Post Type Archives: SWD

If you have a single coil pickup some fancy modifications would have to be done using a tapped pickup. The first tap can go to one amp and the final output can go to another amp and output will have two different frequencies simulating a slight stereo effect. To have a real stereo sounding pickup,…

Pickups are usually made with a pole piece for each string. Some pickups can use blades, steel rods, magnet rods, bar magnets, double poles per string and multiple poles per string. At times you will see pickups with solid covers, and underneath their can be one coil or two in humbucking style and looking pickups….

I prefer wax potting over epoxy potting because you can repair a broken pickup when potted in wax and usually throw away the one that is epoxied. You can repair epoxied pickups in some cases but they are difficult to take apart and the chemicals needed to remove the epoxy will usually eat away at…

There are various types of commercial and industrial wax potting solutions with different melting temperatures and hardness. Some wax is very hard and some are soft and contain beeswax. Other potting solutions can be varnishes, both commercial and industrial with different drying times. The potting solutions should be used that will do little harm to…

Probably the biggest precaution is potting pickups with plastic bobbins for too long in too hot of a wax solution. Pickups need to be agitated quickly as they are submerged in a wax solution and should be done by a qualified repairman. Using hot wax can be very dangerous and should not be done especially…

Potting either by a special wax or epoxy solutions are commonly used in guitar and bass pickups to help reduce unwanted microphonic feedback and reduce tampering of the electrical components within the pickup assembly. I like to wax pot pickups with a process I developed called “DunSqueal”. It is a system that quickly removes all…

There are many things that give a pickup a particular sound. The most general are: The shape of the coil or bobbin, the number of turns of a particular gauge magnet wire, the magnet wire insulation and thickness, the tension of each turn around the coil, the layering of the magnet wire by either hand…

Pickups potted in silicone can usually be potted. Sometimes it is hard to remove the silicone but once removed you can normally rewind a pickup. That’s why I like wax better for potting pickups because you can work on the product or make updated changes. Silicone can be messy if it’s not totally cured and…

Putting wax just on the outside of a pickup may due some help but the whole pickup needs to have the wax permeate within all the fine cavities and air should be displaced by agitation when hot wax potting. When the pickup is dipped in wax, at first the wax will solidify till the pickups…

Most industrial waxes should be used and often, specific epoxy potting solutions are used for permanent bonding of pickup components such as circuit boards, to hide design layout and to keep the pickup from being modified. There are also specific potting varnishes of different grades and some need to be oven heated to cure the…