should nickel covered p/us be waxed?
- Thread starter spin
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darkshadow54321
New member
Re: should nickel covered p/us be waxed?
It depends. It would definitely help, especially if you play with lots of gain.
Lots of people get by without it though. A trick is to place some masking tape over the slug bobbin before placing the cover on. The tape fills up space, not letting air get trapped inside, which is a cause of feedback.
Or at least that's how I understand it.
It depends. It would definitely help, especially if you play with lots of gain.
Lots of people get by without it though. A trick is to place some masking tape over the slug bobbin before placing the cover on. The tape fills up space, not letting air get trapped inside, which is a cause of feedback.
Or at least that's how I understand it.
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: should nickel covered p/us be waxed?
I learned from Tom Holmes to put the tape inside the cover...NOT on the bobbin.
I believe it acts as a dampener so that the cover can't easily resonate and cause microphonic ringing and feedback.
It should be noted that NONE of the vintage pafs on any of the Gibsons made in the 50's and 60's were wax potted...and most sound just fine.
Most of the problems with microphonic covers and pickups seem to come when you're playing at loud volumes and facing your amp...you'd rarely play facing your amp onstage so it's a "playing at home" kinda problem as often as not.
Lew
darkshadow54321 said:It depends. It would definitely help, especially if you play with lots of gain.
Lots of people get by without it though. A trick is to place some masking tape over the slug bobbin before placing the cover on. The tape fills up space, not letting air get trapped inside, which is a cause of feedback.
Or at least that's how I understand it.
I learned from Tom Holmes to put the tape inside the cover...NOT on the bobbin.
I believe it acts as a dampener so that the cover can't easily resonate and cause microphonic ringing and feedback.
It should be noted that NONE of the vintage pafs on any of the Gibsons made in the 50's and 60's were wax potted...and most sound just fine.
Most of the problems with microphonic covers and pickups seem to come when you're playing at loud volumes and facing your amp...you'd rarely play facing your amp onstage so it's a "playing at home" kinda problem as often as not.
Lew
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: should nickel covered p/us be waxed?
Erik's right...when I put a cover on I use a clamp to clamp it on real tight before soldering. I use a Vice Grips brand clamp and I put felt pads on the two gripping or clamping surfaces. It's the same felt you'd use on the bottem of a chair or table leg and it's about an inch in diameter and about 1/4" thick. You peel the back off to reveal a sticky surface. Works great.
I noticed that Duncan uses a similar device only it's mounted to the work surface they build the pickups on.
Lew
ErikH said:
Erik's right...when I put a cover on I use a clamp to clamp it on real tight before soldering. I use a Vice Grips brand clamp and I put felt pads on the two gripping or clamping surfaces. It's the same felt you'd use on the bottem of a chair or table leg and it's about an inch in diameter and about 1/4" thick. You peel the back off to reveal a sticky surface. Works great.
I noticed that Duncan uses a similar device only it's mounted to the work surface they build the pickups on.
Lew
Gearjoneser
Gear Ho
Re: should nickel covered p/us be waxed?
It's tighter and more focused sounding, when potted. When you tap on the cover it's a thud. It's open airy and ringy with unpotted coveres, and when you tap on the cover it's more of a bright ringy sound.
Potting isn't difficult, you just submerge the pickup into wax that's just hot enough to be melted into liquid. Wait for the little air bubbles to come up, make sure the pickup isn't sitting on the pan's bottom, then pull it out and put it on a few paper plates. I usually throw it right into the freezer for a few minutes, so less wax drains out.
spin said:
It's tighter and more focused sounding, when potted. When you tap on the cover it's a thud. It's open airy and ringy with unpotted coveres, and when you tap on the cover it's more of a bright ringy sound.
Potting isn't difficult, you just submerge the pickup into wax that's just hot enough to be melted into liquid. Wait for the little air bubbles to come up, make sure the pickup isn't sitting on the pan's bottom, then pull it out and put it on a few paper plates. I usually throw it right into the freezer for a few minutes, so less wax drains out.
Gearjoneser
Gear Ho
Re: should nickel covered p/us be waxed?
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