Any benefits to wax-potting Jazz Bass pickups and who does it?

[Fender32]

I'm putting together a parts bass and I have a pair of Seymour Duncan Quarter-Pounders to fill the pickup cavities . I've also ordered plain, enclosed covers for them - for cosmetic reasons.

So, it occurred to me that I could use this opportunity to have them wax-potted, before installing them. The thing is, I don't really understand the sonic benefits of doing this, especially to single coil pickups, as I've only ever seen potted humbuckers .

I'm not very knowledgeable about pickups and electronics in general , so I'd be greatful if one of you kindly boffins could just tell me what (if any) would be the benefits/implications of having these pickups wax-potted and where I might send them to be done, in Europe, if possible.

Thanks in advance .

[Blues Bass 2]

The wax potting helps keep the windings on the pickups from vibrating which can cause feedback.In the late 70's I had a 75 natural Jazz with a maple board and I had trouble with high pitched squealing when turned towards the amp or higher volumes.I had traded it for my old Ric 4003 that had never done that at all so I was dissapointed and got rid of it.

Last few years I have had some SX jazzes that have had the same problem with the single coil pickups.I read about potting pickups in a thread on Talkbass and it had places to get information on how to do it yourself.It isn't too hard,you just have to be carefull with heating the wax and it takes some time for the wax to soak into the pickups.I have potted pickups for 4 basses now and it does get rid of the feedback problems.Some say that it affects the tone of the pickups but I haven't heard it in the ones I've done.Lindy Fralin does it pretty cheaply but he isn't in Europe.Do a search on "potting"and it will probably give you the threads I got the information on.If you don't have feedback problems with your pickups I don't really know of any benefit from it.

[Scott in Dallas]

+1 to Blues Bass. In addition, if I'm not mistaken, the potting will only help with microphonic feedback, which he describes above.

A quick Google found this article, which looks pretty complete. Pay close attention to the safety instructions.

http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/...ical/index.php

[Fender32]

Thanks a lot guys!

Now I understand the issue that wax-potting is employed to rectify, I relaise that it's something that I don't really need to worry about (I don't play that loud ).

For some reason, I thought that it might help eliminate hum from flourescent lights etc., but as I said, I'm not very knowledgable about such things .

I think I'll leave them as they are - playing with near-boiling wax isn't really my forte either .

All the best,

Andy

[Searcy]

Well, the other reason not to worry about potting them is that they came wax potted. All SD pickups are vacuum potted unless other wise noted.

[kyral210]

Yeah, your right there. Seymour Duncan pickups are just awesome! They come perfect from the factory, ready to be soldered in. If you have any problems, you can bet your ass its not the SD's!

[Pilgrim]

If you have hum problems, the cause is probably RF (radio frequency). Shielding the cavities for your pickups and electronics with sheet copper or paintable copper material and making sure you are grounded to that material will normally help prevent that problem.