MetalManiac
Li'l Junior Member
...and why?
PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
- Thread starter MetalManiac
- Start date
MetalManiac
Li'l Junior Member
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
Yet Seymour D. does pot his '59, correct? SO the option exists for a reason. I know the general reason, but looking for more insight.
Yet Seymour D. does pot his '59, correct? SO the option exists for a reason. I know the general reason, but looking for more insight.
LtKojak
New member
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
You should look at the history of the Humbucker p'up, created by Seth Lover in 1955 and marketed in 1957 for the first time. Short after that Gibson "applied" for the patent, so they were called "Patent Applied For".
At the time they were created they were no high gain amps, no mega-concerts for hundred thousand people, so no need to play LOUD. But Rock N' Roll changed all that. In less than ten years everything got bigger and louder, so feedback started to became a problem. I think it was Di Marzio the first to sales pitch potting as the cure for all evil.
All my p'ups are SLIGHTLY potted. I took the excess off of all of'em myself. None of'em are microphonic, but I don't play with excess gain. However, I do use controlled feedback as part of the music I play. The two 335s I have do it nicely! :cool2:
You should look at the history of the Humbucker p'up, created by Seth Lover in 1955 and marketed in 1957 for the first time. Short after that Gibson "applied" for the patent, so they were called "Patent Applied For".
At the time they were created they were no high gain amps, no mega-concerts for hundred thousand people, so no need to play LOUD. But Rock N' Roll changed all that. In less than ten years everything got bigger and louder, so feedback started to became a problem. I think it was Di Marzio the first to sales pitch potting as the cure for all evil.
All my p'ups are SLIGHTLY potted. I took the excess off of all of'em myself. None of'em are microphonic, but I don't play with excess gain. However, I do use controlled feedback as part of the music I play. The two 335s I have do it nicely! :cool2:
LtKojak
New member
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
That's been my experience as well. (consider the source as well, LOL)
That's been my experience as well. (consider the source as well, LOL)
MesaDCLP
New member
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
Ok, not to totally derail, but ...
What defines the procedure for "proper", and does SD follow this?
Ok, not to totally derail, but ...
What defines the procedure for "proper", and does SD follow this?
the guy who invented fire
Fuzzy. Guitars
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
First off this thing about lightly potted is crap...a pickup either has wax potting or it doesn't!
Also, with all due respect to Steve at DiMarzio I must ask, what is opinion of a negative effect would be...I mena, what does he find to be negative???
The biggest thing about a non potted pickup to me is that being that all of them are slightly microphonic at that point they tend to react differently to playing style and dymanics not to mention VOLUME...
At low volumes there is less of a difference in some ways but as you start getting the voluem up there you start to get more reaction between the guitar and amp...this is the key and this is why I prefer non potted pickups.
This is also why lightly potted is a joke and nothing more...if you put wax in a pickup it stops all microphonics and in doing so you loose ALL the quialitys I am talking about.
Also, back to Steve, he may find this to be a non negative effect but I see it the other way, to me this squeezes the life out of a great pickup.
Seymour pots most of his pickups because he knows that most guitar players are too lazy to learn how to control large amounts of gain and he'd rather not spend most of his day dealing with call backs and returns because some knucklehead stood in front of a Dual Recto on 8 and couln't make the squeeling stop...
First off this thing about lightly potted is crap...a pickup either has wax potting or it doesn't!
Also, with all due respect to Steve at DiMarzio I must ask, what is opinion of a negative effect would be...I mena, what does he find to be negative???
The biggest thing about a non potted pickup to me is that being that all of them are slightly microphonic at that point they tend to react differently to playing style and dymanics not to mention VOLUME...
At low volumes there is less of a difference in some ways but as you start getting the voluem up there you start to get more reaction between the guitar and amp...this is the key and this is why I prefer non potted pickups.
This is also why lightly potted is a joke and nothing more...if you put wax in a pickup it stops all microphonics and in doing so you loose ALL the quialitys I am talking about.
Also, back to Steve, he may find this to be a non negative effect but I see it the other way, to me this squeezes the life out of a great pickup.
Seymour pots most of his pickups because he knows that most guitar players are too lazy to learn how to control large amounts of gain and he'd rather not spend most of his day dealing with call backs and returns because some knucklehead stood in front of a Dual Recto on 8 and couln't make the squeeling stop...
