crackling when touching Tele pickguard?
Daniel Dreibelbis
and I must say that it sounds and feels incredible.
EXCEPT.......
In the past week or so it's developed this weird fault. When I flick
it on the neck pickup, if I touch the pickguard in a certain area I get
this crackling sound, from around the halfway point to just above the
control plate. It also appears when both pickups are on, on the bridge
the crackling disappears altogether. Since my fingers tend to touch the
pickguard and tend to move, you can well imagine how distracting this
sounds!
I'm planning to take it in to Long & McQ's tomorrow to see if that can
be fixed (it's under warranty), but I thought I'd throw it out to you
first to see what you think it might be.
BTW, while doing the research on this I discovered something
interesting, it sounds like for the CV series Fender/Squier is using
pickups from a company called Tonerider. If they're the ones who put in
the pickups for the Tele and the CV Precision I think I might have a
new company to vouch for.....
--
Dan Dreibelbis, CGN (Cerified Guitar Nerd)
http://guitarnerd.ca
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=121942
http://www.myspace.com/dandreibelbis
Current Songs - "Not What You Think!" and "In Your Arms
David Eberhardt
> Current Songs - "Not What You Think!" and "In Your Arms
It's static electricity.
Short easy fix: rub it with a dryer sheet.
Better fix: replace the pickguard and have the guitar properly
shielded.
I had this problem with both my MIM Strat & MIM Tele.I think it's a
product of cost-cutting, and using cheaper materials in the
pickguards.For the record, I have never observed this in a USA or
Japanese Fender.
Living in the Midwest, this problem only manifested itself in the cold
dry winters (like now, for example).
-(geetar)dave-----;;;
vvvvvv,davideberhardt,com
Meat Plow
> I've had my Squier Classic Vibe '62 Tele Custom for a few weeks
now,
> and I must say that it sounds and feels incredible.
>
> EXCEPT.......
>
> In the past week or so it's developed this weird fault. When I
flick
> it on the neck pickup, if I touch the pickguard in a certain area I get
> this crackling sound, from around the halfway point to just above the
> control plate. It also appears when both pickups are on, on the bridge
> the crackling disappears altogether. Since my fingers tend to touch the
> pickguard and tend to move, you can well imagine how distracting this
> sounds!
Pull the pick guard off and cover the back side with copper tape. If that
doesn't cure it the you may have to solder a small wire to it and ground
that wire to the saddle. Cause, dry air and static electricity.
--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse
Squier
> I've had my Squier Classic Vibe '62 Tele Custom for a few weeks now,
> and I must say that it sounds and feels incredible.
>
> EXCEPT.......
>
> In the past week or so it's developed this weird fault. When I flick
> it on the neck pickup, if I touch the pickguard in a certain area I get
> this crackling sound, from around the halfway point to just above the
> control plate. It also appears when both pickups are on, on the bridge
> the crackling disappears altogether. Since my fingers tend to touch the
> pickguard and tend to move, you can well imagine how distracting this
> sounds!
>
> I'm planning to take it in to Long & McQ's tomorrow to see if that can
> be fixed (it's under warranty), but I thought I'd throw it out to you
> first to see what you think it might be.
>
>
> BTW, while doing the research on this I discovered something
> interesting, it sounds like for the CV series Fender/Squier is using
> pickups from a company called Tonerider. If they're the ones who put in
> the pickups for the Tele and the CV Precision I think I might have a
> new company to vouch for.....
sounds like static elec. build up in the pickguard and then
that energy arcs from the pickguard to pickups or directly into wiring.
The Squier pickguard usually have no grounding material underneath
the pickguard so it's a 'bare pickguard' underneath. You could shield
the pickguard underneath with some inexpensive metallic type shielding
that just applies much like tack paper or vinyl adhesive you might
line a drawer with (metallic on one side and sticky on the other - cut to shape).
