How Not to Wax Pot a Vintage 1966 Strat Neck Pickup

I thought I would share my mishap so that others don't make the same mistakes. It was a little embarrassing, but hey, you learn from your mistakes. All is well. Aaron will fix it again. It was sounding great before I messed it up. I demo the guitar (minus the neck pickup) using my new Rode Wireless Go II at the end of the video. It still can't handle the volume very well.

I watched several YT videos and had some good instructions from Aaron but none of them emphasized how careful you actually have to be. None of them (except Aaron) mentioned letting the pickup rise to the same temperature as the wax before setting a timer. The normal waxing time is 15-20 minutes but I wanted to keep the potting at a bare minimum and thus the 30 second potting time. But, it may take several minutes for the pickup to rise to the same temperature of the wax or +/- 150 degrees F.

00:00-8:00 Discussion on wax potting videos, my mistake, and the Rode Wireless Go II system
08:00-10:20 Preparing the wax solution with a paraffin/beeswax recipe, discussion on why
10:20-11:00 Using Super Lube grease to cover and protect the handwritten date and signature
11:00-12:30 Discussing reason for aiming for a light potting, soak time, and how it affects tone
12:30-13:42 Dipping the pickup
13:42-15:07 Trying to remove the thick wax from the pickup
15:07-16:15 Pulling out the dreaded chopstick as a last resort to remove the wax
16:15-17:15 Showing how I damaged the pickup
17:15-17:33 Photo of damaged pickup
17:33-18:52 Soundcheck of 1966 Strat using bridge/middle position on some SRV

Guitar - 1966 vintage Strat with a 1962 neck
Amp - original 1964 Fender Super Reverb with original Jensen C10 speakers
Effects- preamps on the Funky-Vibe and Supa-Trem as clean boosts.