I have a 2002-3 Powerhouse Strat.
Graffiti yellow, black pick guard, maple neck, I love it.

There's an intermittent clicking sound I assume is coming from the boost circuit.
It's there regardless of whether the boost is turned up or down.
Sounds a little like static or a loose connection, but it doesn't respond to movement.
And it only happens while I'm playing, not when the guitar is quiet.

Seems to get worse the longer I play.
Anyone have any experience with this?

thanks,
t
o
m

Just a quick experiment: Try plugging in the guitar and turning it up pretty good. Then mute the strings and rub the palm of your hand on your pickgaurd like you were strumming the guitar. (or just rub it back and forth across the guard.) If you hear the clicking, it is a build up of static electricity on your pickguard. If that be the problem there are a few solutions. Would be interesting to know!

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

That sounds right. My post reads like a description of static electricity.
You're a genius and my new best friend.
Of course when I tried it, the damned thing wouldn't make the noise.
But that's what intermittent problems are supposed to do, disappear when you're trying to diagnose them.

So what can I do to discharge static electricity? Wear one of those velcro bracelets for fixing computers? (not a good look for me)

Love your site, but no Powerhouses?

tom

Tom, Your very close to the right idea. But the fix on this is pretty, ummm, interesting. What you do is get a anti-static cloth that goes in your clothes dryer, like Bounce or Downy, and rub the guard before you play. I live in a rather dry climate and my Eric Clapton Strat, 52 Teles, DX Teles all do this, and it is really annoying. Forum people told me to do this and it stopped. I am good for a whole eveningof playing. So now when one opens the case of my EC Strat, you will find a Bounce sheet slid under the strings on top the pickguard. I take it out, rub it a little and she is ready to play with no static. And the guitar and case smell fresh and clean as a mountain breeze......

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Thanks. I will try it.
Aren't there like 150 uses for Bounce?
I'll ad this to the list.

It sounds too easy, I like it.

tom

Good idea Mr. X !! Have to remember that if it ever happens to me!

Another one that's worth doing to stop scratchplate noise on Clapton/Powerhouse guitars is to wrap the circuitboard in plastic, then place a bit of foam ontop of the circuitboard.

Stops the bangs against the guard impacting the circuitboard quite so much.

_________________
No no and no

xefri is spot on, my cp 60s and hr 57 have this problem.
static, the hr 57 not so much but it starts when i dont rub the pg with a little bouce.

i think the root of the problen is the pickguard itself. this is my reasoning:
i had texas special loaded in the black perloid pg, 0 static.
same pots,wiring, pickups loaded in on a allparts slick pickguard. intermittent static.
texas specials loaded on an american standard parchment pickguard (i know not the same wiring and pots but hey..) 0 static.

i work in a hospital, we used a slide board to transfer patients and sometimes the static buildup would cause the catscanner gantry to shutdown. until we got another transfer board made of "antistatic plastic"..

what do you guys think

_________________
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008