i want a micro phonic pickup. how to

so i like noise sometimes. i have some cheap single coils laying around and a MIM WRHB. i kinda want to make one of them microphonic. how would i do that. the single coils are chinese made bullet strrat single coils. i also have a blue and yellow wired tele bridge pickup from my MIM 72 custom. any ideas how to make one of them microphonic at home with simple tools? thanx guys

-The most microphonic I ever heard, were from hollowbodies guitars without center block...good or bad p/u...did not matter..

in a solid guitar...maybe a wierd cap..or a 1meg pot...
.someone might chime in here..
.wish you luck

uriah, that isn't the pickup that's microphonic in that case, i don't think, it's just a feedback prone guitar.

Didn't Fezz Parka used to make pickups that were a little intentionally micro-phonic (not overly so, just a little) - Don't know if he still makes em, but maybe check with him? (heck, maybe I'm totally misremembering that!)

I'm no pickup winder but I think microphonics come from having the wire coil move in relation to the magnet due to vibrations. So you would have to take a non wax-potted pickup and somehow loosen the wire coil around it a bit, without breaking the whole thing... good luck in your endeavor.

uriah, that isn't the pickup that's microphonic in that case, i don't think, it's just a feedback prone guitar.

Yea, . I guess I was saying I dont know how in a solid body...but,
in a hollow...no prob....

Non wax potting will make the pickup more micro phonic

Buy a 1969 Tele like mine! You can literally talk into the bridge pickup and hear it through the amp.

Didn't Fezz Parka used to make pickups that were a little intentionally micro-phonic (not overly so, just a little) - Don't know if he still makes em, but maybe check with him? (heck, maybe I'm totally misremembering that!)

I have three of 'em, and no, he doesn't make them any more. His technique, I believe, was to replace wax potting by dipping in thinned down lacquer. He said this was how he did his personal pickups, not sure if he also did the normal production ones like that too (I have one normal production pickup, and two that he used said personal method on).
I also have a set of nice leosounds PAFs that aren't was potted that have a lot of microphonic vibe, and my cheap Jazz Bass copy has very microphonic pickups.

If you want to make what you have microphonic, and it's wax potted, you can try melting out some of the wax by putting the pup on a paper towel and heating it up with a hair dryer. Someone also once mentioned sticking it in an oven. This can however only get some of the wax out, since a lot is soaked up in the coil and is not going to come out.
If the pickup is epoxied, then there's not much you can do.

I have three of 'em, and no, he doesn't make them any more. His technique, I believe, was to replace wax potting by dipping in thinned down lacquer. He said this was how he did his personal pickups, not sure if he also did the normal production ones like that too (I have one normal production pickup, and two that he used said personal method on).
I also have a set of nice leosounds PAFs that aren't was potted that have a lot of microphonic vibe, and my cheap Jazz Bass copy has very microphonic pickups.

If you want to make what you have microphonic, and it's wax potted, you can try melting out some of the wax by putting the pup on a paper towel and heating it up with a hair dryer. Someone also once mentioned sticking it in an oven. This can however only get some of the wax out, since a lot is soaked up in the coil and is not going to come out.
If the pickup is epoxied, then there's not much you can do.
Cool, I wasn't imagining things!

So, I suppose one *could* try winding their own pickups (or unwinding an existing, cheap pickup, and then re-winding with new wire to save having to go *completely from scratch) without wax potting, or trying the thin lacquer bit - if one were brave & industrious..?

with the single coils, try using springs instead of tubing too...

I can't think how to make one be ,that isn't already. Get a cheap OLD Japanese p/up off of ebay.A hard mount screwed into the body w washers for height gives a vagely similar vibe w-out the squeal.

A lot of microphonic goodness comes from how tight you wind the coils.

Buy a 1969 Tele like mine! You can literally talk into the bridge pickup and hear it through the amp.

I had an old Teisco hollowbody like that when I was a kid! It had the gold foil pickups. From what I've read, a lot of similar pickups were made by the coil just being taped up in a loop (no bobbin) and the magnet being placed underneath. If the coil wasn't potted, I imagine that the coil could just vibrate loosely over the magnet.

Bake out some of the wax potting if the pickup is wax potted. I have done this and it gives a bit more "hair" to the tone for sure.

Put on some folded up paper towel on a cookie sheet, oven at about 160-180 degrees, and leave it in there for a while. Maybe a half hour or so. If it is wax potted you should see the paper towel with a spot of the wax on it. One of my fave neck pickups is a Duncan Hot Tele neck with the cover removed (also good to bake and depot it before pulling off a cover--otherwise you will trash the windings....don't ask me how I know this) and baked for about a half hour. Paired with a Rio Muy Grande in the bridge, both pickups right around 10k, and a GREAT combo.

George

I imagine most places making pickups thgese days make them to have some level of microphonics- if you have a tele bridge pickup with a metal bottom plate its really easy- break the wax that is sealing the metal plate to the bottom of the pickup so the metal plate is loose and youll have all the microphonics youll ever want

If the pickups are fiberboard and not plastic, and cloth insulated wire (not vinyl) you can put it in a pie plate and stick it in the toaster oven for a while.
How to unpot a potted pickup (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/just-pickups/320017-easiest-way-unpot-wax-potted-pickup.html)

It won't get all the wax out, but it will get enough out to make your pickup more lively.

Has anyone used this?

Weiman Wax Away safely cleans tablecloths and other fabrics, carpet, furniture and candle stick holder.

I imagine most places making pickups thgese days make them to have some level of microphonics- if you have a tele bridge pickup with a metal bottom plate its really easy- break the wax that is sealing the metal plate to the bottom of the pickup so the metal plate is loose and youll have all the microphonics youll ever want

I do think, with all due respect, that getting microphonics off a loose base plate, a loose neck pickup cover, or a vibrating ashtray bridge, would not give the same kind of "hair" to the tone as allowing the windings of the pickup to "sing" a little bit. I may be imagining things, but it just feels as though the idea here is to create harmonic complexity and a coil of wire would create the complexity more than the vibration of a base plate or bridge. Multi-dimensional vibration just "feels" to me like it would give us what we are after.

Is this crazy? And thanks for your good work, Jason.

George

Has anyone used this?

Weiman Wax Away safely cleans tablecloths and other fabrics, carpet, furniture and candle stick holder.

Interesting! Maybe try it on a cheap pickup first, in case it damages the wire's insulation.

This is turning into an interesting thread!