Anyone else ever had static electricity on their pickguard?
Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 1:21 am
Yeah I know, that sounds like a ridiculous thing to ask and until about 12 hours ago I might have agreed with you! But experience makes me say different.
I got my Meteora back from the guitar tech I was recommended as despite having it looked at last year the fretwork was still a little rough (something you really only realise after hours of playing and find where the choke points are) so I thought I'd try someone else. Well, the effect he had on the guitar was transformative - the action is basically feather-touch, light and low across the board, doesn't fret out in specific places and he also adjusted the nut so it's super comfy and well-intonated for easy open chords. The other guy literally should be ashamed of himself for charging slightly more and doing such a poor job because the guitar now plays like it should have, plus it now has "dual mono" output jacks, as he added one on the top of the pickguard.
Anyway, glowing review aside there was one little fly in the ointment - the longer I played, the more I noticed an odd kind of crackling sound depending on where I rested my picking hand. I spent about an hour working out what it was, and it simply traced to resting fingers or fist on the pickguard, above or below the strings (mostly below though) and moving it back and forth - it crackled like crazy, louder than the signal of the guitar. My initial thought was, oh great, this problem child of a guitar continues to do something that makes me not use it, but then I decided to look up what it could be.
Long story short the solution was taking a dryer sheet and rubbing it around all the trouble spots on the pickguard, which temporarily fixed the issue. It happened again, so again rubbing out the static, so to speak. And a few more times, but less pronounced each time. Then it was left overnight and seems fine, however for superstitious reasons I'll pack a dryer sheet in the case because I can't have loud static coming out of the amp when I'm playing wedding gigs etc, that'd look and sound so unprofessional.
---
Anyone else have this problem? In playing for 25+ years at this point, it's the first I've ever seen/heard, and it's really odd.
I got my Meteora back from the guitar tech I was recommended as despite having it looked at last year the fretwork was still a little rough (something you really only realise after hours of playing and find where the choke points are) so I thought I'd try someone else. Well, the effect he had on the guitar was transformative - the action is basically feather-touch, light and low across the board, doesn't fret out in specific places and he also adjusted the nut so it's super comfy and well-intonated for easy open chords. The other guy literally should be ashamed of himself for charging slightly more and doing such a poor job because the guitar now plays like it should have, plus it now has "dual mono" output jacks, as he added one on the top of the pickguard.
Anyway, glowing review aside there was one little fly in the ointment - the longer I played, the more I noticed an odd kind of crackling sound depending on where I rested my picking hand. I spent about an hour working out what it was, and it simply traced to resting fingers or fist on the pickguard, above or below the strings (mostly below though) and moving it back and forth - it crackled like crazy, louder than the signal of the guitar. My initial thought was, oh great, this problem child of a guitar continues to do something that makes me not use it, but then I decided to look up what it could be.
Long story short the solution was taking a dryer sheet and rubbing it around all the trouble spots on the pickguard, which temporarily fixed the issue. It happened again, so again rubbing out the static, so to speak. And a few more times, but less pronounced each time. Then it was left overnight and seems fine, however for superstitious reasons I'll pack a dryer sheet in the case because I can't have loud static coming out of the amp when I'm playing wedding gigs etc, that'd look and sound so unprofessional.
---
Anyone else have this problem? In playing for 25+ years at this point, it's the first I've ever seen/heard, and it's really odd.