Strat - irish Tours - Squealing?

[mkh02]

Hey guys recently purchased a warmoth strat from a friend with Irish tours in.

it is easily the best strat i have ever heard or played but the bridge pickup seems to be squealing at mid to high gain?

I wouldn't say it is the general feedback that I would expect from say a humbucker on high gain where it is more a nice high pitched sounding harmonic that can be blended with the song...

It is really a very high pitched screaming/ squeeking noise. If i dial back the volume nob on the guitar to say 8 the squealing stops but if I put it back to 10 then it is very very loud.

It doesnt squeal in the bridge or mid pickup...any thoughts?

My other strat had a single coil bridge in it but I changed it to a humbucker years ago but to be honest i don't remember it squealing that loudly...

Many thanks for any help or advice!

[darkbluemurder]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Take a pick and gently tap on the bridge, middle and neck pickups while the amp is at playing volume. If you hear a "click" tone with the bridge pickup which is noticeably louder and more metallic  than with the other pickups you have a microphonic pickup. Take the pickguard off (or let your tech take it off) and check whether the bridge pickup has a metal base plate. If so, check whether it is solidly attached to the pickup - if it is loose, that can cause squealing problems. The solution then is either to remove the base plate or to solidify the joint between pickup and base plate. Since I have never done this I cannot give you a detailed description of how to do it.

If you don't have a base plate you may have a microphonic pickup. This can be cured by wax potting the pickup. I believe BKP does this service, too.

Cheers Stephan

[mkh02]

Thanks for the quick reply mate!

I am of course aware that single coil pickups carry with them more 'noise' in general compared to humbuckers but this one is really like a banshee screaming when I turn the gain up...will follow you advice and see what happens!

[Telerocker]

The IT should not squeal. There's is something wrong. Stephan already gave good advice. I never had any squealing-issues with the BKP's I own. They are silent compared to a lot of other pickups I had.

[Tim]

Sounds like microphonics to me - just needs repotting.