Wax potting service?

[jerryjg]

last night i got perfectly potted. Now i need a couple of pickups wax potted. Does anyone know if Duncan does this service, and what it costs? I didnt see any such service on the website.

[idsnowdog]

Do a search. It is very easy to do yourself. I have written about it a couple of times.

[jerryjg]

Do a search. It is very easy to do yourself. I have written about it a couple of times.

Im very glad you suggested i do that search. I went back about four pages, but i didnt find the exact specific informsation I was asking for, if Duncan pots pickups and whats the cost, but i found an excellent thread aboout the brobucker with some very critical infpormation about wax potting Butryate (sp.?) bobbins. It appears that theres some risk involved.
One things for certain -I DO nOT want to try this procedure by myself, and now I am wondering if I should consider having it done at all? Thanks Snow.

" (Brobucker)I think it's a huge success and it's staying in my most played LP. It's the perfect bridge between vintage and modern I've ever heard. All the frequencies are balanced, and it sounds equally great on clean, midgain, and highgain.
I think the specs we agreed on hit the nail on the head.

There's only one thing I'd change. It should have been vacuum potted, because I agree with everyone who mentioned that. I think MJ didn't do that because it's risky to pot butyrate bobbins, which I think is what we went with. They don't handle heat like production pickups, which is why they don't pot Seths and Antiquities. Seths and Antiquities almost never squeal because they're lower in output and the cover is put on tight. The Brobucker sounds godly on highgain lead channels, but it will squeal if you can't control it.

If anyone orders one from the Custom Shop, I'd suggest asking MJ about potting. I hope potting doesn't ruin the tone, because next time I change strings, I'm pulling it out and potting it in wax that's melted, but cooled down to the point where it's just starting to congeal, so I don't warp the bobbins.
Mine is nickel covered, and it's staying that way." - FROM SCOTT F"S POST ABOUT BROBUCKER

[idsnowdog]

Check out this thread I describe my method which is close to everybody else.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/s...ht=wax+potting
http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/...ical/index.php
http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/potting.htm
http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/A-LINDYFRALIN.html

[blueman335]

In all the Duncans & DiMarzios that I've taken apart & swapped magnets on, I've seen very little wax, usually just a little at the bottom to hold the magnet in place, & a tiny bit for the pole pieces. The coils have almost none.

People get carried away with wax because they see all these cheap Asian PU's sothered in the stuff, which helps to muddy the tone more than anything else. I've never seen a high-quality PU that had more than a few drops of wax.

[Gearjoneser]

There doesn't need to be much wax between the pickup and nickel cover to kill microphonics. On my Brobucker, I just heated the parafin wax from the grocery store in a pot, put some corrugated cardboard on the bottom so the pickup never gets near the hot pan, and gave it a dunk once the wax wasn't overly hot. I immediated put it on a paper plate and threw it in the freezer. In a couple minutes, it's ready to install.

Potting it didn't hurt the tone, but made it tighter with no vintagey ping to the sound.

[idsnowdog]

I don't really think potting hurts tone, even if it is done to excess.

[Zhangliqun]

I don't really think potting hurts tone, even if it is done to excess.

Trust me, it does. I learned that the hard way. The trick is to mix the wax thin (extra beeswax) and to not leave it in very long (no more than 8-10 min).

But this is for an uncovered pickup. If you have a covered pickup, remove the cover, pot it, then after cool-down/wipe-down, put some silicone on top of the coils, press the cover down tight and resolder.

[idsnowdog]

Trust me, it does. I learned that the hard way. The trick is to mix the wax thin (extra beeswax) and to not leave it in very long (no more than 8-10 min).

But this is for an uncovered pickup. If you have a covered pickup, remove the cover, pot it, then after cool-down/wipe-down, put some silicone on top of the coils, press the cover down tight and resolder.

I guess I should clarify. Improperly potting a pickup can damage it. But having excess wax really shouldn't.

[Mr 9finger]

Anyone else know anything about this? I'm thinking about putting some covers on a couple pickups and don't really have the stuff to do it properly.

[SnakeAces]

I know how to do it now like a pro (after a few). I'm actually going to be doing a few in the next couple weeks so if anyone is interested in getting in on my batch I will charge less per pickup.

Normally if I have to bust all my wax, double boiler, thermo, marbles, etc, etc, I would charge you $20 per pickup (shipping included) but if I just had a ton or a few people I could definitely charge less as it makes more sense to do them all in the same day.

