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Tension vs. wax-potting

3/21/2006 11:00 AM
Zhangliqun	Tension vs. wax-potting As a fledgling winder, I've been able to get really good sounds almost right out of the gate but my main problem so far has been feedback. If I understand correctly, there seems to be two schools of thought in the winding community about the best way to suppress feedback. One is obviously wax-potting, and the other is represented if memory serves by Tim Lollar (correct me if I'm wrong on this Mr. Lollar), who says that you don't need to wax-pot if you wind it with the right amount of tension. My early models as said sound really good, but for some of my high gain customers, the coils were just too loose and squealed pretty badly. So I remembered Lollar's (or whoever's) comment and decided to increase the tension on the wind. (Apparently I have a little too much tension now because the bobbins start to bend slightly -- but that's another story.) Anyway, my super high-tech feedback tester is just me diming the gain on a Maxon overdrive stompbox, lifting its level dial moderately above bypass mode, then cranking my 60-watt Fender Hotrod all the way up to 12 (Mr. Tufnel, if you're out there, my amp goes to 12, so there), and then I cram the pickup right up against the speaker. Bottom line -- the increased tension helps a lot, even with my ball-of-yarn scatterwound pickups. I can get it to squeal if I get within 2 feet of the speaker and even then I have to coax it just a little. For comparison, my early models start squealing uncontrollably at 6, never mind 12. My questions: 1) I need to have less tension so the bobbin doesn't warp. Will I still get the same results a bit less tension? Either way, I still would like it to not feedback at all, even under my fairly extreme test conditions, so... 2) Does wax-potting actually/significantly dampen the tone? I've heard this is the case from some and for that reason I've been doing everything I can to avoid it. Somebody please tell me that wax-potting ISN'T a tone-killer...

3/21/2006 11:00 AM

Zhangliqun

Tension vs. wax-potting

As a fledgling winder, I've been able to get really good sounds almost right out of the gate but my main problem so far has been feedback.

If I understand correctly, there seems to be two schools of thought in the winding community about the best way to suppress feedback. One is obviously wax-potting, and the other is represented if memory serves by Tim Lollar (correct me if I'm wrong on this Mr. Lollar), who says that you don't need to wax-pot if you wind it with the right amount of tension.

My early models as said sound really good, but for some of my high gain customers, the coils were just too loose and squealed pretty badly. So I remembered Lollar's (or whoever's) comment and decided to increase the tension on the wind. (Apparently I have a little too much tension now because the bobbins start to bend slightly -- but that's another story.)

Anyway, my super high-tech feedback tester is just me diming the gain on a Maxon overdrive stompbox, lifting its level dial moderately above bypass mode, then cranking my 60-watt Fender Hotrod all the way up to 12 (Mr. Tufnel, if you're out there, my amp goes to 12, so there), and then I cram the pickup right up against the speaker.

Bottom line -- the increased tension helps a lot, even with my ball-of-yarn scatterwound pickups. I can get it to squeal if I get within 2 feet of the speaker and even then I have to coax it just a little. For comparison, my early models start squealing uncontrollably at 6, never mind 12.

My questions:

1) I need to have less tension so the bobbin doesn't warp. Will I still get the same results a bit less tension? Either way, I still would like it to not feedback at all, even under my fairly extreme test conditions, so...

2) Does wax-potting actually/significantly dampen the tone? I've heard this is the case from some and for that reason I've been doing everything I can to avoid it. Somebody please tell me that wax-potting ISN'T a tone-killer...

Replies:

Mystic Here are some things to try... -- 3/21/2006 12:45 PM
micen2 back to what I think.......a little... -- 3/24/2006 7:07 AM