Static electricity ????????

[colonel blues]

Hi ! My english isn't so good, so please try to "translate" what I mean…

When I play one of my Teles, I have a really weird phenomenon happening :
- when strumming, the moment my fingers touch the pickguard, I can hear slight crackles, looks like static discharges…
- so I tried different zones on the pickguard, and not all the pickguard area is receptive to this… if I touch it above the low E, nothing… below the high E, it makes noises… left or right of this zone, nothing !!!

Does anybody here ever met this or heard about ???
Thanks for your help !

[SPUDCASTER]

Something that usually happens in the winter. Lower humidity when your using the heaters more and your house is closed up. I don't know where in France you are, but that's what happens where I'm located.

People rub dryer sheets on their pickguards and some people go as far as shielding/grounding the pickguard. There's quite a few threads here on the subject. Do a search.

I feel that maybe the composition of the pickguard (type of plastic used) may lead to more or less suseptibility to static electricity. If it's a solid black color, some people have also switched to bakelite.

I had a Strat that was terrible for it. You could run your finger accross it and it sounded like a zipper. I changed the guard (needed the upgrade anyway) and the problem went away. That's what lead me to suspect the type of plastic possibly.

[fraser]

i put aluminum duct tape on the back of my my pickguards-
the shiny stuff for hvac,
no need to be sure its conductive, just having it there kills the static.

[telex76]

+1 on rubbing with a dryer sheet.

[colonel blues]

Thanks my friends ! Gonna try the dryer sheet ! ;)

[Jack FFR1846]

I have found this with only certain pickguards. I found that I had to cover the entire back of the pickguard with aluminum foil and then connect it to the guitar ground in multiple places. I used more aluminum on the body to help connect the pg to a ground wire back to the system wiring. It worked about 90%. If I took my finger and rapped the pg really snappy, I could still get just a tiny bit of noise.

[colonel blues]

Hey, know what ?
I hadn't any dryer sheet with me, I just wet my fingers, rubbed the PG, and it worked !!! :D

[macjohn]

My Mex Jaguar had this problem. It went away when I was wearing rubber soled shoes. To solve it permanently, I got some copper shielding tape and lined the cavity and bottom of the pickguard. It's quiet now.

[Mahifrenzy]

+1 on the dryer sheet.

I have several guitars that have this problem. A simple wipe of the pick guard with a dryer sheet and I'm good to go for a session.

I've heard that removing the pick guard and lightly using something gritty like sand paper on the underside will help. Supposedly if you break up the smooth sheen the static doesn't collect so much on it.