Tokai FA 245: are pups wax potted?

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Goldenvoice

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Hi everyone! Recently acquired my first Tokai guitar, and I'm tickled pink. It's a FA 245 Premium 2021 which I plan to use out gigging, to save further wear and tear on my old Gibson 175.

What I'd like to know: are the factory pickups in the FA 245 wax potted?

I believe it comes with: PAF-Vintage MK2 × 2

Thanks much,
Joe
 
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First off, this is certainly a valid and interesting question but also a private forum unrelated to the manufacturer, with volunteers trying to help other Tokai and Japanese guitar enthusiasts...where they can. Most people try to save themselves unsoldering the PU covers and peeling the tape off the coils to find out, so it may take a while until somebody in the know finds your thread and feels like responding, but maybe that never happens.

Secondly, sorry for the question but why are you asking? Potting is about "microphonic" pickups and you already own the guitar - you should know. You can tap them with your pick to check or if you're Ted Nugent and they squeak on high gain+high volume or respond inappropriately to yelling at them through such a gainy setup they are likely not potted, or the potting failed. In this case, there's some ways to address the problem. If they don't, there is no problem.... but of course I can see how the information is still interesting.

Unpotted pickups are not automatically "microphonic" though (particularly new ones like yours), it mostly depends on how tight the wire was wound onto the bobbins and how loose it could become over the years. The most revered early PAFs were not potted either and some consider this a part of their magic, that's also why potting is still not a standard procedure for pickups aiming at vintage sound.
 
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