I have to ask because I'm more than a little curious...what sort of music are you playing where you need to strum 4 times a second for the whole gig??

I'm also asking because this may influence what is the best solution for you. Do you use the volume control much or are you a "leave it on full most of the time" player. Do you use the tone pots much/at all?

I think the best solution for YOU would be to swap out the control plate and switch to the control layout being suggested by Shredd6. Or if you never use the tone pots take it a step further and get rid of those completely and just have a single volume control well out of the way (like on the old Tom Delonge Strat).

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How did it sound to you?

Amen!

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You dig?

I play next to the bridge a lot when doing palm muting. I also like to put just part of the palm over the bridge, barely touching the strings, it gives that breathy tone, and is easiest done next to the bridge, I also do a bunch of rithmic muting with my palm too(I know how to spell rhythmic right, but the spelling is just ridiculous) I leave the volume on full most the time, I turn it down if i am gonna be doing heavy rithem stuff.(I am spelling some $@!& fonetikly today!) You can get some great sounds from these techniques and I love to use them, that's why the volume knob gets on my nerves. most other guitars have it a little more out of the way. But otherwise i like to hang out in between the middle and neck pickup. That's the sweet spot for me.

This thread is just getting wackier and wackier!

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You dig?

R u saying that I use qcky techneeks?!?!?

No. Your techniques seem quite useful (if I'm interpreting your posts and this question correctly).

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You dig?

did you just join this thread, or have you been following? I was just wondering what the wacky parts were?

Here's a whacky video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YThsEouM91c

Watch how this kid goes nowhere near the upper strings with his palm muting (he does for a second in the beginning, but not for his demonstration) . There's a reason. With the high E and B, he has to position his fingers between the Vol and Tone. Not impossible, but a pain.

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http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

Sounds to me, by the tempo description (though 240bpm is too fast and doesn't equate to the number of strums you perform in a 2 hour set) your playing thrash or some other super fast style. especialy when you consider the palm muting aspect.
So I'd say it's definitely a technique issue. To be precise, little finger placement. That's undoubtedly whats contacting the volume control.

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No no and no

I just made up the 240bpm. I haven't actually calculated the total. But frankly, there are plenty of tunes all styles where the guitar consistently plays 8th note strums at 120 bpm and faster. I don't think 240 bpm is fast, more of a medium strum speed. In fact, I'm positive I don't hit the volume knob unless I'm cranking out a dance beat or funk tune at a much faster strum rate probably over 480 bpm. But i haven't measured that either.

By the way, I never mentioned palm muting. I believe you're combining two different situations from two different posters.

I ask you to divide those numbers by 60 to see how many strums a second you're talking about.

4 or 8 beats a second is way too fast for dance music.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed did 100,000bpm on a drum machine.

Anyway heres a audiable midway point that I get to be around 330bpm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79_xwxrjoCw

Pretty speedy.

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No no and no

Yeah you can move your hand around in a weird position, but I'd rather be able to have a relaxed hand and just play/palm mute, and not worry about it. It's easier, just one less thing to think about.

Anything I've ever read about Leo Fender by anyone who worked with him said the man thought about everything he did in a way that would have driven most people crazy...in other words he thought in a way that he never left anything to guesswork.He put more thought into everything he did than most people could imagine.
He and his team put those controls close to a player's hands in a time when music was very different,he couldn't have forseen players shredding away and doing things on his guitar like Hendrix,when at the time the Strat was designed mainly for Country and Western Swing players.

I think I read somewhere that the Strat was designed totally around input from professional players. Every little conour, placement of the controls, etc...

Personally, I don't think shredding should even be factored in to the equasion, and shredders should not be allowed to play Strats...LOL

Music is about the quality of each note... not how many notes per second that can be played.

To me, shredding = repedative poo poo...


JMHO

And yet the type of palm muting I'm referring to regarding myself is pertaining to Reggae music.

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http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com