a small scrap length of wire and kept it in the wax a full 12-15 minutes. Little by little all the small air bubbles disappeared to the surface.

I then removed the pup and placed it face up on a sheet of newspaper and let it dry on its own for a good 30 minutes. The small amount of wax that remained on the bobbins face easily wiped away with a clean cotton rag. I did the same for the 2nd Jackson pup as well.

Matter of fact if not for a very slight film of wax on the sides and bottom you would never even know that it was potted.

Re installed the pups and they worked as well (or even better) than before.

Feeling confident I pulled both the neck and bridge Shaw's of my '82 Standard out and after unsoldering the chrome covers, repeated the entire procedure with both pups, one at a time mind you.

Let them cool and resoldered the covers and then re-installed them back into the guitar.

Strung it up again and plugged into my ADA MP-1 and played.......no feedback at all!!

Keep in mind that the ADA MP1- has way more gain than my Marshall JMP-1 and previous attempts to play the Gibson resulted in instant and horrible feedback.

Again cosmetically I doubt that anyone would really know that they had been potted other than the small film of was on the bottom plate. The tone has not change one bit according to my ear other than the feedback being totally gone!

Would I do it to another guitar if the problem arose? Heck ya!

And for some pics of the operation...

Cheap candles that were 100% paraffin wax.



The Canuk "double boiler" method.



Cooling down after a hot bath! LOL!



Both pups polished and ready to be re-installed.

[Twitch]

How hard was it to unsloder and resolder the chrome covers? Excellent info though.

[Cygnus X1]

Cool!
Thanks for posting this.

[vklobucar]

The "trick" with the chrome covers is to have a small flathead screwdriver ready so that the minute the solder is liquid you spread the cover just a bit from the baseplate so that it does not have a chance to cool down and resolder itself together. Works every time!

[DonP]

There's a tonal reason those pickups weren't potted. I'm afraid you just killed the value of them.

[vklobucar]

That may be so but to my ears they sound the exact same (perhaps just a tad more tighter and compressed) and above all are quiet and usable. What good is a killer Les Paul that can not be used with a high gain amp to play.....gasp...rock n' roll!

Its not like I routed a '59 burst for a Kahler! LOL!

Besides tons of famous boutique pup builders have been potting pups of all ages for years and charging top dollar as well. None of my Les Paul's are museum pieces and to me are nothing more than tools that are meant to be "played" for years to come. I have a '79 Custom that I initially had two Jackson J90C humbuckers installed and now has two Dimarzio Super 3's installed. Its a killer hard rock guitar. No it did not come with the original T Tops when I bought it.

My '82 Standard after its value was "killed" today!



My '79 Custom with some cheap import humbuckers when I bought it

[Trussrod]

Thanks for the info VK. I think I could tackle this if I had to do it. About modding gear--I buy stuff to use it and if isn't the way I want it I change it...

[DonP]

That may be so but to my ears they sound the exact same (perhaps just a tad more tighter and compressed) and above all are quiet and usable. What good is a killer Les Paul that can not be used with a high gain amp to play.....gasp...rock n' roll!

If these were noisy, you could have easily bought another set of pickups for what these are selling for on ebay.

Its not like I routed a '59 burst for a Kahler! LOL!

Besides tons of famous boutique pup builders have been potting pups of all ages for years and charging top dollar as well. None of my Les Paul's are museum pieces and to me are nothing more than tools that are meant to be "played" for years to come. I have a '79 Custom that I initially had two Jackson J90C humbuckers installed and now has two Dimarzio Super 3's installed. Its a killer hard rock guitar. No it did not come with the original T Tops when I bought it.

All I said is that you killed the value of the Shaws. I didn't mention anything about routing a 59, boutique builders or that other pickups could have worked just as well. It was your decision, hope you don't regret it.

My '82 Standard after its value was "killed" today!

I'll agree with you there.

[vklobucar]

Lol!

[tonemonster]

nice job, and I dont blame you for doing it. that feedback is annoying. its your guitar, and I really dont see where wax potting the pickups is going to kill the value. people get WAY to wrapped around the axles over silly shit like that. As you said, its not like you routed the body. its an improvement, and you play it. its not a wall hanging trophy. It does my heart good to know you play it and use it for what is was intended.

go post this on the gibson forum or the PRS forum and you will probably having people calling 911.

[DonP]

Here are some other methods to kill the feedback that you might want to try before doing a complete potting:

1. I've heard potting just the magnet sometimes works. You can try dipping just the lower half, or loosen the screws, slide the magnet out, dip it, slide it back in.

2. I've heard putting wax or masking tape / electrical tape between the bobbins and cover sometimes works as well.

3. One of the biggest culprits of sqeals is an inproperly installed cover. Always clamp it on securely while soldering.

[tonemonster]

BTW, arent most mass produced pickups wax potted these days??? it seems every pickup I have has a thin coat of wax on it.

[DonP]

nice job, and I dont blame you for doing it. that feedback is annoying. its your guitar, and I really dont see where wax potting the pickups is going to kill the value. people get WAY to wrapped around the axles over silly shit like that. As you said, its not like you routed the body. its an improvement, and you play it. its not a wall hanging trophy. It does my heart good to know you play it and use it for what is was intended.

go post this on the gibson forum or the PRS forum and you will probably having people calling 911.

I already did

First off, no one is blaming anyone for doing it!

All I said is that Shaws go for stupid money on ebay (sometimes over $300).

And you certainly can see where someone would not pay the full $300 for pickups that had been modified from original. You put two ebay ads up - one for original unmodified pickups and one for pickups that had the covers removed, potted, and replace, and see which one pulls in more dough.

Hence the value of the pickups has been reduced.

[DonP]

BTW, arent most mass produced pickups wax potted these days??? it seems every pickup I have has a thin coat of wax on it.

Yes, and your buddys on Les Paul and PRS forums say they sound like shit, which is why makers like Gibson and (boutique makers) went back to non-potting Burstbuckers. And then people complained about squeals so they went back to potting ones in guitars (to avoid warranties), but not potting over the counter versions.

I couldn't give a rats ass either way.

[tonemonster]

I wouldnt say they are my buddies. its all good. to each his own, but I just cant get into that whole over the top purist trip. no matter what the brand or application. some people just get way to over zealous about guitars needing to be untouched from 1959 with the original strings seal in a cryogenically sealed tube.

its like Nigel Tufnel said "dont point even"