Removing pole pieces and it's affect on wax potting.

[Fusion1]

Hi I was wondering if removing polepieces will compromise the integrity of the wax potted seal. I always see some wax being removed taking out pole pieces. Will that create microphonics the more often they are messed around with?

[Fusion1]

Re: Removing pole pieces and it's affect on wax potting.

bada bump

[rspst14]

Re: Removing pole pieces and it's affect on wax potting.

It shouldn't be a big deal, but if you're really concerned by it, zap it with a hair dryer for a while to let the wax reset itself.

Ryan

[Fusion1]

Re: Removing pole pieces and it's affect on wax potting.

Won't the heat cause it to drip like candle wax? I took a pickup with me to a hardware shop once and I left it in the car doing another errand and the wax melted but I don't think it changed anything as it's installed now and sounds great. Thanks for the tip Ryan.

[rspst14]

Re: Removing pole pieces and it's affect on wax potting.

As long as you don't overdo it with the heat, it should be fine. It also depends on what the pickup is potted with. I remember reading somewhere that adding 20% beeswax to the mix will keep the wax from melting at low temperatures like that. I've used the hairdryer trick a couple of times, never had any problems.

Ryan

[Kent S.]

Re: Removing pole pieces and it's affect on wax potting.

As long as you don't overdo it with the heat, it should be fine. It also depends on what the pickup is potted with. I remember reading somewhere that adding 20% beeswax to the mix will keep the wax from melting at low temperatures like that. I've used the hairdryer trick a couple of times, never had any problems.

Ryan

It shouldn't affect anything, I agree here with Ryan,and I have never noticed any difference the few times I have done it. However, magnets don't like heat much, so if you wanted to say repot a pup for whatever reason, then take out the mag before hand (singles you are kinda stuck with it), although generally it does take higher temps ... hair dryer, yeah okay ... like Ryan said, don't overdue it ... a heat gun .... nope scratch that idea, some of those can get REALLY hot. And that may weaken the magnet.

[rspst14]

Re: Removing pole pieces and it's affect on wax potting.

There's a great tutorial on this from the Guitarnuts web site. As long as you don't get the wax too hot, the coils and the magnet will not be harmed. It's sometimes hard to pot pickups on a stove, and if that stove happens to be gas, it can be quite dangerous. I recently picked up a Conair parrafin spa on Ebay for $10. It's one of those things women use to soak their hands and feet in parrafin wax treatments, and it doubles nicely as a pickup potter. It has a variable temperature control, so that you don't need to worry about overheating the pickup. If you find yourself swapping magnets, making hybrids, or any of that stuff on a regular basis, it's a good investment.

As a side note, if you pick one up on Ebay like I did, kindly request that the seller ship it in a cardboard box. The dumba$$ who I got mine from just shipped it in the original box with no packaging at all. So not only did it get knocked around (works fine though) a bit during shipping, but the postman snickered as I was signing for a ladies wax treatment kit that was addressed to me.

Ryan

[Kent S.]

Re: Removing pole pieces and it's affect on wax potting.

....... the postman snickered as I was signing for a ladies wax treatment kit that was addressed to me.

Ryan

Well, at least he thought you had a nice personality ...
Yeah, for electrical work ... right, and I suppose those pantyhose are for airbrush fininshing work ? ::::says the postman) ... *but they are* say Ryan trying to explain to the guy ...