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Do you guys wax pot singles or wrap them with shielding tape or foil? Do SD SC's come wax potted?

No I don't.
No they don't, SCs are never wax potted...
I think shielding the pup's covers isn't a good Idea cause it'll act like a little capacitor and suck out some of your tone...

i dont know for sure if most SCs come potted or not - but potting has nothing to do with shielding ... potting cuts down mechanical vibrations ... shielding cuts down electromagnetics

you can shield the cavity / pickguard in various methods, but i do not think folks shield the pickup itself ... the whole point is for the pickup to generate an E-M field .. shielding it could really screw with its operating characteristics

t4d

If you are just talking about reducing the 60cyl hum and noise associated with some singles, the best thing I ever did for my strat is order the aluminum pickguard shield from . $13 and fits right under your existing picguard perfectly.

I have Fender Custom Shop 54's in my strat, and the middle pup is not RW/RP. I do not have an ounce of noise from this guitar...period. Best $13 I ever spent.


Originally Posted by Jeff_HIf you are just talking about reducing the 60cyl hum and noise associated with some singles, the best thing I ever did for my strat is order the aluminum pickguard shield from . $13 and fits right under your existing picguard perfectly.

I have Fender Custom Shop 54's in my strat, and the middle pup is not RW/RP. I do not have an ounce of noise from this guitar...period. Best $13 I ever spent.

Yes, 60 cycle hum and external interference sources ( fluorescent lights, computers).

$13 bucks that sounds easy. Thanks Jeff_H.

I was looking at a guitar mod site earlier today that recommended the full painting or foiling in the pickup cavities and back of the pickguard as well as wrapping the pups with the non conductive copper or aluminum for shielding purposes, but that was mostly for hot wound pickups.

Does the aluminum pickguard shield 90% of interferences and the pickup cavity coverage gets the additional 10%?

Lets put it this way. The only thing I did differently in the control cavity was to remove the ground loops...ground leads soldered from one pot to the next. I put all the grounds to a common ground off the pots. Used the pickguard shield and litterally have no noise...even with my Marshall on the gain channel.

This is the only guitar I have currently that has true singles, so perhaps it's the pickups? They're not noisless pups, in fact they are vintage accurate...but no noise.


Originally Posted by Jeff_HLets put it this way. The only thing I did differently in the control cavity was to remove the ground loops...ground leads soldered from one pot to the next. I put all the grounds to a common ground off the pots. Used the pickguard shield and litterally have no noise...even with my Marshall on the gain channel.

This is the only guitar I have currently that has true singles, so perhaps it's the pickups? They're not noisless pups, in fact they are vintage accurate...but no noise.

Great! I'm gonna take your approach first before resorting to painting/foiling everything. You make it sound so easy.


Originally Posted by KommerzbassistSCs are never wax potted...

This is not correct, they are actually pretty much all wax potted. A quote from here: from : localhost//website..._and_a_3.shtml:
quot;6. Single coil pickups are usually potted in a wax solution to help eliminate unwanted microphonics and feedback normally associated with playing at high volumes or using pedals that overdrive the signal to the amplifier.quot;
The only ones I recall not being potted are some Antiquity humbuckers.


Originally Posted by MikeRockerThis is not correct, they are actually pretty much all wax potted. A quote from here: from : localhost//website..._and_a_3.shtml:
quot;6. Single coil pickups are usually potted in a wax solution to help eliminate unwanted microphonics and feedback normally associated with playing at high volumes or using pedals that overdrive the signal to the amplifier.quot;
The only ones I recall not being potted are some Antiquity humbuckers.

Thanks Mike, I shoulda thought to look there.

After looking, Seymour goes on to say:

quot;13. Single coil pickups shielded by a copper foil can eliminate a small amount of unwanted (RF) electrical interference but not hum that is generated by stray magnetic fields.
14. To help keep single coils quieter a shielded conductor from the coil to the controls should be used. quot;

Installing an aluminum pickguard shield ought to stop most of the interfering emf right? Otherwise the cloth wiring won't offer much shielding protection

Those who have done shielding do you get harmonics easier with your single coils since the interference noise is eliminated.

Is shielding the single best mod one can do on their strat?


Originally Posted by MikeRockerThis is not correct, they are actually pretty much all wax potted. A quote from here: from : localhost//website..._and_a_3.shtml:
quot;6. Single coil pickups are usually potted in a wax solution to help eliminate unwanted microphonics and feedback normally associated with playing at high volumes or using pedals that overdrive the signal to the amplifier.quot;
The only ones I recall not being potted are some Antiquity humbuckers.

Are you sure? I never saw a sc hat was wax pottet into it's cover... this would mean that you can't remove those plastic covers...


Originally Posted by KommerzbassistAre you sure? I never saw a sc hat was wax pottet into it's cover... this would mean that you can't remove those plastic covers...

Well, at UGD I built a single coil, and MJ put it in hot wax. The difference with humbuckers is that you pot the single coil before you put the cover on. There aren't covers on most humbuckers, so you just throw the whole thing in, but there are covers on single coils. Go here: from : localhost//website...ggeredforStrat and click on quot;Seequot; under the Vintage Staggered SSL-1, that's what they look like when they're potted.