Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Whenever I touch the pickguard while playing and drag my finger over it on my Telecaster, it makes an annoying static sound that's loud enough to be noticed. I'm getting tired of trying to play without touching the guard. What should I be looking for or doing to eliminate this sound? Any ideas?

Stand on an anti static mat?

Seriously though, I have never heard of anyone with that particular problem before Todd. It will be interesting to hear from others on this subject.

I've got lots of guitars with the same problem, so I'd certainly like to know if there's any cure. All of my guitars have single coil pick-ups, and that might be part of the problem.

One possibility might be the pickups may be microphonic and are picking up the noise through the vibration on the pickguard.

I have seen this on instruments in which the pickups are of a lower quality. I do not mean to suggest that your instrument is of poor quality. There are lesser quality pickups on some expensive guitars.

By taking the screws out of the pickups and by taping them on the underside of the guard you may be able to test this microphonic theory. The pickups cannot be touching the guard so some precise taping is required.

I do not think that there would be sufficient static to cause this problem and if there is, I cannot think of a way you can permanently remove it. I suspect that one possible fix is a pickup of better quality.

I will be most interested to hear what the experts say.

I had the exact same issue with a Gretsch Duo Jet. The pups were grounded but for some reason the brackets around them were causing the problem..had them grounded and the problem went away..good luck!

This is on my 1985 Japanese all-rosewood Tele, which is gorgeous, but seems to suffer from pretty marginal electronics. I've already replaced the original pots and switch with better ones and may change to different pickups as soon as I figure out which particular twang I'm after and sort through the vast assortment of available pickups (I'd actually be incredibly happy if it would sound like my old Rickenbacker 250 - the one I sold because my big fingers wouldn't fit on the darned neck). I might try the new SCN noisless ones, but it's hard to get much straight info on the various models because everybody claims their pickups are the best.

It really does seem to be a static problem. It varies from day to day (humidity?) and on days when it's bad there are more little dust bits clinging to the pickguard. Last night was cool and dry and there was a lot of noise, even from just rubbing a finger down on the lower horn (only horn) part of the guard. I thought about recording a few seconds of playing and some static to show how proportionally loud it was, but decided it was too late to mess with it. This morning, it's warm, windy, muggy and going to storm and the guitar plays fine.

They make wipe-on anti-static stuff for plexiglass, which is sometimes used on the plexi in picture frames. Maybe I'll try it on the guard. Gee, I wonder if I can rub the Tele on my dog and stick it to the ceiling? If I get time today and I can get it to make noise, I'll try isolating the guard from the neck pickup's chrome case and the pickup screws and see what happens.

Mix a few drops of liquid dishwashing soap in a pint of distilled water. Apply this topically (wipe it on). It's an effective de-statitizer. I used to work at a plastics plant, and this is what they used on their extrusion lines.

What a great solution Kris. No pun intended.

But it was a good one, Brian!

Todd - I think George is on the right track. Things that are grounded don't build up static.

What a great solution Kris. Pun intended.

Todd, I have a 1986 MIJ Rosewood Tele but I've not encountered this problem. Then again, it's not my main guitar.

One other thing: it could be that your hands are too dry, dry skin being more likely to generate static electricity than moisturized skin (happened to me during a Santa Ana). The best non-oily skin moisturizer I've found is Corn Huskers' Lotion. It contains no mineral oil, so it is completely absorbed into the skin with no oily residue. I use it at work where any residue would be bad (if I'd pick up a tared flask, I'd leave oily residue that would change the weight ...).

Interesting this topic came up; I, too, have had the exact same thing with my Teles.However, one of them, which has a black phenolic guard, ala 50s style, Doesn't have the static problem.The extremely low humidity Minnesota winters are the worst time for this problem.

Try rubbing your pickguard with a Bounce softener dryer towel. It works! You can also sandwich one between the body and pickguard without damaging anything.

Not to repeat but do check the grounding of pup's, pup brackets..anything in contact w/the guard..I think that's where your problem lies...

Somewhere in the back of my brain there is a post-it note stuck on the wall that says that a lot of those fabric softener dryer sheets have silicone in them. I can't say it's a sure thing and no longer remember what the context was, but as a person who occasionally paints things, I have a pretty serious respect for the hassles that silicone contamination can cause and tend to avoid those products on painted or varnished surfaces.