Wax-Potted Pickups....How to Remove or Reduce Wax From the Coils??

marshall1987 · Sep 9, 2018

I have a couple of PAF-style humbucking pickups that came wax potted from the manufacturer. Are there any good methods for removing or reducing the amount of wax from the pickup assembly and/or coils??

Thanks.

TM1 · Sep 9, 2018

Start with a Hair-Dryer and heat it up slowly to get the wax out of it. Just be very careful not to get it too hot and possibly melt /warp the bobbins. The key is to Not be in hurry.

Mars Hall · Sep 9, 2018

Will de-waxing a pickup bring back the original harmonic content? Can enough wax be removed to make any difference? It seems it would be impossible to remove all the wax.

toxpert · Sep 9, 2018

Dissolving the wax in a solvent washes could remove the wax.
You would have to be selective for what solvent to avoid washing away the insulating coating on the wire.

LtKojak · Sep 9, 2018

Mars Hall said:
Will de-waxing a pickup bring back the original harmonic content?

No.

Mars Hall said:
Can enough wax be removed to make any difference?

Not really.

Mars Hall said:
it would be impossible to remove all the wax.

It is.

J.D. · Sep 9, 2018

+1

Without disassembly, best you can really do is place a pickup in something like a toaster oven at very low heat - just enough to melt the wax but not melt the plastic bobbins (120F?) and let the excess wax drip out between the cover and baseplate seam over a number of hours. It'll take awhile to get the interior parts all good and warm. There will still be a residual wax film in between everything and inside the coils.

Disassembling and attempting to de-wax more is probably going to end up bad.

marshall1987 · Sep 9, 2018

J.D. said:
+1

Without disassembly, best you can really do is place a pickup in something like a toaster oven at very low heat - just enough to melt the wax but not melt the plastic bobbins (120F?) and let the excess wax drip out between the cover and baseplate seam over a number of hours. It'll take awhile to get the interior parts all good and warm. There will still be a residual wax film in between everything and inside the coils.

Disassembling and attempting to de-wax more is probably going to end up bad.

Although I've never done this, I would think the best results would be obtained if you removed the pickup's cover first, before attempting this.

J.D. · Sep 9, 2018

Perhaps. More than likely it will need to be re-taped though. You could take it apart as far as you want.

Black58 · Sep 10, 2018

I would think, common sense wise, no matter how tight/loose the coils are wrapped, that wrap is not a SOLID piece, and WILL have wax buried in it, somewhere! Even if there is technology, somewhere, that will tell you where it is, I don't see how you're gonna get it all outta there without damage/destroying it. .. And, if you're gonna spend that much time and money trying to figure that out, you should probably look for another one! :ganz

toxpert · Sep 10, 2018

Warming up that pickup and thinking the wax is all going to run out....is not going to happen. The wax is going to be held on by capillary action/adhesion. All that warming the pickup does is resettle the wax and reinforce the ‘potting’ effect.

marshall1987 · Sep 10, 2018

toxpert said:
Warming up that pickup and thinking the wax is all going to run out....is not going to happen. The wax is going to be held on by capillary action/adhesion. All that warming the pickup does is resettle the wax and reinforce the ‘potting’ effect.

Have you tried to do it yourself?

Capillary action? Hmm.:hmm

Wax-Potted Pickups....How to Remove or Reduce Wax From the Coils??

marshall1987

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TM1

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Mars Hall

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toxpert

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LtKojak

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J.D.

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marshall1987

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Black58

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