Guitar Squeals

Arnold · Post by **Arnold** » Tuesday Dec 10, 2002

Whenever I get my guitar near my amp, It starts to squeal, even if I hold the strings. It's not that good controllable feedbak just a high pitched squeal. Is it just a junk guitar?

Post by **Ron** » Tuesday Dec 10, 2002

Hey Arnold, funny avatar.

The squeal is usually caused by loose windings in the guitar pickup. The loose windings can cause the pickup to resonate at a high frequency. Since the noise is coming from the pickup itself and not the string's influence, muting the strings won't stop it. The best way to fix this is to completely remove the pickup from the guitar (be sure to make a diagram of the wire connections when you disconnect the pickup), and dip the pickup into parafin wax melted in a double boiler or microwave. Make sure the wax is melted completely and that the pickup is dipped for 30 seconds or so. This will allow the wax to penetrate into the windings. When the wax solidifies it will make the windings more solid, and also lower the resonant frequency of the pickup. Any pickup can still be made to squeal with enough volume and close proximity to the amp, but this fix will tame a pickup that likes to squeal.

John (Choking Faith) · Post by **John (Choking Faith)** » Sunday Jan 19, 2003

From everything i've seen i've come to the conclusion that no matter what you do,if you are close enough to your amp with a heavy distortion on it's gonna squeel no matter what.That's what foot switches and gates are used for.Most mounted or head like processors come standard with a volume gate that lowers the volume automaticly after the string is vibrating for so long resulting in no feedback what so ever.

Bones · Post by **Bones** » Wednesday Jan 22, 2003

i've had this happen in live situations...but only with a guitar with single-coils. i was curious as to what's in the guitar that's making the noise...

i never did figure this problem out in my case. i'm in a different band now, and with what we play, i'm not interested in that tone anymore...not to mention i've found a new favorite axe since i had this problem, and it's a wolfgang.

nevertheless, i'm curious to know what may have been going on...i had problems particularly when space was cramped...i wasn't directly in front of my amp, either...

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Thursday Oct 02, 2003

It's kind of hard to tell without knowing the brand, model and age of the pickups. Usually, potting the pickups as Ron explained will take care of it, but I recommend dipping the pickup and letting it in the wax until no more air bubbles come out. This is especially true if there is a metal cover over the pickup. The air gap between the grounded cover and the coils enhances the "microphonics" which causes guitar pickups to act like microphones and feedback like them.

Colton · Post by **Colton** » Friday Oct 03, 2003

rons prolly right, loose pickup wiring.. i love every sound my guitar puts out... ESPECIALLY the feedback... just throw a floyd rose on it and bend that pitch.... dont know if you witnessed any pnEumatic originals, but any sound my guitar can make i will use to its fullest...when all else fails, just throw some candle wax on the pickup wires... worked for me... (thankz B

maybe um... "please step away from the amplifier"

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Monday Oct 06, 2003

One thing I discovered thats really crazy is that metal trim rings will cause the same "microphonics" that a metal cover does. The only solution to this is to get a plastic one.

Zerohdefects · Post by **Zerohdefects** » Wednesday Nov 12, 2003

You were told above on how to repot a pickup. You said when you are close to your amp. Could be bad pickups, or could be you are too loud for it.

I use Duncan Distortions and Duncan Jazz pickups, and If I stand right at my amp in the band room, I get feedback, and it's not the kind that sounds cool.

Solution? Stand away from your amp.