Noisey pickguard? What?

[PaulO]

Well here is a good one for someone to solve.

I recently got a 1985 Fender Tele Custom. A relic for sure.

I swapped out the pickups from a Fender 52 reissue, in which I put a set of 51 Nocasters.

Now on the Tele Custom, when I run my fingers across the pickguard above where the neck pickup wires run, I hear this static sort of noise coming out of the amp.

These pickups have the wax dipped cloth coverings. I do not recall the original pickups doing this.

What do you think might be causing this? Did I miss a ground or something? I noticed the bridge pickup is a tad bit offset in the bridge pickup opening. Possibly the windings are touching the opening in the bridge?

Anyone got an ideas?

PaulO

[TRandy16]

It's static electricity....caused by your fingers...dry skin,etc. Spray a little Static-Guard on the pickguard (yes the laundry stuff)...you can spray it on a cloth first then wipe it on the pickguard if you prefer...that usually elimintaes the problem.


Also, if you have very dry skin on your hands, a little hand lotion can also help.

[darkbluemurder]

I heard that you can also glue aluminum foil on the back of the pickguard to solve this problem. I have no first hand experience since I have never encountered such problem.

Good luck!