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HELP !! New covers on and - here LIL PIGGY !!!

danocaster

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Sep 13, 2004
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I just picked up this 73 Goldtop w/ Voodoo '59s. Sounded just awesome but I hated the zebra coils (on a GT ) so I stuck on Voodoo aged covers.

Now - with a fair amount of gain - it screams like a banshee and squeals like a hog to slaughter

This was NOT the case only hours earlier w/ the covers off

Is there a neat trick that WORKS or do these need to go back to Peter for his "lightly potted" technique

108165478.jpg
 

Wilko

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You can prolly get rid of the squeal by putting a dab of wax on the underside of the covers.
Maybe even a piece of tape, or a rubber band layin in there. Make sure the covers are on tight.
 

bluespckr

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"Tight" is the key word, here. If they weren't clamped down tight before soldering them on, you'll invite some of the problems you describe.
 

Gold Tone

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Clamping is all you need to do. Go to Home Depot and get some of their hand clamps. They are yellow handled and have a soft rubber face. Get two of the small ones and one of the next size up. Pick up a paint stick while you are there.

Unsolder the covers and pull them off to make sure they are free. Put them back on. Cut the paint stick the same length as the pickup and lay it on the face of the pickup lined up against the adjustment screws so that it is in the miiddle of the pickup but NOT over the screws.

Place one of the small clamps on the paint stick and base of the pick up at one end and the other small one at the other end. Clamp hand tight. Place the larger one on the sides of the long side of the pickup. Clamp hand tight.

Resolder.

Covers should be on TIGHT now and your feedback should be gone.

Wax potting a whole pickup chokes it and is unnessecary. 95% of the squeal come from a loose magnet and loose covers NOT from the coils. Waxing the coils kills the tone. Most companies wax pot a whole pickup because it fast and easy.
 

Gtrplyr1

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I put a pencil lead width of silicone on the dummy slug before clamping the cover, works everytime and will peel right off if you decide tog coverless again.
 

danocaster

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Sep 13, 2004
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Thanks Guys

Thanks everyone - what a wealth of knowledge we have here

I got those finger clamps , some silicon , and did what goldtone said - subsituting the Silicon for the paint stick - works like a champ !!

Actually - these now take more gain better than any of my other non-potted pickups !!

Thanks - drinks are on me !! :salude
 

nickysplendid

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Aug 26, 2003
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Quote
"I put a pencil lead width of silicone on the dummy slug before clamping the cover, works everytime and will peel right off if you decide tog coverless again"



agreed. i've done that too (under jim wagners advice)
i just pray it'll come off easy when if i ever want it to.
 

Gold Tone

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Re: Thanks Guys

danocaster said:
subsituting the Silicon for the paint stick

Great that it worked for you!! Nothing worse than having the pain in the ass squeal from a guitar you otherwise love to play....just kills the mood!

hope you didn't think I meant the paint stick was to go underneath the covers :bug I meant it to lay over the cover so it isn't dented by the clamp....spreading the pressure evenly over the cover.

I think you are saying you put silicone between the pickup and the cover? That sounds like a good idea......close up any air gaps in that area and you can only benefit.

:wail
 

Leña_Costoso

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after you get it tight as you can.....

put some tape over the pole holes, and crumble the wax from a birthday cake candle in each one. Hold the tab with some pliers, and heat the pickup (and wax) gently till it flows. Keep the heat on a little longer. Let it cool. Remove tape. Done.
 

Gold Tone

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Leña_Costoso said:
after you get it tight as you can.....

put some tape over the pole holes, and crumble the wax from a birthday cake candle in each one. Hold the tab with some pliers, and heat the pickup (and wax) gently till it flows. Keep the heat on a little longer. Let it cool. Remove tape. Done.

:bug

Whatever you do....DON'T DO THIS!
 

Leña_Costoso

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Maybe what I described wasn't clear. I'm saying you can flow in some wax (birthday cake candle is about pure parafin) to the assembled and soldered pickup and that its safe and effective. If that wasn't clear, I apologize.

Re reading what I posted (again)... yes the pickup is out of the guitar, holes covered and face down, so you're doing a little melt from the underside of the pickup where it can flow down through to the cover side (and not get out the holes, thats why they're covered!).

But if you disagree still....

Why not do it? Does it differ much from the factory potting process as far as heat is concerned? Is the wax that much different?

The wax melts in, drips down, takes up the tiny space between the covers and the bobbin tops. That space cannot be avoided, expecially so if the fixed poles (slugs) are raised above the bobbins a bit. The adj. pole side is always free to vibrate. Filling in that inevitable space does in fact stop the squeal. You only need to heat that wax up to just over whats comfy to hold in your hand. Commercial potting goes much higher temp as they want the process to be faster. We only need fill the space in the cover, not the whole of the windings.

