Overdriving single coils on Strats.. or keeping it clean

StephenG

I was prompted to write this on here after watching a really interesting Youtube doccie done by Chris Rea on the fender Stratocaster.

I learnt something new that was previously unkown to m (obviously!)

He suggested to maintain clean tones on a strats single coils, never turn the volume up past 8. As between volume 8 – 10 single coils start to break up.

Turn your volume knob to 10, and make a small mark on your scratch plate next to the 10, and then dial it back to 8 and that’s where you keep it.

I then went on try this on 4 different strats, all with different pickups in them and true as nuts, he was right!! After the volume passes 8 you start to get the broken up distortion effect.

I now make sure I never go past 8, which has given me much better tone control when using pedals and other devices…

Go try it and see if it has the same affect for you.

Krgds
Stephen

modulator

I do not know about the breaking up part, still trying to hear all that, but I do know the single coils sound less "harsh" below 8, so I do not turn the volume control up past 8, and I do now use the volume control to tone down the single coil. Depends on what sound you want to hear? Learnt that having the (small-ish) amps' volume knob up high allows me to play with the guitar volume knob around 3 - 4, and tone down the bright single coil effect. Which will not work with a treble bleed?