jbrazn
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2023
- Messages
- 2
First post. Thanks for the insight!
I recently bought an SE Standard 24-08, & I love it! But as with every guitar I own, I can't help but make some modifications to make it mine. I upgraded to the locking tuners, lightly sanded the back of the neck to feel less glossy, & gave it the classic lampshade knobs. All great.
But the big headache has been adding covers to the pickups. I don't love the naked humbucker look, so I bought some black chrome covers from Philadelphia Luthier Tools. When I put them on, I soldered the back edges to the cover to ground it like you're supposed to, & I did some light wax potting where the front of the pickup meets the cover. I used simple palm & paraffin wax blend from the craft store, shredded some into the cover & melted it down with a heat gun before placing the pickup in. Seemed to work just fine.
But the problem I have now is the pickups a noticeably microphonic. I can very clearly hear it anytime I tap my guitar pick anywhere on the pickup cover.
There is no feedback issues, no noticeable change in the tone, just a loud clicky sound whenever my pick accidentally touches the pickup cover. No microphonic noise anywhere around the pickups, just on the cover itself.
I even went back & added more wax between the pickup & the cover, but it didn't help.
So my question is this:
Should I go ahead & commit to the tried & true method of dunking the pickup in a bath of melted wax & wait for bubbles to come out, so it's completely wax potted?
Is there anything about the TCI "S" pickups that would make this a bad idea?
I do a lot of my own guitar repairs & mods, but I'm admittedly quite new to was potting & the finer points of pickup construction.
Thanks for the help!
I recently bought an SE Standard 24-08, & I love it! But as with every guitar I own, I can't help but make some modifications to make it mine. I upgraded to the locking tuners, lightly sanded the back of the neck to feel less glossy, & gave it the classic lampshade knobs. All great.
But the big headache has been adding covers to the pickups. I don't love the naked humbucker look, so I bought some black chrome covers from Philadelphia Luthier Tools. When I put them on, I soldered the back edges to the cover to ground it like you're supposed to, & I did some light wax potting where the front of the pickup meets the cover. I used simple palm & paraffin wax blend from the craft store, shredded some into the cover & melted it down with a heat gun before placing the pickup in. Seemed to work just fine.
But the problem I have now is the pickups a noticeably microphonic. I can very clearly hear it anytime I tap my guitar pick anywhere on the pickup cover.
There is no feedback issues, no noticeable change in the tone, just a loud clicky sound whenever my pick accidentally touches the pickup cover. No microphonic noise anywhere around the pickups, just on the cover itself.
I even went back & added more wax between the pickup & the cover, but it didn't help.
So my question is this:
Should I go ahead & commit to the tried & true method of dunking the pickup in a bath of melted wax & wait for bubbles to come out, so it's completely wax potted?
Is there anything about the TCI "S" pickups that would make this a bad idea?
I do a lot of my own guitar repairs & mods, but I'm admittedly quite new to was potting & the finer points of pickup construction.
Thanks for the help!