feedback and the telecaster

[disto]

i was playing my squire telecaster through a PA today and was haveing major problems with feedback, it seems to be very sensitive to this! more than other guitars!

i had it pluged into a high gain Boss MT-2

has anyone else had this problem is there anyway to prevent or reduce this?

[Mark Hammer]

The pickups sound microphonic.

There are a couple of things yuo can do, both of which would need to be done very delicately because there is a risk of pickup damage.

When windings are loose, for whatever reasons, shaking them to a degree that results in movement produces a small voltage, the same way that moving a string over the magnet inside a nice stable secure coil produces a voltage.  In the old turntable/vinyl days, you could buy moving magnet cartridges where the stylus wiggled a magnet near a fixed coil, or you could buy moving coil cartridges which wiggled the coil near the magnet.  Loose pickup turns act like a moving coil cartridge.

The solution is to stop them from wiggling.  I can suggest two things: potting and teflon tape.  "Potting" involves either dipping the pickup itself into a melted was bath so that the wax soaks into the coil.  When it cools and hardens, the gaps between the wire turns are filled and the wire that was previously loose now has nowhere to moved.  Pro-quality pickups are almost always potted.  Since there is some danger involved in working with a pot of molten wax on the stove or a burner, I can suggest melting a paraffin candle over the coil, by holding a hair dryer or heat gun near the candle and lettng the wax drip onto the coil.  You will need to keep the wax liquid with the dryer/gun for a little bit so that you can sloosh it back and forth and have it permeate the coil.  Don't point it too close.

The wax will NOT permeate to the depth that a normal soaking in liquid wax would, but it will go surprisingly deep.  It can likely cure any problems in many instances because the loosest turns are on the outside anyways, not the inner core.  Repeat the action on the other longside of the coil.

Teflon tape is something I stumbled onto a couple of years ago.  It is cheap, widely available and adheres without any adhesive substance.  That means ylu can pull on it to get a snug fit without accidentally tearing a wire turn stuck to the tape.  The nice thing about it is you can pack in those outside turns causing the problems a little more tightly, and if it doesn't work there is no risk involved in unwrapping the tape.  It's like a security layer between the coil and any adhesive-based covering you place on the outside.

All of which leads me to emphasize that remving the adhesive-based covering from the outside of the coil is NOT something to do carelessly.  You can all too easily tear the coil or lead in a manner that leaves you with nothing to solder onto.  Be very VERY careful when you remove that layer of tape.

[vanhansen]

Teflon tape, now that is something I hadn't though of.  I have a custom wound Strat pickup that's a bit microphonic under gain and it was recommended to wrap scotch tape around it.  Never thought about using Teflon tape, or plumbers tape as we call it.   I gotta try that.

[Mark Hammer]

Works like a charm.  You can wrap, unwrap, and rewrap, all without harm to the coil.  Note that it doesn't melt when trying to solder leads a little close to the coil.  I mentioned it on the pickup makers forum at Ampage a couple of years ago, and a number of folks have picked up on it and like it.

[vanhansen]

Thanks for the tip, Mark.  I'll be wrapping the middle single of my Strat in a few days.