Andrew Lamprecht
Minion of One
Zhangliqun
Questionologist
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
Lightly potted is not a joke. You can lightly pot and remove squeal problems without removing the soul of a pickup. I think most makers overdo the potting when you need just enough to stop excess coil vibration.
Lightly potted is not a joke. You can lightly pot and remove squeal problems without removing the soul of a pickup. I think most makers overdo the potting when you need just enough to stop excess coil vibration.
blueman335
Mojo's Minions
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
Do you consider Duncans to be 'lightly potted?' Gibsons? DMz?
Do you consider Duncans to be 'lightly potted?' Gibsons? DMz?
Zhangliqun
Questionologist
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
I'd have to actually see the potting process, e.g., how long is it left in the pot and what the parafin to beeswax ratio is to make a call on that. But I think it's safe to say that if you're scraping big chunks of wax off that are almost white, at the very least the mix is too thick.
I'd have to actually see the potting process, e.g., how long is it left in the pot and what the parafin to beeswax ratio is to make a call on that. But I think it's safe to say that if you're scraping big chunks of wax off that are almost white, at the very least the mix is too thick.
FluffChop
New member
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
With any mix at all if you don't dip the pickup for a long enough time, then you will be scrapping off big chunks of wax that solidified on the cold pickup. You have to let the pickup reach the temperature of the melted wax. Then the wax itself is able to flow over the coil wire. I wait till the backplate wax remelts, then it's all up to melting temperature.
With any mix at all if you don't dip the pickup for a long enough time, then you will be scrapping off big chunks of wax that solidified on the cold pickup. You have to let the pickup reach the temperature of the melted wax. Then the wax itself is able to flow over the coil wire. I wait till the backplate wax remelts, then it's all up to melting temperature.
LtKojak
New member
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
This is the kind of post that proves you shouldn't post at all before drinking some coffee after being wasted and/or after somebody pissed in your cornflakes... :bling:
:joke:
This is the kind of post that proves you shouldn't post at all before drinking some coffee after being wasted and/or after somebody pissed in your cornflakes... :bling:
:joke:
hamerfan
Well-known member
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
There is a kind of way to pot a pup lightly, but it is completly different to all things said here.
There are some points of a pickup that are prone to squealing:
First: the cover. This could be solved by a dab of silicone or tape inside the cover.
Second: the bar mag. Drop some wax on it and slide into the pickup and tighten the base screws. While heating the baseplate, tighten it more to glue the mag to the baseplate and the bobbins.
Third: the coils. I leave them alone to get the alive feeling at certain point of gain.
BTW i did that with my Ants too. And i own a pair of 70ies (non back logo!) SD 59s - they are non potted!!!
SD has to pot its 59s otherwise he would get to much complains from everywhere including all OEMs - its just a reason to run his business straight. Order your 59 like the old PAF unpotted as a Custom Floor Model.
There is a kind of way to pot a pup lightly, but it is completly different to all things said here.
There are some points of a pickup that are prone to squealing:
First: the cover. This could be solved by a dab of silicone or tape inside the cover.
Second: the bar mag. Drop some wax on it and slide into the pickup and tighten the base screws. While heating the baseplate, tighten it more to glue the mag to the baseplate and the bobbins.
Third: the coils. I leave them alone to get the alive feeling at certain point of gain.
BTW i did that with my Ants too. And i own a pair of 70ies (non back logo!) SD 59s - they are non potted!!!
SD has to pot its 59s otherwise he would get to much complains from everywhere including all OEMs - its just a reason to run his business straight. Order your 59 like the old PAF unpotted as a Custom Floor Model.
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LtKojak
New member
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
We're looking at an Epi p'up here, isn't it?
Well... this NOT "slightly potted"! :naughty:
B :naughty:
We're looking at an Epi p'up here, isn't it?
Well... this NOT "slightly potted"! :naughty:
blueman335
Mojo's Minions
Re: PAF- Potted or Unpotted?
There's enough wax in there to build a beehive. Talk about overkill. Like using a sledge hammer to kill a mosquito.
There's enough wax in there to build a beehive. Talk about overkill. Like using a sledge hammer to kill a mosquito.
