Repotting Guitar Pickups |
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Nov 11 2009, 12:30 AM
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Hello everyone,
i had some amazing results with something i tried today. So i thought i have to share it... Maybe its interesting, maybe you already know it... To begin with, heres the problem: I bought a realy cheap guitar ( https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=30992 ). Soon i noticed the pickups were microphonic, so at higher volume levels i would get an annoying amount of feedback. I wrote about this in the forum ( https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...showtopic=31785 ) and the overall advice was to buy some new pickups. I decided to do so. With that decision i had the original pickups to play around with, because i would change them anyway. While researching about microphonic pickups on the web i found this: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/dip.htm And i thought, with nothing to loose, except some already crappy pickups, its worth a try. sooooo..... Now comes the part with the pictures.... First step was to remove the pickups from the body. If you want to completely dip them into liquid wax, theyre better not inside the guitar at that moment. It is important to document which pickup was in which position. For me this was easy since the cables coming out of the pickups had different colors.  The cables go through the body to the pickup selector switch. Again, it is a very good idea to document where the wires go.  Now, both pickups are free.  And while i was doing the dissassembling, the wax had time to melt. I used a pot with water wherin i placed the pot with the wax. It took an hour to completely melt. Please remember, if you do this, liquid wax is extremely flammable, so its probably not a good idea to try this on a gas stove.  When the wax was completely melted i put the pickups into it for a 20 minute bath. Then i put them on some paper towels to "dry" and cool down.   The next step was to clean the cap. That was realy annoying and took some time. I used a pick to scrape off the wax and some paper towels to polish.  After a while this was the result.  Now its time to put everything back together. it is a good idea to remove the old solder from the cables and use some fresh.  When both pickups are in place, you can solder them to the pickup selector switch. Now would be a good time to test if everything works as expected.  And after just a few hours of work the result is like this.   Anyway, those are just pictures. The real improvement is the sound. Before this i always thought i had some technique problems on this guitar because i always had lots of noise and crappy sound. After this, it plays smooth and clean just as my other guitar. And its way cheaper than a new pair of pickups. So, if you have a guitar with similar problems and nothing to loose , try waxing them!Oh i like this guitars new sound
This post has been edited by twist: Nov 11 2009, 12:35 AM -------------------- rivers just happen
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Nov 11 2009, 12:46 AM
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Very nice !!!! Thanx for sharing !!!
//Staffay --------------------  Guitars: Ibanez AM-200, Ibanez GB-10, Fender Stratocaster Classic Player, Warmouth Custom Built, Suhr Classic Strat, Gibson Les Paul Standard 2003, Ibanez steel-string Amps: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Marshall JMP 2103, AER 60 Effects: BOSS DD-20, Danelectro Trans. Overdrive, TC-Electronics G-Major, Dunlop Wah-wah, Original SansAmp, BOSS DD-2 Music by Staffy can be found at: Staffay at MySpace |
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Nov 11 2009, 01:08 AM
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Nice to know that it worked!!!!!
Congrats!!!! 
-------------------- I'd rather have a full Bottle in front of me than a full Frontal Lobotomy!!
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Nov 11 2009, 01:28 AM
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Thanks for sharing this! Its great that it worked. I have a similar guitar with a similar problem so I may try this one day when I have more needs from that guitar
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Nov 11 2009, 01:54 AM
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Very cool! Thanks for sharing, bookmarked!
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