Erratic volume on Strat

[bobert42]

I have a cheap Squire Strat I bought about 12 years ago. Lately the volume has become very erratic almost like a poor cable connection but the connections seem solid. Playing softly or at low volumes the sound slowly drops. If I hit the strings hard the volume will pop up or come back to normal for a while. This is especially noticeable on the G and B strings and it almost sounds like I have a distortion pedal on.  I've checked the controls using an ohmmeter and following the GuitarNuts troubleshooting guide and all looks normal.

This is driving me nuts. Any ideas out there? Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[cynical1]

If you swap the cable does it still do this?

Did you check to see if the jack wiring is shorting out somewhere? Normally anytime I get something like this it's the jack, or related connections.

HTC1

[newey]

bobert42-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

At first, my temptation was to move this thread to the wiring section, since it's an electrical problem, but this sub-board does say " . . .and repair", so I let it be. This probably could go either place.

Playing softly or at low volumes the sound slowly drops.

Cyn1 says to eliminate the cable and/or jack as the problem, my first thought was to eliminate the amp, since your description makes it sound more like an amp issue. Have you tried the Squier into another amp? Have you tried other guitars into this amp?

In the passive circuitry inside guitars, I've had weird stuff happen. But ordinarily, you don't have a situation where things change over time- either it works, or not, and sometimes it will do so intermittently. But fading out as you play sounds like an amp fault to me. Whether tube or SS, amps generate heat, and dodgy components can react to that over time- that doesn't happen inside the guitar.

Probably stupid of me to ask, but I've done it enough on Strats that I'll throw this out there. It is easy to hit the volume knob on a Strat as you're playing (useful for the Strat "pinkie trem" effect, as Stratistas know). But, just be sure it's not you strumming.

[b4nj0]

Assuming you've isolated the amp and the cable, does it exhibit this effect on all pick ups, or is the bridge pick up alone unaffected?

e&oe

[bobert42]

Tried it on another amp with another cable. Seems to be ok. Thanks all

[Deleted]

I am also of the cable/amp theory. My amp does that all the time.