Cutlass pickups squealing when using medium to hi gain pedals - HELP!

[SlimBob]

Just got home from my first gig with my new Cutlass. It plays great BUT - I'm getting way too much squeal when I use any amount of dirt pedal - mostly from the the 2 single coils but a little from the hum bucker too. So is there an internal trem pot that can help or any other advice before I give up on the silent circuit?

 

[SlimBob]

So far 38 views and no replies yet - sorry to be so impatient but I'm excited about the new guitar and really do enjoy the sound of it when playing around the house with no pedals or with minimal distortion - but the squeal makes it unusable!

To clarify - I'm not a typical hi-gain player with multiple stacked pedals doing massive feedback etc. This is just blues-rock type gain with an OCD or Tube Screamer - nothing crazy.

The squeal is reminiscent of my old low output Dano pickups except they were easier to palm and subdue than these. I don't want to play something that fights me with quirky squeally stuff so that's one of the reasons I chose this instrument. The main reason was I wanted a well made Strat type platform with a whammy that would feel close to a traditional Strat but actually stay in tune and that it does quite nicely - I love playing this thing! Today is Sunday and I guess I'll call the factory Monday and ask questions.

Anyone?

 

[Astrofreq]

Mine doesn’t squeal at all, even through a high gain Engl, so I don’t know why yours is experiencing this.

 

[kimonostereo]

Long shot, but did you try changing the battery?

 

[DrKev]

Yes, call customer service. This is exactly the kind of thing they are there for. See links in my signature at the bottom of this post.

 

[Phrankenstrat]

Customer service is your friend.

 

[TripHazard]

I don’t have a problem like this either. I held off commenting because I thought someone would have a known fix (I’m not a gigging musician) Definitely needs reporting to CS. Sounds like an issue they need to look at is most definitely not normal behaviour

 

[mikeller]

I am with others - I often play in a medium to high gain, I get no squeal from dirt pedals or amp channel gain.

 

[Astrofreq]

Possibly a bad cable somewhere? Or bad tube? Just throwing out ideas.

 

[SlimBob]

OK just got back from gig #2 and to elaborate on the issue I put a Fulltone Plimsol pedal on it with not a lot of gain and was able to sing into the neck pickup quite nicely - very microphonic! More microphonic than my old Danelectro's lipstick tube pickups. It's a fun trick for the audience when you're singing in it but it just means you can't really use much gain before it goes out of control. It's like they didn't wax them at all or something. I'll report back here when I talk to the "Music Men" tomorrow.

 

[SlimBob]

Just for fun - gonna try to upload a pic I stole from FaceBook - we were melting outside under a covered deck - probably a 1000 degrees!

 

[SlimBob]

OK - a little more news. I contacted customer service and they told me to either send the guitar or just the pickguard with pickups so I chose the later as it's cheaper and safer. They will be sending me a new pickguard with properly potted SSH pickups. Before doing it I made some last minute checks to be sure. While plugged in to a 10 watt amp on "10" with only a cord and no pedals it squealed in 4 of the 5 positions - only the humbucker alone was not squealing. I looked as close as I could and it seemed like the 2 single coils never got potted/waxed. Has anyone here taken a close look at their pickups to determine if they are potted or just plain with no wax??

Looking forward to the new pickguard and pickups and can't wait to get back to that guitar - I enjoyed playing it so much it had inspired me to do some long overdue playing around the house!

 

[Astrofreq]

They'll get it straightened out no prob.

 

[SlimBob]

Things are looking up!

The slowest UPS man ever finally brought the package at the end of the day - YAY! I put the new pickguard and pickups in and did some quick listening before heading out to a local jam to see how it would act at a playing volume - so far it seems to be working fine - no more squealing microphonic pickups! Everything else was kinda difficult - my dirt pedal went haywire and started buzzing - the sax player singer started burying everyone with blaring stage volume and then the other guitar player plugged into a Marshall leaving me an my little Deluxe sized 18 watter in the dust but it's all good - onward and upward - tomorrow I will fiddle fart with pedals and amps and try to get the hang of this beast. Gonna start a new thread now...

 

[SlimBob]

WOW - stack 'em up - no squeal!!

So I fiddlefarted all day with pedals and made the dog howl. No more squealing - in fact you can stack 'em up and get crazy if you like - this thing is amazing! It's still gonna take some getting used to because it stays so crisp when you back off the volume - I completely lost track of timed spent the whole day with it - YES! Can't wait for a real gig so I can use the bigger amp. As it turned out - they didn't have a white pickguard ready with SSH so I asked if they would send a tortoise and presto - it looks mahvalos!

 

[GWDavis28]

Congrats, looks really good with that pick guard on it, nice call!!!

Glenn |B)

 

[DrKev]

Oh wow, I also have a ivory white coming soon and was going to get a tort guard for it but it's not as awesome to my eyes as my brain had thought. And thenn again maybe it is! Decisions, decisions!

BTW, are they white/cream pickups and knobs on the tort guard and mint green on the original guard?

 

[SlimBob]

Oh wow, I also have a ivory white coming soon and was going to get a tort guard for it but it's not as awesome to my eyes as my brain had thought. And thenn again maybe it is! Decisions, decisions!

BTW, are they white/cream pickups and knobs on the tort guard and mint green on the original guard?

Yes I think they are white/cream pickups and knobs and to my old eyes it looks fine - it will be interesting to see what a few years of Florida abuse will do to it.

 

[GWDavis28]

See to me chrome pickup covers and knobs would look outstanding!!!

Glenn |B)