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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Cloth Wire Wax?

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4/22/2000 9:31 PM
Gil Ayan	Cloth Wire Wax? Can anyone recommend a specific type of wax to use on cloth covered "vintage style" wire to prevent fraying/whiskering at the ends? I see that replacement pickups that use cloth wire are waxed, and it makes it easy to prevent whiskering. Thanks, Gil

4/23/2000 10:12 AM
D.L.	Do you mean for potting, say- a tele p.u.? I dont see why a mix of beeswax and parafin wouldnt be fine...

4/23/2000 4:01 PM

Gil, looks like you may be the pioneer, here, but I have a suggestion to try. The wax "formula" I've used for potting pickups might work fine (25 percent beeswax, 75 percent paraffin --craft stores)I wouldn't use paraffin alone --too soft and greasy--beeswax is harder, but too brittle to use alone. Use some kind of double-boiling setup (water in pot, smaller pot with wax inside that --no direct heat) 150 degrees is plenty, if it smokes it's too hot --this stuff IS volatile. Do it outside. take a look here:

http://www.stewmac.com/05ts_25.htm

Giving this a little thought...removing the excesss before it dries might be difficult --maybe just laying it on paper towels would suffice.

Hope this helps.

-Eric

4/24/2000 1:08 AM
Larry	Eric, I've potted some pickups I've wound with that same formula, and while the physical properties would be about right, I'd be afraid of actual combustion. The stuff burns fairly readily, and (as you mentioned) smokes copiously at temperatures that parts of a tube amp might often see. Just a thought, Larry

4/24/2000 4:51 AM

Y'know, I thought about that while writing, and posted it anyway,hoping for a response. I've seen NOS cloth-covered wire that sure SEEMED to have wax on it. Carnauba wax has the highest melting point, thats why it's hard to polish, but I doubt that it's high enough --it's also prohibitively expensive (and was in the '30s too) and probably too brittle. Wonder what that stuff is on old wire, I know those old radios went up in smoke sometimes, but I find it hard to believe it was the wax on the wires.

-Eric

4/24/2000 5:09 AM
Gil Ayan	Shoot, I wonder if "candle wax" might do the trick. Seriously, the stuff on old Fenders is waxed, and hold up very well when you apply the soldering iron to the wire, so it has to have a higher than candle wax melting point... I will try and call Serymour Duncan tomorrow, his vimtage style pickups have waxed cloth wire. Maybe the can tell me what they use on their wire. Gil

4/24/2000 5:17 AM
Eric H	"I will try and call Serymour Duncan tomorrow" Dang, Gil, that's too easy :>) I'd sure like to know what you find out. "his vimtage style pickups have waxed cloth wire." That got potted with the rest of the pickup? HMMM... -Eric

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