Wax Potting Your Mosrite Pickups; A Tutorial

[cmiller0034]

Building my own pickups. I have been debating whether or not to Wax or lacquer pot my Pickups. From what I've gathered here, I think Lacquer would be best. That way there is no danger of melting my Covers. Getting the covers to adhere to the bobbin is another matter. I might go for some kind of silicone based adhesive across the top. Or, maybe liquid nails?

Interesting discussion.

[Bob Shade]

I would strongly suggest wax potting the pickup in the cover. It does a better job eliminating vibration than lacquer and you will not need to glue the pickup to the top of the pickup cover and then the pickup can be removed from the cover still if need be.

I would suggest not to glue the pickup from the inside. If you ever were going to repair it, it would tear the pickup apart when you try to remove it from the cover.

Once the pickup is wax potted, and dries overnight, you can then glue your mounting plate to the bottom of the pickup. Make sure you do not get wax on the bottom of the pickup or the epoxy will not stick.

BTW, the wax will not melt your pickup cover.

Best,

Bob Shade

[cmiller0034]

I would strongly suggest wax potting the pickup in the cover. It does a better job eliminating vibration than lacquer and you will not need to glue the pickup to the top of the pickup cover and then the pickup can be removed from the cover still if need be.

I would suggest not to glue the pickup from the inside. If you ever were going to repair it, it would tear the pickup apart when you try to remove it from the cover.

Once the pickup is wax potted, and dries overnight, you can then glue your mounting plate to the bottom of the pickup. Make sure you do not get wax on the bottom of the pickup or the epoxy will not stick.

BTW, the wax will not melt your pickup cover.

Best,

Bob Shade

Thanks for the suggestion Bob. I have a problem, my cover is made of casting resin so it is bendy already. (it's the only material I could get to work) Heat makes it flex and warp, so I can imagine what hot wax would do to it. Wouldn't the wax just drain out of the top of the pole piece holes? The polepieces protrude slightly from the holes when assembled. Taping the holes over and just fill the pup up with wax from the bottom would prove difficult. Also, my Mounting plate is already glued on, its made from fiberboard . At this point after potting, I need to epoxy the magnets and adhere the cover to the rest of the pup (wax or otherwise).

What is SO great about hot wax? With these pups I'm not really concerned about future repair. The design is still experimental at this point and if needed, I will just build replacements. Cant some compound like silicone chalk perform the same function? Or fil it up with some construction adhesive, like liquid nails after the bobbin has been potted? You just need the innards not to move around right?

pictures are worth a 1000 words. Here is my crazy design





Would you still go with wax potting Bob?

[cmiller0034]

That was a mess. I wont bee doing that again. Wax sucks, Lacquer and epoxy all the way!

[cal0101]

That was a mess. I wont bee doing that again. Wax sucks, Lacquer and epoxy all the way!

Any pictures?

[Bob Shade]

Any potting material can be messy especially if you have never tried it before. Wax is the best potting material as far as eliminating vibration which means less noise and unwanted feedback, and much easier to clean up than epoxy or lacquer in my opinion after the job. I had a conversation with Bill Lawrence before he died and he claimed it was a big mistake to epoxy pot the pickups he made for Gibson back on the 70's. He was a genius, so that was good enough for me and it makes total sense to me too.

Bob

[cmiller0034]

Any potting material can be messy especially if you have never tried it before. Wax is the best potting material as far as eliminating vibration which means less noise and unwanted feedback, and much easier to clean up than epoxy or lacquer in my opinion after the job. I had a conversation with Bill Lawrence before he died and he claimed it was a big mistake to epoxy pot the pickups he made for Gibson back on the 70's. He was a genius, so that was good enough for me and it makes total sense to me too.

Bob

You may be right, but I cant tell much of a difference. One pickup I potted with lacquer and one with wax and they both perform the same to me. Then again, I was not using the scientific method in a controlled experiment. I can tell you one thing. Having my left hand covered in burning wax may have a bearing on my opinion. Just potting the bobbin in wax is easy, but trying to fill the cover with boiling wax was a mess and headache. I will go into detail about my experience in the Star Swirl build post if anyone want to check it out.

wax potted pup