Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Edgecrusher

Edgecrusher

New member
Last night played this guitar at band practice and everything was fine. Today I open the case and I see my JB has vomited all over itself. Looks like its just some wax over flowed out of the pole piece, the pickup is dead stock never been touched other than the screws being adjusted.

Just never seen it happen before.

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Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

What kind of temperature was this exposed to? It would seem to me that the wax would have to be heated in order to flow out of the pole piece hole -- And It would have to be under pressure to do so as well. Interesting. Sure it's not something from inside the case that got on there?
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Steve R. said:
Did it get left in a hot car or something? Or near a heat source?
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Grandturk said:
What kind of temperature was this exposed to? It would seem to me that the wax would have to be heated in order to flow out of the pole piece hole -- And It would have to be under pressure to do so as well. Interesting. Sure it's not something from inside the case that got on there?
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Duh, the guitar has flames all over it.
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Wet pickup dream...perhaps your JB was fantasizing about being in an '80s hair metal band
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

My boy Edgecrusher is playing so hot the Duncan couldn't handle it.
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

I've never seen that happen before??? That's bananas!!! Does it still work, I mean does it still sound the same but the wax is melting out of it or is it completely dead or dying??? I suppose a short could have occurred & then it got hot enough for the wax to melt but if that was the case you'd think that it would have died while in your hands & you would have noticed???

Let me know if you need a replacement, I've got 3 of them laying around right now, 2 used & one that's a "new other", it got ripped out of a Charvel when it was brand new & has sat in the box since?
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Nostalgic Distortion said:
I've never seen that happen before??? That's bananas!!! Does it still work, I mean does it still sound the same but the wax is melting out of it or is it completely dead or dying??? I suppose a short could have occurred & then it got hot enough for the wax to melt but if that was the case you'd think that it would have died while in your hands & you would have noticed???

Let me know if you need a replacement, I've got 3 of them laying around right now, 2 used & one that's a "new other", it got ripped out of a Charvel when it was brand new & has sat in the box since?
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New Hampshire people are so nice.
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

We demand answers.

This is beyond strange. The only thing I can think of is isolated heat being applied to that part of the pickup, but I'm at a loss as to how it might have happened unless it was on purpose.
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

sosomething said:
We demand answers.
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Sadly I dont have many, its been in the high 80's around 70-80% humidity the last few days. Yesterday afternoon i put it in the case and went to practice. Practice it was hot, you take the temperature outside and you go into a small garage thats been sound deadened with 5 guys for a few hours and it was probably high 90's, Drove home, put guitar in the bedroom in its case, opened up this morning and this is what i got.

I dont think it came from the case as there is nothing on the inside of it. Looking at it, it looks like it welled up from the pole piece... is just weirder than hell.
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Nostalgic Distortion said:
Let me know if you need a replacement, I've got 3 of them laying around right now, 2 used & one that's a "new other", it got ripped out of a Charvel when it was brand new & has sat in the box since?
Click to expand...

Well that is just nicer than all get out, Ill let you know, this morning i plugged it in quick and it seemed to work ok but you can only tell so much playing through a little 9 volt marshall. Ill give it proper road test in the morning and report back.
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

That's just bizarre. I've had my guitars in the trunk and hot jam rooms here in Arizona and never seen anything like it.
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Oh okay you got me... I flew over to Italy and used a heat gun to melt the wax and took out only the one screw to make it look like that one screw had been taking tequila shots all night...
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Never seen that before either, but I had never seen the screws adjusted so low either. Not saying you're adjusting it wrong or anything, but was that by any chance the screw that you adjusted lowest? Maybe the pickup just had some excess wax concentrated in that area and the heat and pressure and whatnot melted it and made it spill a little.
 
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Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Rex_Rocker said:
Never seen that before either, but I had never seen the screws adjusted so low either. Not saying you're adjusting it wrong or anything, but was that by any chance the screw that you adjusted lowest? Maybe the pickup just had some excess wax concentrated in that area and the heat and pressure and whatnot melted it and made it spill a little.
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And the guitar was stored upside down... ?
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Rex_Rocker said:
Never seen that before either, but I had never seen the screws adjusted so low either. Not saying you're adjusting it wrong or anything, but was that by any chance the screw that you adjusted lowest? Maybe the pickup just had some excess wax concentrated in that area and the heat and pressure and whatnot melted it and made it spill a little.
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Actually the high E is the lowest, the poles were last adjusted atleast 4 years ago just after i bought the guitar.
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

Wow, I thought this thread was going to be humorous but that is pretty serious stuff. I cannot say that has ever happened to me though.
 
Re: Anyone ever had a pickup vomit before?

CSI time.

Has the mystery substance been forensically tested?
Who packed the guitar into its case?
Could somebody have tampered with the guitar whilst you were not looking?

I suspect that one of yo' band mates flicked a booger and scored a direct hit.
 
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