Has anyone ever had problems with a Clapton midrange boost wiring? I have a '98, three Gold Lace Sensors, and it makes a loud static sound when I play it through my '59 Bassman. I thought it sounded like a bad ground, but it is intermittent. The sound coincides with plucked notes, not usually in between the notes. I shook the cable and it wasn't the jack connection. I changed cables, it didn't matter. Tried different guitars, no noise, just on the Clapton. It makes the sound in all of the 5-way positions, so not just one Lace gone out. It will play fine, then I'll get a whole lot of noise, especially when I pick a bit harder for lead parts. A Fender tech had it open, checked all solder connections and used contact cleaner on switch and pots. No change. Is there something that could go wrong with the midrange boost wiring? What is in there, anyway? The tech even noticed that it would make the sound through the amp with the guitar volume turned all the way off. Quite a puzzle, and I have written friend Xhefri about it, but he appears to be on the road again and not answering emails. Any thoughts??

john

Rub the pick guard with you fingers. I get static with mine from that sometimes

I'm thinking static too.

Is your cavity and pickguard shielded?

I changed out every dang part of my strat electronics only to find my mystery scratchiness was static electricity and some 60hz hum. What a waste of my time! And I had to put everything back too because it was all upgrade stuff.

But I got copper tape with conductive adhesive and shielded, (and grounded), the cavity and pickguard and I'm 99% noise free even with single coils. (Nothing like those nice, quiet Lace Golds!).

I was expecting a you-tube clip of Eric having an off-night

....Please continue.
....Mark.

Static it could be. I'll have to try the finger test, and then the shielding. Strange coincidence, but this is the only Strat I own out of 15 with a one-ply pickguard (as well as the tremelo spring cover). Seems cheap - they both have a bit of warping going on. I may desecrate the instrument and buy a 3-ply unit. Wonder if it is a cheaper plastic that is more prone to static charge?

It has been a bad day in the Fender department. I ordered a nice shiny tube reverb unit in tweed to match my Bassman amp, and it arrived in the store damaged with a broken wire hanging out the back. Only one they had in stock in some warehouse in Arizona, too. Do I want to wait until the end of October for a new backordered one? No, I'll let the Fender tech inside and see if he can get away with changing the cable out. "Are ya feelin' lucky, punk?"...

Id get a new one. I want one for my Bassman also.

Well, it gets weirder. The static noise is ONLY when I play a G#, 2nd string and 9th fret. Go up or down a fret and it does not happen. Play the exact same G# on the 3rd string, 13th fret and static again. Same with 1st string, 4th fret. Only one note does this. Go down an octave and not a problem. Something about that frequency of vibration causes a reaction in the wiring. I'm going to put new strings on and see if there is a difference. This is one for the Ripley's Believe it or Not book. I changed to two other guitars with Gold Laces to make sure it was not the tube amp, and there are no strange sounds, just with the Clapton. Nuts!

Maybe a bad volume pot. The preamp is self oscillating at that frequency.

Cheers,
Robin

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I'm a bit clueless at electronics - could you give me a hint what that means? Thanks!

I've heard that you can rub the pick guard down with a dryer sheet. I've had stactic problems too. Nothing seems to get rid of it.

But in this case, it doesn't seem to be static. I have my lower palm resting on the pickguard all the time so I am 'grounding' it, and it is only on the G# as played on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings. G and A are both clean; in between, crashing sounds. I'm going to try the volume pot suggestion next week when my night shift rotation is over and see what happens. If there is no change, I'm going to stop playing in keys like E major!

If the pot is worn or added resistance because of a bad solder joint, dust inside etc. the preamp circuit (booster) is not only an amplifier it becomes unstable and adds or subs frequencies or is just adding noise. It´s like a microphonic tube or a bad input jack on a tube amp.
At certain frequencies the amp sounds funny or adding any kind of noises etc.
Another test would be to check the circuit insulation from the guitar body. Maybe the circuit board has contact to the shielding(ground) of the guitar body. Put a piece of paper under the board (for a quick test).

Cheers,
Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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That guitar should not have shielding. It doesn't need it either. Perhaps if you have put shielding tape or paint on it the circuit is shorting against the shielding?
It's fairly packed in there.
Other than that I noticed that it is better to isolate the preamp circuit. Make sure it doesn't come into contact with the scratchplate. I put a small plastic bag over mine, then screwed it down to the guitar body. It helped a lot when I was getting a very active scratchplate.

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No no and no

Okay, so plastic bag over the circuit board and a new volume pot. I haven't added any shielding to it, but will still look for somewhere that could short. I work a whole row of night shifts so I can't do anything much to it until Wednesday, but I'll have it back in the shop so the Fender tech can look inside again. If only I knew a whole lot more about the mid-boost circuitry, but it's a bit of a mystery to me. I'm not knowledgeable enough to start prodding around there on my own. That's why I depend on you guys!

In truth mate, you don't need to know how the circuit works. Every one of them guitars I've played seemed to be more prone to pops and whistles than a passive guitar.
Like mobile phones they sometimes cram too much into too small a box. That's OK but requires a bit of good planning to get it all working right.
If theres no shielding in the guitar it's doubtful that the thing is suffering momentary shorts.

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No no and no