staticky les paul

[electricabanana]

I just got a used epiphone and plugged it in to find (to my dismay) static! why?

i have figured out it is not the patch cord or amp. also does'nt seem to be the socket (or whatever you call the thing that recieves the patch cord)

the static is only audible when the guitar is being played, and gets louder and more noticeable the louder i play. it is on both channels (rhythm and treble) and changing tone and volume nobs doesnt help.

it hasnt been used in a while (dusty)...could it need cleaning? what should i clean, and how?

i can record some samples of what i'm talking about, if it helps. thanks!

 

[pikingrin]

My first assumption would be that it is an epiphone...isn't it supposed to be crappy? (Seriously, to all Epi owners out there, I have one too, it's only a joke!) What kind of amp is it? Have you checked all of the solder joints?

 

[Anfontan]

Its probably in the volume and tone pots, they will get a little crusty from neglect sometimes. Get a can of contact cleaner spray, the type that can be squirted into the back of the pots, there is a red adapter you attach to the nozzle, its a long thin tube.
Remove the plastic cover plate from the control panel, its on the back side of the guitar & held on by 4 to 6 screws. There will be a hole in the back or side of the volume & tone pots, squirt the cleaner into this hole and have paper towels handy to wipe up whatever leaks out. Twist the volume and tone knobs back and forth to work the solution into the internal parts of the pots and it should free them up, hopefully taking care of the static problem.
Also, be careful not not get it on the guitars finish, you don't want to chance it discoloring any thing.

Other than that, check to see if there is a loose ground in the wiring, the 3rd pin on the volume pots should be bent up and soldered to metal body of the pot, grounding that pin. If it is not grounded, solder it or find someone to do this. Hope this will get rid of the pesky static!!

 

[cephus]

There is something to be said for twisting the knobs back and forth a bunch of times. After my old amps sit for a while, they can sound really shitty. If I turn down the master volume and the 0-10-0-10-0-10 all the knobs several times it works the gunk/crusties out.

Might also be a cool thing to get the right sized gun-cleaning wire brush and clean the output jack. They can get a haze of yuck on them that will impede the signal.

 

[Dani Pace]

Sounds like dirty or corroded pots to me. If cleaning dosen't help then replacing the pots may. I recomend using Deoxit-5 for cleaning pots if you can find it, although other tuner cleaners will probably work fine, a deoxidizer type cleaner helps remove corrosion which is likely to be the cause of static. Just twisting the knobs (dry) may loosen some dust or corrosion and make the static worse. Using a cleaning solution will not only loosen the crud but will flush it away and lubricate the moving parts.