Wax potting TCI pickups

[jbrazn]

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!

 

[Lewguitar]

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!

Unless it's whistling or feeding back I'd leave the pickups alone and not dip them in wax.

Any pickup will make a noise if you tap it with your pick.

Even if it's wax potted.

Some people think pickups sound livlier if they're not wax potted.

It's one reason some people prefer old pafs from the 50's.

When I put covers on an uncovered humbucker I put a piece of 1/2" masking tape in the cover over the non adjustable polepieces so they don't rattle metal to metal.

But I don't wax pot them.

 

[Senor Verde]

I've wax potted a few pickups and think it dulled the sound a bit. What I do is, put a small bead of clear GE silicone across the pickup slugs, clamp the cover on tight and solder in place. I can remember only a couple times this didn't work. I think the pickups had an issue because it was on brands and models the silicone "trick" had previously worked.

I've read that some people also use double sided tape, clamp and solder.

 

[Simon Says]

I would pass. Some PRS pickups are only half-potted. 59/09 for example has one coil potted while the other coil is not. It makes the tone impact. Not sure how that transfers with SE pickups, though

 

[MichaelS]

Unless the wax disconnected, I don't think potting would help what you're experiencing.
I've used your method as well as the silicone method and it works fine.
Both times I masked the top of the pickups just in case I want to take off the covers and save some work cleaning them.

 

[jbrazn]

I forgot to mention, I did put a strip of masking tape of the slugs as well.

Never heard the silicone method, but from the sound of it, seems like it would work about the same.

I doubt the wax disconnected, I put plenty in there. It was even overflowing a little out of the top when I put the pickups in. Stung my hands nicely.

The half-potting thing is what I was concerned about. Definitely not trying to dull these pickups, I like their high end.

So what I'm hearing is I should just practice aiming my guitar pick inbetween the pickups hahaha
I can live with that.