Pickguard Grounding/Static issues...

WiLL75

I've been noticing that on my tele and my strat that if I touch the pickguard while playing, I get a little crackle noise. I'm guessing that since the pickguards are plastic and love to make static electricity, they are not grounded properly. I was wondering how I go about fixing this...is it a fairly common problem with a fairly easy fix? Thanks for reading.

KevinStraub

Sure sounds like a shielding problem. I would suggest taking a look inside the "guts" of the guitar(s). Since it's unlikely that you have a loose ground wire in both, I would assume that the problem is either the pickguard or the body cavity itself. For your sake I hope it's the pickguard (this is an easy fix).
1. The Pickguard:
If you take off the pickguard and there is no metal foil on the underside, simply remove the pickguard completely and with some elmer's (or pretty much any glue) cover the portion of the pickguard around where the pickups and other controls sit and are attached to it. If you have the 3M spray on adhesive it's a little less messy, but with elmer's or most any other non-toxic glue clean up is a snap. This will add a "shield" to help disperse any build-up of static and also aid in the reduction of ground hum.
2. The Body Cavity:
This process is a little more involved but, for anyone who's ever built a guitar from unfinished parts or from scratch, it is a necessary step in preparing a guitar for electronics. When building a guitar, the body cavity, ie. any cavity that is used to house electronic parts, must also be shielded using a conductive paint which can be purchased, or if you're really short on cash and a little more motivated, you can pretty easily make yourself. For this process, there are a number of pages that give great instructions.
I just did a google search of: guitar body shielding paint
This was the first result and should fill in any blanks I may have left, if not, there were more than 300,000 other results to sift through:

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

Let me know how it goes and if that doesn't do the trick.... switch to humbuckers. There are some great single coil voiced and sized humbuckers out there like the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage series that let you play a guitar that looks and sounds like a strat but without the typical problems associated with single coils.

harrisonmerwin

another thign to do is buy "foiled" pickgaurd, which come with a foil lining which eliminates any sheilding problems. some bodies are foiled to, but never from factory, like above....the conductive paint treatment. in a live setting, these things are hardley noticable, but in a very controlled recording environment, they can ruin a session.

who's_pearljam?

Everyone should shield their guitars as said above.
One great thing about shielding is that you can drive your amp a little harder without getting the buzz, the buzz will still be there, but you can get more dynamics out of your amp that way.

That Guitarnuts site up there is a good site for shielding, but one warning. It's a good shielding technique, and sophisticated, but if you leave any steps out you can open yourself up to more shocks from your amp..




So do all this shielding and you probably STILL will get that static!
Winter sucks!

The static can build up in the pickguard when you're brushing your hand back and forth it, or your shirt sleeves, kind of like rubbing a balloon on your head and sticking it to the ceiling or walking across the rug and touchng the doorknob, or the cat and getting zapped.
Some plastic pickguards are more prone to static than others, and believe it or not, sometimes something like rubbing the pickguard with a cling free or static clothes dryer sheet helps for a while.

You'll have a nice smelling guitar, too!

The other thing that can help is keeping your guitar humidified. In the winter, when the air is dry, and the guitar dries out, it'll build up.
Especially important for acoustics, but for different reasons. Electrics want some humidity, too.

Do you get that noise when you touch the guard, then it doesn't happen for a few seconds when you touch it again? That's static electricity.

Shielding may help draw some of that away, but it'll still pop a little.