Les Paul crackling - Weird and baffling

freebirduk

The problem

Bought a new Les Paul 2020 Standard. Playing it direct into a DV Mark using a new top of the range Fender cable I get hum and a clear and distinct crackle as I run my finger down the strings. I also get an occasional loud and slightly alarming cracks through the amp. The hum and crackle are mitigated somewhat if I put a finger on the screw holding the relevant pickup.

I play an Epiphone Sheraton II Pro through the same rig without any issues.

Attempts at a diagnosis

1. Being a new guitar I returned it to PMT. They called me to say they didn't have a replacement in stock but would give me my money back. However they said they'd had a look at it and couldn't find a problem. I got them to send it back to me. The problem was still there.
2. Took guitar cable and amp to a local guitar tech. He put it together and played. There was no problem. I played it. There was no problem. He checked the wiring and grounding at the back. No problem. So I gave up and went home.
3. Got a non-guitar playing friend to come round. Asked him to pick up the already rigged guitar, switch the amp on and run his finger down the strings. No crackle. I did it and it crackles!

My question

How do I make this go away! The problem is consistent but seems to require both me and my home location to manifest itself. I'm baffled.

ICBM

A combination of your shoes and the carpet generating static electricity? If you wear shoes (or just socks), try taking them off and see if it persists.

mcsdan

Sounds like static and depends on your environment as above. I'm sure the LPs are known for this when they are new. Seems to be worse on the plastics i.e. pickguard and control covers on the rear. I had on one of my LPs about 10 years ago and I cleaned those parts a couple of times with guitar polish and it went away (IIRC). Worth a try.

RaymondLin

freebirduk said:

The problem

Bought a new Les Paul 2020 Standard. Playing it direct into a DV Mark using a new top of the range Fender cable I get hum and a clear and distinct crackle as I run my finger down the strings. I also get an occasional loud and slightly alarming cracks through the amp. The hum and crackle are mitigated somewhat if I put a finger on the screw holding the relevant pickup.

I play an Epiphone Sheraton II Pro through the same rig without any issues.

Attempts at a diagnosis

1. Being a new guitar I returned it to PMT. They called me to say they didn't have a replacement in stock but would give me my money back. However they said they'd had a look at it and couldn't find a problem. I got them to send it back to me. The problem was still there.
2. Took guitar cable and amp to a local guitar tech. He put it together and played. There was no problem. I played it. There was no problem. He checked the wiring and grounding at the back. No problem. So I gave up and went home.
3. Got a non-guitar playing friend to come round. Asked him to pick up the already rigged guitar, switch the amp on and run his finger down the strings. No crackle. I did it and it crackles!

My question

How do I make this go away! The problem is consistent but seems to require both me and my home location to manifest itself. I'm baffled.

Point 3 shows that the only variable here is you...so it's not the guitar.

Try touching a radiator or something before playing to discharge the static, wear a different shirt, take off your watch?

ICBM

RaymondLin said:

Point 3 shows that the only variable here is you...so it's not the guitar.

Try touching a radiator or something before playing to discharge the static, wear a different shirt, take off your watch?

If the Sheraton doesn't crackle it may be the difference in finish - the Gibson is nitro, the Epiphone polyurethane I think (older ones were polyester) - so you're right, it may be a shirt rather than shoe issue .

idiotwindow

Have you taken the plastic wrapper off the pick guard? I recently bought a new Les Paul Junior and noticed I sometimes got a crackle sound if I moved the guitar significantly. For example, if I'd been playing a while seated and then lifted the guitar vertically to put it on a stand, there was often a short crack or crackle sound. I wondered if there was a loose cable or something like that and had a look at the wiring in the control cavity and everything is sound. I took the plastic off the pick guard last night and the crackles seem to have gone.

Kittyfrisk

If you are accumulating static, then before you touch a radiator or other earthed object, hold a key or other conductive item in your hand and touch that to the earth instead of your finger.
If you do have a large charge, the discharge often will be seen and heard and can sting quite a bit. Using the key means it doesn't hurt.

