Eric Clapton Strat

[Spence]

A friend of mine has a Clapton Strat. When he backs off the volume slightly there's a bloody dreadful wailing feeedback thing going on. Anyone have any idea what might be causing that??

[Electricdaveyboy]

Howdy Spence,
had that problem on my 1973 stratocaster, it came from the worn out volume pot.
cheers
david

[David Schwab]

A friend of mine has a Clapton Strat. When he backs off the volume slightly there's a bloody dreadful wailing feeedback thing going on. Anyone have any idea what might be causing that??

That has the mid booster in it? Check the wiring, there must be feedback going on with the midboost. Maybe a bad ground.

[greenfingers]

That has the mid booster in it? Check the wiring, there must be feedback going on with the midboost. Maybe a bad ground.

Yea, does it still happen with the battery taken out? If not maybe some of the carbon may have been scratched in the pot, and the sudden movement of the vol may cause a that sound?

Maybe your friend should keep it that way, then he can get feedback with the touch of a button for the Hendrix type of stuff? Or maybe not

[Spence]

I've suggested he take the mid boost out of the circuit. He's on the third board already and reckons they've all done it. he rents this guitar out to recording studios so who knows what's been done to it.
I'll wait to see what he says is happening with the mid boost taken out.

[David Schwab]

Were the pickups changed?

[soundmasterg]

Blech! Eric Clapton Strat...

A Strat with real vintage style pickups from any of you will sound much better.

[Spence]

Were the pickups changed?

No only the midrange boost board. The lace sensors are original.

[David Schwab]

No only the midrange boost board. The lace sensors are original.

I guess it wouldn't matter anyway, but I had some thought that left after I asked that.

For feedback to happen when the guitar is turned down sounds to me that the volume control is somehow reacting with the midrange boost, and that instead of attenuating the signal as it should, it's causing some kind of gain boost or something.

From my past experience building effects, having the input and output wires too close can cause this kind of thing. I'd guess Fender went with unshielded wire? Using shielded cable throughout might help. And check all the grounds to the midrange circuit board, and the wiring in general.

This is a real head scratcher ...

[SkinnyWire]

I'd vote for a bad pot too. Had it happen with one of my guitars a few years back.

[TommyB]

Hello David.
I have an '06 Clapton Strat and I've experienced lately something similar to what Spence did. It's not screeching feedback, but rather a low to mid freq. "hoan" if I hit a chord or a note then mute it. It's an F#, right at about the freq. of the low E string, 2nd fret F# on the guitar. It only seems to happen if I'm running a distortion unit with the gain on high or the drive channel in an amp. But it does it through any amp I play through, effects or not, so I know it's in the guitar.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Tommy.

[TommyB]

I just ran across this thread and I realize it's a couple of years old, but if your friend is still having the problem, you might try this. My main guitar is a Clapton Strat and I was having a problem that sounded similar to your friend's. Turned out my bridge pickup was picking up vibrations from the springs in back. My tech took some felt and tucked it in between the springs and it cured the problem immediately. Cheers.

[Spence]

I just ran across this thread and I realize it's a couple of years old, but if your friend is still having the problem, you might try this. My main guitar is a Clapton Strat and I was having a problem that sounded similar to your friend's. Turned out my bridge pickup was picking up vibrations from the springs in back. My tech took some felt and tucked it in between the springs and it cured the problem immediately. Cheers.

I had forgotten all about that but that's a good tip TommyB. Thanks.

[the great waldo]

Hullo Spence

An old thread, but I had the same problem and it turned out to be wally error. I had used the 250k pot for the volume instead of the 50k pot sent the board back for replacement an it still did the same thing. Checked the wiring diagram all worked when the correct pots were put in the correct places. Bad case of thought I knew it all and not rtfm,

Cheers

Andrew

I had forgotten all about that but that's a good tip TommyB. Thanks.