hey all you clapton strat guys... i have a question. do your clapton strats seem louder than other strats that you own???? by other strats i mean ones without the midboost. i was just wondering because i played with a friend who has a clapton strat and my homebrew one was a bit louder than his EC sig and way louder than his MIA standard strat. when i say louder i mean with both guitar vols on ten the clapton ones sounded much louder (almost twice as loud) than a regular strat did. just wanted to know if this was commonplace or is something wrong with mine???

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"If the blues are a living thing, Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson taught it how to walk; Muddy and Howlin' Wolf taught it to run and Stevie and Eric may have made it rock but it was T-Bone Walker who made it electric."

Its the active mid-range boost. It raises it up to 25 decibles. Plus most of the percieved volume the ear picks up is mid-range frequency.

im talking about when the boost is completely off at zero... i know its going to be louder and more OD'd when its on.... thats why i got it in the first place!! duh..

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"If the blues are a living thing, Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson taught it how to walk; Muddy and Howlin' Wolf taught it to run and Stevie and Eric may have made it rock but it was T-Bone Walker who made it electric."

The boost is never completely off, even at zero. Mine's louder than standard guitars. The only thing that comes close to it is my EMG'd jackson.

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No no and no

if it is loud even when the boost is at zero (the 2nd Tone knob controls this) then it could just be your set of pickups in particular...

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http://www.twitter.com/CAE_Music

Slightly off topic but I saw the Antigua Clapton Strat at Sam Ash in Manhattan for $4,999!! Guitar Center is like $10k

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Custom Shop '59 Strat with John Cruz Master Design Pickups
Vibro King
Fulltone Clyde>Deja-Vibe>TS-808>TS-9>Boss Tuner

that is because this guitar was produced only for Sam Ash, as a request by their president. i am surprised to find that there is even one at guitar center.

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http://www.twitter.com/CAE_Music

I think that they realized that no one is going to pay $10k for an ugly Clapton Strat when they have drop-dead gorgeous ones with flamed maple necks sitting next to it for a third of that.

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Custom Shop '59 Strat with John Cruz Master Design Pickups
Vibro King
Fulltone Clyde>Deja-Vibe>TS-808>TS-9>Boss Tuner

By installing the mid boost kit you have completely boosted the pickups. The mid pot only adds mid not volume. I suspect its the same whatever pickups you use. I put a dimarzio FS2 in the bridge of mine and it was way hotter than it ever had been before.

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No no and no

I just read his initial post and, if I read it correctly, he perceives that his guitar, at equal amp volume settings, is 'louder' than his friend's Clapton, or the other guitar mentioned. It very well may be. (....not withstanding the "duh"?,later on, which suggests that we might not have the slightest idea what he is talking about).

As Niki suggests, it is possible to have a higher output pickup with seemingly more 'juice' that either a gold lace sensor or a noiseless with 25db of midboost behind it. Another possibility is that a new battery is in order. Another possibility is the EQ between the TBX, the boost circuit, and the volume.

(He is herewith allowed one "let's not get Doc started moment" ):wink:

We won't tell him that Doc is on his third such instrument, and Niki has retrofit one of his own with a Clapton circuit among other technical achievements known only to regular readers of this forum.

Come to us for help. Leave attitude behind.

Duh

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"Another day in paradise!"

The brainstorm for this guitar was explained either on this website or Sam Ash's. I recall it but read it with passing interest. In a related matter, a '79 Stratocaster in that finish was donated by J.J.Cale for the 2004 Christie's auction when the 'Blackie' was sold.

Based upon recent postings elsewhere, you can likely find a superior Custom Shop Clapton Stratocaster, at a better price, in the inventory of Wildwood Guitars, for example, or elsewhere on the planet, in comparison to the Antigua, unless having that in your collection is your thing. Under those circumstances, who am I to disagree.

Different strokes, as I've said before.

Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"

Doc. If i remember correctly the OP Blackie08 uses hot gold lace sensors in his strat. They would be hotter than standard gold, wouldnt they?

I tried various pickups in mine save SCN's, I'm still waiting for the Doc's apparaisal of that setup before i try. They all seemed to gain volume over their previous non midboosted applications, to the best of my memory. I even tried MIM ceramics which provided a nice but noisy tone.

On batteries i experienced a bit of note distortion (unpleasant harmonic's) rather than volume loss when a battery started dying.

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No no and no

I don't think the OP realized who he was talking to and trying to help him. Duh!

The Hot Gold Lace Sensors are higher output. For futher information, the Actodyne website will give you the henries of the entire sensor line, including all the new colors. If you remember, the CS Clapton I had built, which I traded for my Gilmour, had SCN's. I put those in there deliberately. They were the 'new kid on the block' having been standard equipment on the new American Deluxes with the S-1 pot and, being touted by Fender as the best thing since sliced bread, I went for it. They performed very well, but not as darkly as the Gold Lace Sensors in my '89 which I prefer.

My experience with loss of battery power is that the output of the guitar is decreased as the pot is 'turned up'. That is a diagnostic cue not unlike the one which suggests that Viagra might be indicated.

I hope our young friend has acquired a different opinion of his consultants by this time.

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"Another day in paradise!"

They never do

It's kind of like walking into a martial arts shiai with a chip on your shoulder and not knowing you're getting into it with Jet Lee.

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"Another day in paradise!"