Static Electicity Noise?

Zaphod B

Zaphod B

Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
Hey, all. On my Korean Strat clone (the Guitar Fetish XV-850), I can run my finger(s) just about anywhere on the pickguard and induce a very noticeable crackling noise. The guitar is very quiet otherwise.

Could this be because of static electricity build-up on the pickguard? I've never seen this phenomenon before. :confused:

Any recommended cures?
 
Zaphod B said:
Hey, all. On my Korean Strat clone (the Guitar Fetish XV-850), I can run my finger(s) just about anywhere on the pickguard and induce a very noticeable crackling noise. The guitar is very quiet otherwise.

Could this be because of static electricity build-up on the pickguard? I've never seen this phenomenon before. :confused:
Click to expand...

Static would happen once and then stop. That sounds more like a slight DC bias on your ground or something.

Does this guitar have an active pickup? If so, perhaps your cable just doesn't have a good enough ground for whatever reason.

If the pickups are passive, what are you plugging it into? Are you sure the building ground is good? If you stick a voltmeter between the ground pin of an electrical outlet and the ground on your amplifier's input, do you see a DC voltage? AC voltage? :D WARNING: Be sure you only touch the ground pin on the outlet if you try that. The neutral won't be quite grounded, and the hot can injure or kill you....
 
The crackling only happens when my fingers are moving across the pickguard while touching it. It stops immediately when I stop moving my hand.

The pickups are passive GFS "Texas Strat" and they exhibit about the same amount of minor hum as my other single-coil guitars.

I don't think it's a DC bias problem.

Any other ideas?
 
yep, it's just static from the friction of you moving across the pickguard.
very common.

dryer cloths, like moonrider said..
took mine a week to calm down after a new pickguard was put on, then it never came back.

i went to the trouble to also copper shield the entire underneath of the pickguard, with proper grounding, and that helped too.
 
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