Jammed yesterday with friends (1997 Strat), mostly high distorion and the humming was unbearable. Do all standard american strats humm like this??

What kind of pickups does it have? My MIA Strat Ultra has Lace sensors, which are VERY quiet, so no problems here.

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2007 Classic Player Baja Telecaster
1991 Strat Ultra
1990 Gibson ES-347
1986 Yamaha SBG2100
1980 Gibson L6-S
1971 Stratocaster
Fender Stage Lead Combo
Marshall MOSFET 100 watt Amp

Is the hum different when you play in other locations?

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Yes, especially with high distortion. They are single coil pickups so when you use power preamps to increase the output, the hum gets amplified right along with it.

The middle pickup in your guitar should be reverse wound/reverse polarity (premising it is the original). If you use position 2 or 4 on the toggle, this middle pickup combined with either of the other two pickups should then make your circuit humbucking. Granted, the tone wouldn't be what you are looking for in high distortion settings though.

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+1 Some playing environments can be horrible.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

If it's a stock 1990's Strat with single coils, then it is likely the single coils doing the humming. You can switch to position 2 or 4 and it usually kills a lot of the hum.

No! I have the AM Deluxe HSS LSR Humbucker and Samarium noiseless pickups. It is dead silent. Do you have a new cord of good quality? Do you play too close to your amp at high volume? All this figures in.

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Charlie P 5E3 Build 6-14
2x12 cab Build 16, 5e3 Built 3-4-16
6G3 Head Build 3,3,18
Fend HSS Am DLX Strat 08
Fend MIM Telebot Dlx 11 Tronical Tuner
Fend SupSonic 60 2010
Gibson Robot 08, Gib. Faded Ch LP 07
Gret. G5420 16, Peavey VK112 08,

Yours has noiseless pickups, his doesnt. The best thing to do, besides changing them to noiseless, is install shielding in your guitar, it should quiet it down, not fully, but it really helps. There's nothing wrong with the pickups, its just what they do.

I don't think I misread his question. It does not ask the question regarding which PUPs are on the guitar. If he had asked in the question regarding that I would not have answered. Look at his quote.

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Charlie P 5E3 Build 6-14
2x12 cab Build 16, 5e3 Built 3-4-16
6G3 Head Build 3,3,18
Fend HSS Am DLX Strat 08
Fend MIM Telebot Dlx 11 Tronical Tuner
Fend SupSonic 60 2010
Gibson Robot 08, Gib. Faded Ch LP 07
Gret. G5420 16, Peavey VK112 08,

back in the eighties a friend of mine got a new house and at the house warming party he told several of us to guitars and amps. I took my '79 hardtail strat and my '82 strat and my '79 bassman 10 amp,cool so we set up to play and it is the noiseiest thing I have ever heard even posi 2/4 and another of us with his 64 strat same we kept trying to figure out the problem even the Humbucker guits and tube or solid state amps well we had our fill went to the garage plugged in and it was fantastic. we later deduced that the room we were trying to play in,in the house was on the same circuit as the refridgerator. I have plugged into circuits on the washer/dryer(garages you know) same very noisey. The lights in a room especially flourescent or neon can jack with your setup. I was playing in this trailer My then wife and I lived in and I am at the opposite end in a room with a 1990 Fender Am Std Strat and a 1973 Fender Bassman 100 with the matching 4X12 and My wife is in the kitchen(one of the few times)at the other end of the trailer using a blender and a mixer. Everytime she would turn one on I would hear it thru my amp. it actually colored the sound and was sorta distortion like I recorded it and have looked for a distortion or fuzz pedal like it since. No luck so far.

Thanks everybody for the replys. Today a bought a Behringer hum killer, will let you know how it went. Thanks again.

Everytime the boiler in my house kicks in I can hear it through the amp. That and the damn blackberry.

The Behringer Hum Destroyer got destroyed by my Star's hum. It was useless. Anybody knows if there is any device I can get to get rid of the hum???

The hum is most likely RF interference being picked up by the guitars pick-ups.
Lots of stuff in a house can give off the 60 cycle frequency like florescent lights, dimmer switches, fridges/freezers/furnaces, computers.

Does it reduce in volume when you touch the strings, if not it is possible the guitars ground wire is not connected to the bridge.

Only ways to handle it is to either try an other location, add shielding to the guitar, use a better shielded guitar cord, or change pups to noiseless.

Those external boxes try to cut line noise, they do nothing for RF interference.

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no, mine has some noise, but nothing unbearable...