it may just be me but it seems over the last year my strat doesn't have the same volume it had when it was new. i am playing an american swamp ash with the s-1 switching...has anybody eles had this happen to them??? i have not plugged into another amp yet but i was hoping it just might be an amp problem. i just love my strat!!!!

thanks, i do need to check the set up..it does seem the pickups are not as close as you mentioned..thanks again!

Maybe you're losing your hearing and you shouldn't play so loud! (Just kidding).

Just get a nob that goes to 11.

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"look mummy there's an airplane up in the sky"

Just another thought here for what it's worth...

Are you playing thru a tube amp and if so, have you changed your tubes lately? I'm not saying this is your situation specifically but I've known people who've gone out and bought a tube amp not really knowing anything about them (other than that other people have said "get a tube amp") and as time goes on, they start to loose volume and/or tone and don't understand that tubes need to be replaced from time to time. I've known a couple of guys who play regularly who change their tubes as often as every month or two just to keep the amp sounding "fresh". I've also known folks who didn't know that tubes come in different grades (such as Groove Tubes") and wondered why their amp was actually softer after a tube change.

Anyways, I'm not saying that it couldn't be the guitar...if you've changed something in the setup it's certainly possible (or as others have said, even a different cable could make a difference), but seriously, if these conditions don't apply, I wouldn't suspect the guitar as much as the amp or something else. A guitars tone and even volume can and do change over time but there we're usually talking years and decades...not just in a single year.

Okies...just my $.02 worth,
Jim

outside chance it could be the pickup magnets losing their polarity.

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Hahaha! Yes, we've all done that at some point in our careers!

That's when the learning starts...

Cheers - C

I would think its either the pickup distance, probably the amplifier too... and even your guitar cable could be... also you can get a boost pedal to increase its power hehe

you know you may be on to some thing here, i have been playing for over a year on my mesa nomad 55 which i bought used and have never replaced the tubes....and i play aprox 1 hour each day... i look into getting the thing re-tubed...thanks!!!

Dont fall for the re-tube blag. Theres a lot of hype about it. My watkins has had the same tubes in it for 41 years atleast, so ii've been told. Its still sound and crispy. Modern amps are biased hot from the manufacturer, which can lead to tubee faliure. Personaly i expect atleast 4 years out of power tubes and 10 out of pre-amp tubes. Infact i dont think they hit peak performance until their 2 or 3 years old. If your mesa has gone through power tubes inside 2 years i'd look at cooling the bias. Hot bias does sound great but does no good to your amp. Its used so the amps sound better at low volume. I.e you dont have to deafen yourself with a 100watt amp on 8 to sound good, you can achieve the same power amp breakup on 4 upwards.

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I have to totally disagree with nikininja here. I have a '73 Bandmaster and when I'm using it regularly, I replace the tubes about every six months or so. In fact I had bought the amp used around '85 and it still had the original tubes in it...which I had played for a while. When I put new tubes in, I was blown away by the difference in both tone and volume...it was like a completely different amp. I'm not an extremest by any means...as I said before, I do know guys who change em every month or so, but as I said before I would suspect this long before I would suspect something with the guitar itself.

Also in regards nikininja's comments, I would also point out this is the same person who suggested that your pickup magnets could be "losing their polarity". While I will refrain from, commenting specifically on the absurdness of that statement (yes, magnets can get weaker with age, in a case such as we're discussing here, it generally takes decades and a magnets polarity can be reversed, but the don't "loose" their polarity...please feel free to look up magnetic theory in any electronics 101 text book), and while I really don't wish to sound rude, I think I would have take this person's comments with a grain of salt. A person who thinks that pickup magnets are going to "loose their polarity" probably isn't the best person to be getting advice from in regards to tube amps (10 years between pre amp tube changes eh? Yikes...). If you really suspect the pickups, you can measure their resistance for a definitive answer...single coils are typically between 6 and 8 ohms.

With that said and to make all of this more simple, I would simply try plugging the guitar into an amp that you've played this same guitar thru before and see how it sounds to you now. If it has less volume thru a different amp, suspect the guitar (or those pickup magnets! LOL!) if it sounds the same, suspect the amp. I do agree with nikininja's comment about checking the amps bias if she's running too hot (which WILL kill tubes quickly). There is a great tutorial on this at Groove Tubes websites that explains it pretty well. It's been my experience that Mesa's do tend to run a little on the hot side...part of what makes them sound so great, but I know I've heard folks gripe about having to replace tubes on them frequently too.

Anyways, again this is only my $.02 worth...please take it as it's intended.

Peace,
Jim

Magnet dipoles do move
http://www.x-magnet.net/faq.html
Causing a loss of power
The pickup magnetics suggestion was wrong though, not for the reason you stated lotimus but because the chances of all 3 pickups going bad at the same time from as you said 'something that happens over decades, and i initially said was only a 'outside chance' would be rarer than rocking horse refuse.

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Well, the only things discussed here that could happen "gradually" is magnets and tubes. Everything else would be sudden.

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Hi Jim: I've read a lot of Nikininja's posts (somewhere around 1941 of them, I think) and if you keep an eye on what he has to say about stuff you might find he's one of the most experienced players around. And his knowledge comes from years of hands on gigging on the circuit: he's paid his dues.

He has many times said things that have surprised me - but on closer examination we generally find he knows his eggs. He's also very ready to admit when he's wrong - but he hasn't needed to do that too often round here!

Nikininja: one of the names on the Forum that says; "read this post!"

...Mind you, I've never had valves last ten years - but that just suggests I need Niki to teach me how to bias my amps better!

Cheers guys - C

Yes, it is getting quieter. It will fade out entirely by the year 2011. It will then cease to function as an electric guitar.