Pickup squeals with high gain

supersim0n

I wired a SD Quarter Pound in the bridge position on my CIJ Jaguar and I really love its sound. It is bassier and better sounding when I overdrive my amp or with distortion. I left the 1000k pot and the pickup claws. BUT, at high volume using lots of overdrive/distortion, the pickup squeals and this is uncontrollable.

I thought maybe it was the single coil limits or the claws, but it's wax potted as they say on the package. If someone could give me some advices with this situation... maybe I should have go for the JB Jr. to be sure this would not happen 😐

Thanks

Fran

Any pickup will screech in a very high gain situation, especially at loud volumes.

supersim0n

Yes I know that, but it's not only a feedback, it's like the squeal the cij bridge pup does. Anyway that won't affect me that much since I was only testing their limit... I usually don't play metal and prefer a good crunch or a treble booster.

Also, I have some problems with my Mustang bridge. I put .52-.011 and raised the action a bit, but there's still some rattle when I play hard. Should I get a buzzstop or put maybe vaseline on the screws to prevent rattling between the saddles and their srews ?

Fran

Its case of finding what works for you, i dont particularly like Mustang bridges but i think a buzzstop would help because half of the rattling is the saddles against the bridge assey. Vaseline between the barrels will also help.

Without hearing the QP its hard to say, i had one in my Jag and it was well behaved, dunno.. you could have a bad one.

Coolguy

supersim0n said: Yes I know that, but it's not only a feedback, it's like the squeal the cij bridge pup does. Anyway that won't affect me that much since I was only testing their limit... I usually don't play metal and prefer a good crunch or a treble booster.
Also, I have some problems with my Mustang bridge. I put .52-.011 and raised the action a bit, but there's still some rattle when I play hard. Should I get a buzzstop or put maybe vaseline on the screws to prevent rattling between the saddles and their srews ?

You don't happen to be Dutch? 😛

I saw a member on another forum with the exact same setup & problem.

quilted

Coolguy said:
You don't happen to be Dutch? 😛

Would that perhaps be the problem then? 😉

Coolguy

Coolguy said:
You don't happen to be Dutch? 😛

No but if he is, I've seen his post on another forum.

supersim0n

Coolguy said: You don't happen to be Dutch? 😛

haha no I'm actually a french canadian (Montreal) 😁

For my QP finally I think it's "normal" to have that squealing with a Maxon OD /w a Big Muff... it was only a test I made... my ibanez rg 🤮 didn't squeal but there was some feedback... anyway there's high output HBs on the rg which is completely different of a QP... I still prefer the jag haha

For the bridge I'm exasperate... I'll try the vaseline and if it doesn't help, a buzz stop. Is the other solution a TOM ? Because it's not the same radius... 😕 The vaseline will probably help a lot since the strings are not buzzing in the saddles... it seems to be a vibration that makes a rattle (when I play open E)

Spitfire

I use a buzzstop with a Mustang bridge on my Jaguar and it's great, no rattles and it gives the guitar a little more sustain with they added down pressure on the bridge. It also prevents the strings popping out of the saddles (but that's a problem caused by the way I play which nobody else seems to have).

I have a pair of Seymour SJAG1s and they are vacuum potted not fully wax saturated which means they squeal easily with a bit of gain. I potted them using a double-boiler wax bath and the problem was solved. If the SJAG3s you have are also vacuum potted that would probably be your problem.

Fran don't you have a wiki somewhere from when you potted your Jaguar pickups?

Fran

I think the thread is still on here. I'll have a look later.

guyThatRepliesLate

I know this is kinda late, but search up "microphonic pickups in guitars". This problem is the reason why Eddie van halen dipped his pickups in hot wax and "wax potted" his pickups. Essentially some of the windings in a pickup may contain a few loose strands of copper deep inside it. When playing with high gain, small sounds get pretty amplified and that's what causes the screeching sound. The same way harmonics and feedback are amplified through high gain, the screeching happens because of any loose windings. The solution is dipping the entire pickup in hot melted wax and letting it harden. High end pickups come wax potted, yours might not have been wax potted so your only solution is to get someone to wax pot it for you or replace it with waxed pickups. I would not recommend doing it yourself because it is easy to burn the pickup's plastic when dipping it in the wax. But Eddie did it so why the hell not?