Pickup recommendation ls-150 1985 MICROPHONIC!

[benzem]

The pickups in my 1985 ls150 are microphonic. There the stock top of the line pups (dimarzio super dist bridge) so I rather irritated that they squeal. So to all the LP experts here should I choose seymour alnico II's (like in my 76' artist love em) or the jb jazz set OR pearly gates or??? I guess I could have em wax potted but is that always effective?

 

[Anonymous]

I had the pickups on my 1988 US Strat wax potted by Shed pickups as they were microphonic. It cured the problem. It's the most cost-effective solution, assuming you like the sound of the pickups in the first place.

Mike

 

[chrisheyes]

wax potting is the way to go first of all

+1 Stratman323

 

[benzem]

Thanks for the input. But I am curious why you think so. Keeping value with stock pickups and cost or that these are as good as any I mentioned. Anyone else with an opinion? Help.

 

[cryptozoo]

I don't think pickups need to be wax potted if they're wound correctly. If you're after the PAF tone, none of those originals were wax-potted. I have a few sets of different pickups, some with wax and some without, and generally prefer the non-wax as it allows more overtones and nuances to come through. I would check into Wolfetone or WCR pickups, both offer a bunch of options and sound great for the price.

 

[leadguitar_323]

Hi guys, cryptozoo, that depends entirely on how much volume and distortion you are useing. I have never found an unpotted pickup that didn't squeal while useing higher gain settings or high volume, i get all my pickups wax potted and have no trouble with unwanted squeals or uncontrolled feedback. I am very fussy with tone also and have noticed that it actually smoothed out the response rather than limiting tonal range, this is just what i've found to be right for me but if i was Benzem i would try wax potting first before outlaying money for new pickups, i suppose it also depends on what sound you are after as well...

Mick

 

[benzem]

Thanks I agree I should try wax potting the original dimarzios. Would be nice to keep it stock and they do sound good. I think alot of people never know their pickups are microphonic because of not only less or no distortion but volume as well. With a practice amp at apartment level it may never be an issue. It is for me though i like gain and play live so.. NOW to find someone locally to do the wax.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah shop around. When I got mine done, I checked a few places in the UK, & prices varied a lot. Shed Pickups had a good reputation, & the price was good, so I sent them there. Cured the problem for not much money.

8)

 

[detroitace]

Hi,

You could also try vinyl sanding sealer: http://www.skguitar.com/SKGS/sk/winding2.htm

This description says it isn't suitable for metal covered pickups,
but I've done it to 3 metal covered pickup sets without a problem:
two LS-60s (Diodati's made by Tokai) with Gotoh's in them and
an Epi Wildkat with metal covered P90s.

I highly recommend this procedure because it's so simple and
has great results. The above described pickups would squeal
very easily and non-musically with even a modest amount of
distortion (though I think it was the compressor that was exacerbating
the problem). After the sealing process, the pickups never squealed
even at high distortion settings and the feedback was musical, i.e., related
to the notes that were vibrating in the chords I was playing. Thus,
the feedback was useful!

I now enjoy the guitars a lot more it saved me from having to replace
the pickups.

-- Bill

 

[Anonymous]

hi there!

I know the DiM SD issue very well. The "sqeal" or are microphonic as benzem says, so they don't work on stage.

Frankly, I'd never wax-pot my 78 SDs. Any idea beside compression/NGs to stop them?

+1 benzem

Cheers! Rup

 

[benzem]

Vinyl sanding sealer! Huh. I will check into that for sure!. Also while I have you guys ear, same guitar needs tone pots!!!!! Bridge doesn't work AT ALL until fully off and neck barely better. What's up with the electronics on this top of the line( high end) love rock?

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, dumping pickups in a tin of glue is an, erm, interesting idea......

If you need to replace some of the electronics, this thread may be of some help:

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9184&highlight=pots+caps

 

[CR4ZYTR41N]

Yeah shop around. When I got mine done, I checked a few places in the UK, & prices varied a lot. Shed Pickups had a good reputation, & the price was good, so I sent them there. Cured the problem for not much money.

8)

I do mine at home myself now. I suppose it depends how many you think you'll ever pot, but I reckon I've kitted myself out to do as many as I'll ever see for about the same cost as getting 4 or 5 done by someone else.

Its real easy (and kinda fun) to do too and has totally transformed my Greco LP Custom from being a bedroom only guitar (that was totally uncontrollable at volume) to one that I can use at gigging volume without any mircophonic feedback at all.

 

[benzem]

Thanks for the link stratman! I want to be sure I put the best pots etc. in cuz' the ax is worth it. I again am a little suprised I have to do this. Not a big deal though, these parts are replaceable and in my opinion shouldn't lessen the value or integrity of the ax. Mainly the wood and workmanship. Which is incredible! I might even replace the tuners. Thanks for the info on wax potting crazytrain! I did find a tutorial on the web for this. Looked sorta easy but I am a clutz sometimes so may just let someone do it.

 

[JohnA]

Glue, Vinyl sanding sealer!! :roll: For the sake of $30 get them potted by someone who knows what they are doing!

 

[CR4ZYTR41N]

Glue, Vinyl sanding sealer!! :roll: For the sake of $30 get them potted by someone who knows what they are doing!

Sounds sensible John! But, for those feeling a little adventurous wax potting at home is easily within the skill set of most (all) guitarists who are capable of swapping out their own pickups.

There are any number of ways you could build your own double boiler for the wax, but there are also several products out there marketed for other uses which do the job straight out of the box! I bought a medicinal wax bath designed to allow people with arthritis to dip their hands / feet / other extremities(!) into a bath of molten paraffin wax. It came with 5 pounds of unperfumed paraffin wax so I just needed to add some beeswax to get the blend about 80:20 and away you go. I reckon all in it cost me about the same as it would to send 4 pups away to be potted! It could be done cheaper but the kit I bought is real easy to use and its certainly quicker than sending the pups away. I did both of the Greco pups and had it all back together and working within a couple of hours........

Obviously not worth doing if you're unlikely to ever do very many. But for me (having recently moved to a house with a bit more storage space for guitars and related kit) I'm going through a phase of investing in the tooling to do any jobs that come up rather than paying someone else to do something I'm capable of.

 

[Anonymous]

Also while I have you guys ear, same guitar needs tone pots!!!!! Bridge doesn't work AT ALL until fully off and neck barely better. What's up with the electronics on this top of the line( high end) love rock?

I was putting new caps in my Love Rock LS85S yesterday, and there was an intermittent fault with the neck pickup tone control - it would sometimes stay fully turned off, even when I turned the knob back to 10. It turns out that the pot wasn't properly tightened, so it was rotating slightly. Tightening it seems to have cured the problem.

So it might be worth doing a thourough check that all soldered connections are sound, and everything is screwed down properly before replacing any components.