Crazyblue1779

You could try an ‘anti-static’ wrist band? 

They’re used for computer building and might help

Fozz

I get static issues with nitro guitars, pretty much any will have a crackling on the neck or near electroics for me. Also unshielded plastic pickguards. 

It must be to do with my physiology as, like the OP, the same guitar won't have issues for other people.

I'm kind of resigned to either avoiding nitro or just living with the extraneous noise. Like anything, playing at home amplifies the severity of a lot of noise issues and while annoying it would be less of an issue with a band.

merlin

Simple answer is; get a Telecaster....

Sorry, just pulling your leg, I couldn't resist. 

freebirduk

Sheesh. Seems I have an electric personality.

Pickguard plastic wrapper removed? Check. Didn't fix it.

Shoes off? Check. Didn't fix it.

Sit with the guitar and run my finger along bottom E. Crackle and hum.

Do the same while grabbing the radiator. All is perfect. So I guess I'll have to get myself a wrist band then.

Two things though:

1. Shouldn't a £2k guitar just work out of the box? Shouldn't there be something in the construction, earthing etc that mitigates this, nitro or no nitro?
2. I gather that the nitro effect wears off after a while. How long is a while? Are we talking years of playing attached to a lightning conductor!
   

PS Thanks to all. Seems like a friendly bunch in here

PPS A Tele? Yeah the thought crossed my mind

skunkwerx

freebirduk said:

Sheesh. Seems I have an electric personality.

Pickguard plastic wrapper removed? Check. Didn't fix it.

Shoes off? Check. Didn't fix it.

Sit with the guitar and run my finger along bottom E. Crackle and hum.

Do the same while grabbing the radiator. All is perfect. So I guess I'll have to get myself a wrist band then.

Two things though:

1. Shouldn't a £2k guitar just work out of the box? Shouldn't there be something in the construction, earthing etc that mitigates this, nitro or no nitro?
2. I gather that the nitro effect wears off after a while. How long is a while? Are we talking years of playing attached to a lightning conductor!
   

PS Thanks to all. Seems like a friendly bunch in here

PPS A Tele? Yeah the thought crossed my mind

My Les Paul junior has static in the finish, near the input socket and on the top, again near the input jack. 

I’ve played it 6 months now, cleaned it alot, thrown it around.. etc. 

Statics still there. 

I also get static if I lightly run my fingers across the treble strings of any guitar so partly me as well. 

This one isnt so annoying as its in a position thats not touched when playing.. but it is annoying that its there and can be heard through the amp. 

ICBM

freebirduk said:

Shouldn't a £2k guitar just work out of the box? Shouldn't there be something in the construction, earthing etc that mitigates this, nitro or no nitro?

Shouldn't guitar companies stop using an obsolete finish material which causes other far more serious problems than this - like reacting with stands, straps and even clothing? Not to mention checking, rubbing off and generally looking a bit knackered after only a few years of use.

I think so, but it appears a lot of guitarists disagree. In fact, many are willing to pay more for it.

For that matter, shouldn't guitar companies get into the late 20th century - let alone the 21st - and stop using primitive passive electronics which do things like this? Perfectly good solutions to this and other electrical problems have been available since at least the 1980s.

But we like our old-fashioned, noisy high-impedance pickups because they seem to sound 'right', which the active ones somehow don't to a lot of us... problems like this are the penalty.

RaymondLin

freebirduk said:

Sheesh. Seems I have an electric personality.

Pickguard plastic wrapper removed? Check. Didn't fix it.

Shoes off? Check. Didn't fix it.

Sit with the guitar and run my finger along bottom E. Crackle and hum.

Do the same while grabbing the radiator. All is perfect. So I guess I'll have to get myself a wrist band then.