So here's the gig:

If you need some pups potted and we can arrange for you to have them to me by a certain, agreed upon date... I'll start discounting them.

For now I will charge $15 per FIRST pickup (shipping included) and if you wanted additional pups done at the same time it would be $10 per additional pup. If I had 10+ pups to do we could dicount that price even more (down to $12/$8), so let people know!!

Service will include soldering the cover on the baseplate and full, safe, monitered wax potting. I use a 80/20 parafin/beeswax mix and I lay glass marbles on the bottom of my double boiler. It really is safe as I moniter the temp with a meat thermo at all times. Anything over 148 F and your pup will not be dipped and/or removed. I allow the pup to sit at the bottom with enough time for the cover to set in place and remove all air (usually about 2 minutes or less).

I can either do a single or a double dip at your request.

Let me know if people are interested in getting a mass potting service going in the coming 3 weeks...

By the way, it's up to you to make sure your covered pup fits your guitar/pickguard. It's also up to you to make sure the cover properly fits the pup as well. Don't skimp here, trust me. If you have a SD Trembucker for example, buy a SD brand TREMBUCKER cover (yes, EVEN THOUGH IT COSTS $20!!), you'll be glad you did... trust me. If you send me a pup with a cover that doesn't fit I will still expect you to pay me for shipping charges to get it back to you.

Sound fair?

[SnakeAces]

Ok, so I've already got two interested parties but I'd like a few more if I'm going to be melting all this wax in one day...

So here's the gig (and this applies to those who have already contacted me as well); in an effort to spark more interest I'm going to permanently set the price to:

$12 for the first pup

$8 for the second pup

$5 for anything over and above two pups from the same address

and those prices INCLUDE return shipping to you (as long as you're in the U.S.)

I will still do international orders too, just add $10 for shipping to your order.


I'm going to be doing some potting in a few weeks, so let me know if you need some work done!!

I know how to do it now like a pro (after a few). I'm actually going to be doing a few in the next couple weeks so if anyone is interested in getting in on my batch I will charge less per pickup.

Normally if I have to bust all my wax, double boiler, thermo, marbles, etc, etc, I would charge you $20 per pickup (shipping included) but if I just had a ton or a few people I could definitely charge less as it makes more sense to do them all in the same day.

So here's the gig:

If you need some pups potted and we can arrange for you to have them to me by a certain, agreed upon date... I'll start discounting them.

For now I will charge $15 per FIRST pickup (shipping included) and if you wanted additional pups done at the same time it would be $10 per additional pup. If I had 10+ pups to do we could dicount that price even more (down to $12/$8), so let people know!!

Service will include soldering the cover on the baseplate and full, safe, monitered wax potting. I use a 80/20 parafin/beeswax mix and I lay glass marbles on the bottom of my double boiler. It really is safe as I moniter the temp with a meat thermo at all times. Anything over 148 F and your pup will not be dipped and/or removed. I allow the pup to sit at the bottom with enough time for the cover to set in place and remove all air (usually about 2 minutes or less).

I can either do a single or a double dip at your request.

Let me know if people are interested in getting a mass potting service going in the coming 3 weeks...

By the way, it's up to you to make sure your covered pup fits your guitar/pickguard. It's also up to you to make sure the cover properly fits the pup as well. Don't skimp here, trust me. If you have a SD Trembucker for example, buy a SD brand TREMBUCKER cover (yes, EVEN THOUGH IT COSTS $20!!), you'll be glad you did... trust me. If you send me a pup with a cover that doesn't fit I will still expect you to pay me for shipping charges to get it back to you.

Sound fair?

[firebirdV]

You can get Fralin to do it (I think)
http://www.stewmac.com/tradesecrets/...s26fralin.html

You most likely could get SD to do it
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/custom-shop/misc/

[devilfish]

hi,

just a quick amateur question. what part of the pickup are you talking about wax potting and why would you wax pot a pickup?

any backgmround infromation on this?

thanks

[SnakeAces]

The whole pickup, fully submerged in wax.

Why?

To reduce microphonics (unwanted feedback/noises/vibrations) commonly found in a non-wax potted pickups.

Most of your premium pickups (like most duncans) come pre-potted so you have nothing to worry about. However, sometimes you want to put a cover on an uncovered, or even change the cover of a pickup and then a re-potting needs to be done to "seal" the gap between the cover and pickup to ensure a nice, non-vibrating fit!!

Sometimes this technique can make a $20-$40 pup tolerable too (SOME cheaper pickups that is).