Fixing microphonic/squealing metal covered P90's - in progress...

[Erlend_G]

So...

god my sweet saviour and his god'darn holy Jesus Christ son of a *****....

Now I've spent over an hour, trying to pry loose the metal covers of my Epiphone Wildkat's P90's-

with a POS. soldering iron I borrowed- that managed to heat EVERYTHING up, unless the solder-

So I got mad, and TORE the last pickup cover off the pickup.


....

Now, I've burnt both my thumb, and the volume knob of my guitar;

and applied a TON (it's enough) of tube silicone, between the pickup and cover. The guitar would previously give off an intense, high pitched squeal- in every application high gain and "normal" volume-
if I didn't put a finger on the metal cover, to stop it.

I'm now waiting for the covers/silicone to dry, and I hope I didn't fry the pickup wiring, with this useless soldering iron.... :/

I'm gonna post back the final results.

cheers (cooling my burnt thumb with homemade wine)

-Erlend

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Fixing microphonic/squealing metal covered P90's - in progress...

Guitar pickups are let to dry-

I will wipe off the remaining/excess silicone, and test them first thing tomorrow

-Erl

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Fixing microphonic/squealing metal covered P90's - in progress...

Noticed that the neck pickup cover was mounted ... FAR away from the pickup itself.... making it effecticely a "bell" feeding back...

and the brigde pickup had the same problem.

as said, I applied a GENEROUS amount of silicone-on-tube between pickups and covers, clamped them together- and left to dry.

-Erl

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Fixing microphonic/squealing metal covered P90's - in progress...

It’ll be interesting to see if that works as well as wax potting.

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Fixing microphonic/squealing metal covered P90's - in progress...

Yeah, I'll report back tomorrow;

when pickups and silicone has dried- and mounted back in the guitar

see ya, in 12-14 hours! . good night.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Fixing microphonic/squealing metal covered P90's - in progress...

I would have just wax potted the pickups. You wouldn't have needed to remove the covers.

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Fixing microphonic/squealing metal covered P90's - in progress...

I would have just wax potted the pickups. You wouldn't have needed to remove the covers.

well, done is done :/

They even have "quick connectors" on them...

I would have needed wax, though ... maybe just a candle? stupid me.


anyways. I'm about to mount the pickups and give it a "high gain" test. Surely the silicone has the right consistency to dampen a "bell like" cover;
so I hope things work out. The bridge still gives off a little "clank" sound, when i hit it with a screwdriver- but the neck pickup now sounds completely "dead". .

That may be because the bridge cover is much larger, and well, "bell shaped". I also forgot to "lift up the soldering metal bits", to make sure there was no space between the bridge pickup & cover. But had half a tube of silicone in there. :/

It can't be *worse* than it was, (seeing that I haven't melted any pickup wiring)-

but the pickup will be real hard to loosen from the cover, hehe .

yeah, wax potting. Will try that next time \m/

....final results in an hour!
(horrible hangover. need some air, and some beer.)

EDIT: Peeling off excess silicone from the pole piece screws....is..just... ah to heck with it. It looks "cool". xD

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Fixing microphonic/squealing metal covered P90's - in progress...

Ok.

Destroyed neck pickup; because soldering iron slipped loose, and ripped off the windings. :/

But bridge pickup is still alive.

This kinda sucks. But OK. I can't sit around and be pissed off, or regret stuff... !!

Time to find a replacement neck pickup;
and quit using ****ty tools while drunk on homemade wine, (if that helps, not killing more of my gear).

Will mount the pickups tho.

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Fixing microphonic/squealing metal covered P90's - in progress...

Bridge pickup is now completely squeal-free;

and it also sounds darker; it earlier had a "metallic bright ring" to it, that's now also gone. Can't decide if I really like /that/, but the squeal HAD to go.

Too bad about the neck pickup.

sorry.