Two things though:

1. Shouldn't a £2k guitar just work out of the box? Shouldn't there be something in the construction, earthing etc that mitigates this, nitro or no nitro?
2. I gather that the nitro effect wears off after a while. How long is a while? Are we talking years of playing attached to a lightning conductor!
   

PS Thanks to all. Seems like a friendly bunch in here

PPS A Tele? Yeah the thought crossed my mind

Playing the Devil's advocate here but it sounds like it works for everyone else in other scenarios or different persons in the same scenario as you....the "problem" here is you...Simple process of elimination.  So yes, the guitar works out of the box, they made it that works for 99.99999% of people but unfortunately, some reason, somewhere, somehow, what you are wearing, eaten or consumed causes more static to everyone else.

I can't really say you can blame the guitar or Gibson for the static.

Philly_Q

You might have to give up guitar but on the bright side, it seems like you may have an untapped superpower.

freebirduk

Thanks for your further comments.

Looking around other forums I can see that I'm far from alone in experiencing this problem. Likely we are a minority but a significant one.  Clearly from what you're saying most folks are content with the situation. Hopefully though you can understand that when a newb makes a significant investment in an iconic product and finds that it crackles like blazes he finds it something of a let down.

Anyway I didn't come here to whinge. Positive mental attitude. See you all out there sometime. I'm the old guy at the back with the Les Paul and the tin foil hat.

RaymondLin

freebirduk said:

Thanks for your further comments.

Looking around other forums I can see that I'm far from alone in experiencing this problem. Likely we are a minority but a significant one.  Clearly from what you're saying most folks are content with the situation. Hopefully though you can understand that when a newb makes a significant investment in an iconic product and finds that it crackles like blazes he finds it something of a let down.

Anyway I didn't come here to whinge. Positive mental attitude. See you all out there sometime. I'm the old guy at the back with the Les Paul and the tin foil hat.

I sympathise with your problem but it really doesn't sound like something Gibson can do, it is clearly not a defect on the guitar end.  It is unfortunate that guitar + your body causes more static than another guitar or that guitar with another person.

Now that we know the problem, we need to work towards a solution, since the solution is nothing to do with the guitar and you can't have a brain transplant then we need to look at other options.  Since the radiator trick works then the next logical step is one of the anti-static wrist bands.  Sure it isn't the most ideal but if it works with a simple fix, it's worth giving it a try, you never know, it might just be something in your diet.

ICBM

Calling @jaymenon...

freebirduk

Wrist band already on order and, yes, I'm reconciled to that solution with the hope that either the nitro or my biochemistry will change over time.

BTW if you want an amusing five minutes there appears to be a whole whacky world of "personal grounding" out there. For only a few dollars I can be better connected with Mother Earth and protected from modern appliances and EMF. I quote "The Earth is a massive reservoir of negatively charged free electrons.  Without a connection to this reservoir, the cells in our body are unable to balance the positive charge which results from things like electron-deficient free radicals.  The effect of excess positive charge in the blood can be seen very clearly by the way in which the cells are attracted to clump together."

Who knew?!

Kittyfrisk

freebirduk said:

Wrist band already on order and, yes, I'm reconciled to that solution with the hope that either the nitro or my biochemistry will change over time.

BTW if you want an amusing five minutes there appears to be a whole whacky world of "personal grounding" out there. For only a few dollars I can be better connected with Mother Earth and protected from modern appliances and EMF. I quote "The Earth is a massive reservoir of negatively charged free electrons.  Without a connection to this reservoir, the cells in our body are unable to balance the positive charge which results from things like electron-deficient free radicals.  The effect of excess positive charge in the blood can be seen very clearly by the way in which the cells are attracted to clump together."

Who knew?!

Just a thought, what is the humidity like where you are playing?
Low levels of humidity can cause real problems with static build up & discharge. Get a cheap humidifier or a few plants around the place 
https://www.est-static.com/static.php

mbe

You could switch to playing the piano accordion and that would solve the problem.