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Thread: Microphonic weirdness from my new Strat clone?

  1. #1
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    Microphonic weirdness from my new Strat clone?

    I kid you not- the anodized aluminum pickguard is causing my Strat to squeal when I turn it up loud.
    This is how it happened: I was sick of waiting around until I could afford the Al 'guard so I slapped this Strat together & used a mint green 'guard & only fastened it w/the screws that lined up w/a '57 style pattern. This caused the 'guard to buckle a tiny bit & made the p'ups sit close enough to the strings to cause stratitis. It didn't matter, though, because it was just a short term fix so I could get it up & running.
    I finally bought the Al 'guard & installed it this week. I adjusted the p/ups low because that's how I like them. As I was playing it this evening, I first noticed that the pickguard is very "touch sensitive", so to speak. Any scratching or noise from my fingers on it comes through the p'ups. I just attributed this to the extra-rigid nature of the aluminum. But then when I hit the overdrive it let out a sound like a tin whistle.
    I'm posting this here in case anyone has had experience w/this. I'm thinking about making a cardboard "shield" out of a cereal box or something to go between the pickguard & the body in the hopes that it may act as a dampener or something, but I don't know yet if it will work. It's really weird. I mean, it's not like it is magnetic or anything. Why do you suppose it would do this?
    Looks pretty killer, anyhow. And that's what really counts

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    Forum Member chuckocaster's Avatar
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    Re: Microphonic weirdness from my new Strat clone?

    i have an anodized guard on my jazzmaster and love it cause it's microphonic! i know i'm weird...

    are you using surgical tubing instead of springs? you should do so.

    maybe you can find a really thin sheet of rubber? like the thickness of shrink tubing. when i was doing HVAC there would be "fish paper" underneath some of the circuit boards to isolate the power from other parts. i don't know if it insulates from acoustic noises but i do know it insulates from electrical noise.
    "don't worry, i'm a professional!"

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    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Microphonic weirdness from my new Strat clone?

    I had microphic issues when I used the anodized on my Tele. I still do but it's much less of an issue. It's the bridgeplate on mine. It really threw me, since aluminum isn't supposed to be magnetic, right?

    One thing I've heard is that you can paint the underside of a tele bridgeplate with rubber cement to reduce microphonics. It might be worth a try. It rubs off pretty easily if it doesn't work.
    Several guitars in different colors
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    Re: Microphonic weirdness from my new Strat clone?

    I might have to try the rubber cement route. I tried a layer of gaffer's tape (now THAT was a pain to do) but it only made it worse. I assume that the space it created just gave the pickguard more "room to move" so to speak. I think this because after I did it the guitar seemed to have a more hollow sound to it & it really wanted to wail at high gain settings; after I removed the stuff & re-attached the 'guard I made sure that all the screws were as tight as possible w/out stripping them out & that seemed to reduce the problem slightly.
    For the time being I'll just live w/it. Next time I buy a gallon of contact cement I'll slap some on there to see what happens.
    I've been playing it out a lot lately. It's a fun guitar. The maple neck has a lot of snap to it.

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