hugo
Quarternote
Posts: 3
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Post by hugo on Aug 29, 2021 7:34:05 GMT -5
Good Afternoon,
Recently my 2016 LP standard started to squeal when I engaged one of my overdrive pedals. (Boss OD, Wampler Euphoria). I narrowed it down to the neck pickup. When the neck pickup is selected and I tap it with a pick it makes a clicking noise, the bridge pickup doesn’t make any noise when tapped. Is there anything that can be done?
Best wishes, Hugo
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Aug 29, 2021 8:11:13 GMT -5
Either the wax potting has failed between the metal cover and the bobbins, or the pickup is not potted.
"Potting" is the process of soaking a completed pickup in molten wax for several minutes to allow the wax to penetrate and fill all the voids (air spaces) in the pickup. The intent is to solidiy all the components and prevent them moving in relation to each other. A pickup is an AC generator, and anything that affects the magnetic field near the coils will add noise to the signal.
Potting does help stop oscillation/feedback, but many players also feel it kills the "liveliness" in a pickup--and they have accepted the noise as a compromise. It's sort of like hard-core Fender players that love the single-coil tone, and they accept the noise issues associated with that pickup design.
One easy thing you can do to help make a pickup quieter is to replace the springs with rubber tubing. These are on the mounting screws that allow height adjustment. There's no guarantee this can solve your issue, but it does help in many cases because the springs can 'ring' in use.
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Post by Leftee on Aug 29, 2021 8:48:11 GMT -5
If your guitar has Burstbuckers your pickups are not potted.
I prefer non-potted humbuckers for PAF tone. That means watching the gain levels and proximity to the amp. Volume also plays a part. It’s the balancing act of PAFs.
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Post by ninworks on Aug 29, 2021 9:27:39 GMT -5
I have never owned a guitar that didn't react to tapping the pickup at some level. My old 63 SG Custom with PAF's is very loud to the point where I have to be very conscious about my picking when playing because of that. There's not a lot of space between the strings and pickups so I have to be careful.
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hugo
Quarternote
Posts: 3
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Post by hugo on Aug 29, 2021 10:56:28 GMT -5
Gents, thanks for the replies
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Post by LeftyMeister on Aug 29, 2021 12:21:38 GMT -5
I have never owned a guitar that didn't react to tapping the pickup at some level. You beat me to it. |
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Post by Larry Madsen on Aug 29, 2021 21:48:12 GMT -5
I have never owned a guitar that didn't react to tapping the pickup at some level. You beat me to it. Call me crazy, but tapping on a PUP is one of the methods I use when making sure the thing is working at all. |
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Aug 30, 2021 10:11:29 GMT -5
It isn't likely on a newer guitar/pickup, but the cover solder joints can break making for a loose cover. That will cause a lot of microphonics and have a very loud click when you tap it.
Of course, if the pickup didn't have covers and you put some on without soldering them, that's your answer!
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Post by jaxjaxon on Aug 31, 2021 22:31:07 GMT -5
you could remove the cover and see how it sounds that way and check to see how well it is potted. If it is a overwound/hot pickup it will be harder to quiet it down.
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pdf64
Wholenote
Posts: 556
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Post by pdf64 on Sept 1, 2021 7:21:41 GMT -5
If the cover is removable then the pickup isn't fully potted; the whole pickup assembly needs to be bound together to best resist microphony.
I was surprised that I needed to pot a Seymor Duncan Little '59 I recently got. But yeah, the damn thing was a howly meess at high volume; potting the whole thing sorted that out.
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Post by cedarchoper58 on Sept 1, 2021 17:51:23 GMT -5
If the cover is removable then the pickup isn't fully potted; the whole pickup assembly needs to be bound together to best resist microphony. I was surprised that I needed to pot a Seymor Duncan Little '59 I recently got. But yeah, the damn thing was a howly meess at high volume; potting the whole thing sorted that out. all the pickups on my 62 and 57 are removable and there potted i believe there quite and not micrphonic |
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