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Pickup Potting question?????

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3/23/2006 3:05 PM

Pickup Potting question?????

I have a pickup I am trying to fix, it a Kent Armstrong Mini hum. It needs to be potted once I'm done. What is the best stuff to use? I have had varying answers. One guy said he uses Crayola Crayons in his potting wax, I though that was a little strange.

Is plain white candles you can buy OK to use or should I add something to it. This guy swears by the crayons.......that just sounds too weird. Is he just pulling my leg or does anybody else use them?

3/23/2006 3:14 PM
NobGag	Candle wax is OK. It's mostly parafin wax with the odd scent. Some mix it with around 20% beeswax. Why use crayons? Has this guy bought a surplus or something? Nice piece of eccentricity in any case.

3/23/2006 3:26 PM
Mickey Boy	You can use crayons to colour the wax , I think it would be expensive to just use crayons , Mick

3/24/2006 6:34 AM

heres the important part!!!!......150 degrees....nominaly no more or less.....use a thermometer(candy)....if the wax is too cold...it will make a sloppy encasing on your pickup....and not get all the way in/out....if its too hot...then it will just run off too easily when you remove it...(not to mention, you can harm the pickups).

So go to your local craft store....in the candle making section....premium candle wax/or straight parafin..if you can find it there...and beeswax 80 to 20% as the other fellas stated.

3/24/2006 11:56 AM
Lukas	I have ordered easily meltable parafin at 50-52℃/122-126℉, polysol wire temperature limit is more then 300℃, I am before my first pup potting, I am little bit affraid of melting humbucker bobbins or destroy something, 150℉ is around 66℃, so it looks like good temperature border

3/24/2006 4:13 PM

Contact a candle making supplier. they will sell paraffin wax beads and melting pots which are thermostatically controled. 65 to 75 degrees centrigrade ( modern new world fandangled unit of measurement ) will sufice.
If the metal parts of the pickup, ie. baseplates/poles are cloudy looking, they are not up to temperature. essentially the wax is 'freezing' on cold metal. All the bubbles should come out before you remove the pickup.
Was there anything else?

3/24/2006 9:58 PM
Mystic	Crayons are made of steric acid, a kind of powered shortning. You find it in food too. Wax melts at low temps. about 100 degrees. at 300 it will burst into flames.

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