Fender pickup ‘tubing’ needed in a hurry

[pete1951]

I just had a Strat. in for repair and one of the problems was a loose pickup. Old Fenders (and traditionally built new ones) don’t use springs to keep their pickups in position, they use short lengths of rubber tube. Over time the rubber hardens and needs replacement. This guitar had had it’s middle pickup too high for too long and the rubber had lost it’s spring. I should have some spare tubes but couldn’t find them.
Luckily I came across some small silicon ear pieces from an old headphone set. They worked just fine. They were a little short,so I left the old squashed tube in place..

Not a great photo, the old rubber is dark orange/brown , the new ear ‘buds’ white

The guitar belongs to a regular customer so I will probably replace them with the real thing soon, meanwhile he’s off to a gig
Pete

[snakehips]

Just as well the ear buds are new !!!

[pete1951]

I guess old ones might help to ‘wax’ the pickups?

I do usually put wax on threads ( sometimes soap on wood screws) . It helps to remove friction, you are much less likely to snap a small screw if it is lubricated .
This is also something I use on machine heads, unlike oil it stays where you put it and doesn’t soak in and stain the timber.
( I have seen several guitars with dark stains spreading from the M/heads where too much oil has been used. When oiling m/head make sure you don’t use too much)

Could earwax be used ?

This could be a vegan alternative to beeswax? And have a zero carbon footprint, not like paraffin wax used in most candles.
Pete