Witto's rc-1 project (first time builder)

[king casey]

, the wax prevents the pickups from acting like a microphone

At risk of coming across as an ignoramus....isn't that what they are supposed to do?

cheers, Mark.

[Adam Barnes]

At risk of coming across as an ignoramus....isn't that what they are supposed to do?

cheers, Mark.

Im no expert on pickups but they had filled the pickup covers with wax abd droped the pickup in when i tried to heat the solder joint to get the cover of wax went everywhere and i had to tip it all out, im not sure thats wax potting

[nitroburner1000]

At risk of coming across as an ignoramus....isn't that what they are supposed to do?

cheers, Mark.

Yes very true but i will quote here as my explanation was not very good.

Potting is the process of soaking the pickup in melted wax, in order to saturate the components, which will isolate them and reduce movement of the coils. Because of this, potted pickups have reduced likelihood of excessive handling noise, microphonic feedback or mechanical failure. However, if a pickup is potted too much, the pickup can often sound lifeless and dull, lacking character and “vibe”.

Hope this helps.

[Andyxlh]

At risk of coming across as an ignoramus....isn't that what they are supposed to do?

cheers, Mark.

Not really,a mic uses a moving diaphragm to move a coil of wire near a magnet, producing electromagnetic induction of a small current,
Guitar pickups use the vibration of the string to disturb the magnetic field around the coil wrapped around the magnet. This changing of the field induces a tiny current in the wire. There's no moving diaphragm involved.
I'm guessing wax potting holds the coil of wire around the magnet still as if this vibrated it would induce a current in itself as it would move through the magnetic field as it vibrated. This current would not be induced by the vibrating string and would be non-musical. Noise of some frequency (much like a lot of my playing).

[nitroburner1000]

Not really,a mic uses a moving diaphragm to move a coil of wire near a magnet, producing electromagnetic induction of a small current,
Guitar pickups use the vibration of the string to disturb the magnetic field around the coil wrapped around the magnet. This changing of the field induces a tiny current in the wire. There's no moving diaphragm involved.
I'm guessing wax potting holds the coil of wire around the magnet still as if this vibrated it would induce a current in itself as it would move through the magnetic field as it vibrated. This current would not be induced by the vibrating string and would be non-musical. Noise of some frequency (much like a lot of my playing).

What he said!