Here's the thing also -- if your neck pickup is the traditional tele neck
with the metal lipstick type covering then unless that pickup is internally
well done and grounded then the static elect will zap into it and create a crackly
sound that you'll never get rid of because of the pickup itself (no matter how
well grounded the rest of the guitar is).
And you may think I am getting flaky with regards to Tone Rider pickups
(Tone Rider is like GFS in that they are a brand company that specs out
its order to Korean and Chinese pickup makers) -- but Tone Rider pups can
sound really good. I have installed a few of them -- but they ALWAYS are
the noisiest pickups I have ever used. Even their humbuckers were prone
to having noise issues. They seemed to want to be noisy unless the conditions
were absolutely perfect. Even a dimmer switch in another room seemed to make
them hum and buzz and get noisy (where the same guitar with different pups
is as quiet as a mouse). That is the one caveat with Tone Rider pups -
for some reason they seem to be noisy pickups (I have tried 3 sets - single coil set
and 2 humbucker sets). Obviously single coils put out a little hum but I am talking
way beyond normal single coil hum. And I wanted to like them because they
sounded great - but at that noise and buzz and crackle and hum level they
are just not giggable. You can't gig with that noise happening all the time.
(yes, I have gigged with regular single coils - no problem - turn down and
then turn up when it's time to play) but again the tone riders were way
above that type of noise. I think there is something internal with the
way they are wired because only those pups did all that - no others - even
inexpensive GFS pups made all that racket.
Hey go ahead and try a set of tone riders in another guitar and you'll
see what I mean. Of course with branding companies each year they could
move onto another pup maker for the new contract and the noise issues might
not be there since they are being made by a different company. I bought
my tone riders late 2009, early 2010 and late 2010. Same thing. I should
have learned faster - but I thought it couldn't possibly be the pups doing
all that -- but sadly -- it was.
RichL
news:ih0c3e$2hf$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> I've had my Squier Classic Vibe '62 Tele Custom for a few weeks now, and I
> must say that it sounds and feels incredible.
>
> EXCEPT.......
>
> In the past week or so it's developed this weird fault. When I flick it on
> the neck pickup, if I touch the pickguard in a certain area I get this
> crackling sound, from around the halfway point to just above the control
> plate. It also appears when both pickups are on, on the bridge the
> crackling disappears altogether. Since my fingers tend to touch the
> pickguard and tend to move, you can well imagine how distracting this
> sounds!
>
> I'm planning to take it in to Long & McQ's tomorrow to see if that can be
> fixed (it's under warranty), but I thought I'd throw it out to you first
> to see what you think it might be.
+1 on the conducting tape.
I'd strongly recommend this:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding/Conductive_Copper_Tape.html
Why? Because the adhesive itself is conducting, which means that you don't
have to solder together successive strips of tape to ensure electrical
continuity. And make sure there are electrical connections between the
ground on the output jack and the tape (and make sure your bridge is
grounded as well).
WeReo_BoY
news:ih0c3e$2hf$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> must say that it sounds and feels incredible.
>
> EXCEPT.......
>
> In the past week or so it's developed this weird fault. When I flick it on
> the neck pickup, if I touch the pickguard in a certain area I get this
> crackling sound, from around the halfway point to just above the control
> plate. It also appears when both pickups are on, on the bridge the
> crackling disappears altogether. Since my fingers tend to touch the
> pickguard and tend to move, you can well imagine how distracting this
> sounds!
>
> I'm planning to take it in to Long & McQ's tomorrow to see if that can be
> fixed (it's under warranty), but I thought I'd throw it out to you first
> to see what you think it might be.
>
>
> BTW, while doing the research on this I discovered something interesting,
> it sounds like for the CV series Fender/Squier is using pickups from a
> company called Tonerider. If they're the ones who put in the pickups for
> the Tele and the CV Precision I think I might have a new company to vouch
> for.....