I've done this to... (counting in my head here) oh someplace like 8 pickups in the last year, and more in years prior to that, never a problem, never an issue, always worked, but I'd like to hear your cautionary notes!
 

Gold Tone

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It works wonderfully I am sure....but why do it? There is no benefit since, as you see above, danocaster was able to solve his sqealing problem by reinstalling the cover very tightley.....that is MORE than enough. Wax potting is unnessecary and only kills the tone. An unpotted pick ups is more airy and open....more lively. A potted pickup is deadend somewhat.

Waxing only need be done to the magnet to keep it from vibrating. It is unnessecary to do to the whole pickup or even under the cover if it is on tight. If there is a concern then a dab of silicone is a far better method since it works very well and is removable...wax isn't!

By dripping wax into the spaces you can't avoid getting it into the winding....there shouldn't be wax in winding. Most boutique builders don't wax pot because the pickups are hand built and carefully put together. Mass produced pickups are wax potted since the construction is inconsistant and the last thing they want is hundreds of returned pickups that squeal.

Even Gibson now wax pots Burst Buckers that come stock in guitars since they had too many people complaining of sqealing pickups in the music store when they plugged into a Mesa Triple Recitifier at full gain.....to avoid the preceived "fault" in the guitar and lost sales they started potting them. Luckily the aftermarket Burst Buckers are true to their tonal roots and are NOT potted.

I don't know the exact physics behind it....someone like Mofinco could probably explain it to us very well but basically the idea is that if the coil is free to move under vibration then the overtones and interaction in the winding is allowed to happen. Wax potting freezes the coil winding and prevents that interaction. Some prefer that tone....'57 Classics are a fine example of a potted pickup. More of a flat / even response that sound smooth. That bite and harmonic excitement you hear in unpotted pickups is lost with wax.

Unnessecary...only a loss, no benefit. If the pickup squeals.....wax the magnet, tighten the cover.. NO MORE SQUEAL.

:peace
 

Gold Tone

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Its not my opinion...its a fact that waxing a pickup changes the tone. Whatever you or I think about it doesn't change the effect....we are mearly observers.
 

Wilko

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It is a physical, scientific fact that cannot be disputed. Imperical data will support that:

Wax dampens vibrations of parts of the pickup. Fact

A pickup is a device that converts vibrations to electrical energy. Fact.

Changes in the ability of that pickup to vibrate change it's charateristics of sound. Fact.
 

Leña_Costoso

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You guys actually believe this stuff don't ya? Well hey, they once said:

The world is flat. Fact

I can see how this place gets its reputation as being the black hole of group think.

Amazing.

Pip pip.
 

Gold Tone

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Leña_Costoso said:
You guys actually believe this stuff don't ya? Well hey, they once said:

The world is flat. Fact

I can see how this place gets its reputation as being the black hole of group think.

Amazing.

Pip pip.

Excellent example of contradiction...thanks!!

World flat....based on beleifs of the masses (group think).

For those who choose to base their knowledge on scientific fact and physical constants the World is a sphere. For those who never do manage to eduacate themselves by asking questions and exploring....the World remains flat.

As far as pickup waxing and its effects on tone.....its a fact that is known by and considered in the design of many popular pickup manufactureres from SD to the boutique builders.....yes, they actually do believe this stuff and are experienced with it.
 
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Wilko

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Leña_Costoso said:
You guys actually believe this stuff don't ya? Well hey, they once said:

The world is flat. Fact

I can see how this place gets its reputation as being the black hole of group think.

Amazing.

Pip pip.

Group think? WTF? The measured physical world proves that the world is a sphere.

I listed provable physical constraints. You post conjecture and bullshit. Flat earth theory is what you have.

By the very evidence you posted wax changes the sound. How much more evidence do you need? Shake some wire without wax, shake some with wax. Any difference?

The pickup squeals before wax, not after proves that the sound has been changed by waxing. Some prefer the sound of a waxed pickup with less microphonic quality. Some prefer a bit of that quality which, some have posted, allows for a different sound.
 
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vic108

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Jul 24, 2005
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Gold Tone wrote:

As far as pickup waxing and tone.....its a fact that is known by and
considered in the design of many popular pickup manufactureres from
SD to the boutique builders.....yes, they actually do believe this stuff
and are experienced with it.

Ya beat me to it. If SD does it, it must be OK.
SD has forgotten more about pups than most will ever know.
 
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