Is there any difference in wax?

[FernandoDuarte]

Hello!
Is there any difference in the type lf wax and how do you do it on the sound of the pickup?
I've a BKP Crawler that I want to send to a Brazilian pickup builder to open the tape and cover to copy the scatterwind.and etc, because it sounds so fcking good, but not sure if after he puts the cover and wax it would sound the same.
He does vacuum waxing, btw.

*£1 = R$8, that is why I'm not buying others BKP, each single humbucker costs more of the minimum monthly wage of Brazil

 

[jeremy]

in order to really know the pattern of a pickup, you need to unwind it. just looking at the outside layer will give you an idea though.

wax isnt necessarily the same, but shouldnt effect the tone. usually people use a mix of paraffin and bees wax, i use a 60/40 mix but there is a lot of variation

 

[freefrog]

If someone wants a pickup to be potted, it's because it squeals.

If it squeals, it's because it's played loud and/or with high gain.

If it's played under high gain, any tonal difference due to wax should become negligible or undetectable...


That said, absolutely speaking, wax potting increases a bit the capacitance of coils, with the potential effects of this physical change : a slightly darker tone, a bit less "touch responsive", when the pickup is played clean...

Beside the bunch of YT videos on this subject, there are instructive topics like the one mentioned below. See the post 9 to check how increased capacitance shifts down the resonant peak of a pickup. Then read the post 10 if you want more info about the dielectric constant of paraffin vs bees wax (the lower the dielectric constant, the less capacitive is the material). You can also read the post 16 if you want to smile...

https://music-electronics-forum.com/forum/instrumentation/pickup-makers/37458-?view=thread

HTH.

 

[FernandoDuarte]

Thank you!