Crackling BOWL-ASS can and should be repaired by surgery. Then he won't walk
and talk like a ape no more.
http://tinyurl.com/2paq6a
Terry Herzog the ConvicTuRD RegisTuRD Sex Offender BOWL-ASS
http://www.catchtherainbow.com/CorvetteNew/DSC_0069.jpg
Is this the same BOWL-ASS? The 73 year old convicted child rapist and big
fat fucking bloated up plodding BOWL-ASS cripple lumbers over to the casket
and leans on it
"Prisoner BOWL-ASS is not amenable to treatment" -Psychiatrists examining
the PLOD head of the BOWL-ASS
Daniel Dreibelbis
shielding on the pickguard, but curiously only in a small area around
the pickup opening. And it looks like the pattern of where it's
crackling lies around where the wire rout is. Maybe trying the foil
tape idea might be the best way to go - or maybe getting ahold of a
shielded pickguard (more expensive, but I think a tortoiseshell or MOTO
pickguard might look good on this! :) ) Now that I think of it, the
problem cropped up when I removed the protective film from top of the
pickguard. The body cavity itself is shielded with black paint.
Squier - interesting about the pickups. If they are ToneRider, then
these are pretty quiet units for single-coil. There's still a bit of
hum, but they're not as noisy as some Teles I've tried. The neck pickup
actually has quite a bit of life to it, and doesn't sound dull.
Thanks guys. I'll report back about how things are once I decide what to do.
Squier
> okay, I took off the pickguard and took a peek. There >is< foil
> shielding on the pickguard, but curiously only in a small area around
> the pickup opening. And it looks like the pattern of where it's
> crackling lies around where the wire rout is. Maybe trying the foil
> tape idea might be the best way to go - or maybe getting ahold of a
> shielded pickguard (more expensive, but I think a tortoiseshell or MOTO
> pickguard might look good on this! :) ) Now that I think of it, the
> problem cropped up when I removed the protective film from top of the
> pickguard. The body cavity itself is shielded with black paint.
>
> Squier - interesting about the pickups. If they are ToneRider, then
> these are pretty quiet units for single-coil. There's still a bit of
> hum, but they're not as noisy as some Teles I've tried. The neck pickup
> actually has quite a bit of life to it, and doesn't sound dull.
>
> Thanks guys. I'll report back about how things are once I decide what to do.
>
> >
and thanks for the info on the tone rider pups.
like I said - they really sound nice (the ones I had)
so if they took care of the noise issues (and they might have
done just that since they got a nice OEM contract from Fender)
then that's good news. Their single coil set and both
humbucker sets (especially the classic alnico vintage set...
neck around 7.5k and bridge around 8k) really sounded excellent.
It really sounds like they stepped up their game with the fender OEM contract.
cool.
Chuck
> Daniel Dreibelbis wrote:
> > I've had my Squier Classic Vibe '62 Tele Custom for a few weeks now,
> > and I must say that it sounds and feels incredible.
>
> > EXCEPT.......
>
> > In the past week or so it's developed this weird fault. When I flick
> > it on the neck pickup, if I touch the pickguard in a certain area I get
> > this crackling sound, from around the halfway point to just above the
> > control plate. It also appears when both pickups are on, on the bridge
> > the crackling disappears altogether. Since my fingers tend to touch the
> > pickguard and tend to move, you can well imagine how distracting this
> > sounds!
>
> Jazzmaster on another forum. The solution was to wipe the pickguard
> down with a 'dryer sheet'* to remove built up static electricity. The
> guitar was already suitably shielded so that wasn't the issue.
>
> *I believe these are sold at supermarkets to go into clothes dryers to
> prevent 'static cling'.
>
> Worth trying for probably less than $5... Your clothes won't stick to
> you, either!
>
> --
> Usenet Improvement Project:http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/
It's a common problem here in Denver. Happens on my ASAT all the time.
It's so dry that additional shielding wouldn't fix it. You just have
to do the dryer sheet thing - or buy a can of the spray and spray it
on a rag and wipe down the pickguard when it gets going.