Pickguard crackle?

[Jonee G]

Greetings,
This is my first post. I found this forum looking to answer some questions re pots and found them already asked and answered. Thank you for the help.
This I didn't find. When I brush my finger across the pickguard on my 69 thinline RI with Fralin PUps(a bad playing habit I know) I get a static discharge type of crackling. It only happens when the neck pu is on. Local tech had no clue and would only try it reluctantly, so I didn't go there.
Extending the shielding from the control pocket under the pickguard didn't help.
Ducktape to prevent skin to plastic contact does work but its kinda ugly.
any ideas?

[photoweborama]

Static. That's all it is. I've had limited success with this problem. Dryer sheets kill it, but it will come back.

The only way I've found to completely get rid of it is to shield the pickguard and ground it. But not with your conventional ways of shielding. Shielding paint is the only thing I've found that works.

You can shield the guitar with whatever you want, metal foil, copper, etc. But paint the pickguard with shielding paint. It makes an airtight conductive bond with the plastic pickguard and bleeds the static off. If you stick foil on it, the adhesive insulates the plastic from the foil.

Stewmac has copper foil with conductive adhesive. I have not tried that. It might work, but anything just touching the plastic won't work.

I ran out of shielding paint…

[telecast]

Here's a cheaper way to fix it:

Wipe down the pickguard with a dryer sheet, like Bounce.

That won't last long, but you can also remove the pickgaurd and put a dryer sheet under it.

I'm not kidding, this works.

[photoweborama]

I tried putting the dryer sheet under the pickguard, but it did not work for me. Maybe you need a fairly large piece under the entire area where you hand might go. I just used a small piece. It did discolor the gloss under the pickguard where I stuck it, but it was under the pickguard, so....

[telecast]

It'd have to be big enough to dissipate as much static as the guard is capable of building up.

[Brownie]

Aluminum foil from the supermarket works fine. Just make sure your tracing covers the screwholes on the pickguard. The static is discharged via the metal screws (not the plastic as someone mentioned), and they'll make contact with the foil when you re-install the guard. I use a gluestick to secure the foil...no fuss no muss. Run a wire from under the pickguard so it makes contact with the foil, and run it down the neck pup channel and solder to ground. Easy, invisible fix. Heavy duty foil is a bit easier to work with.

[Jonee G]

Thanks...I had tried Foil tape but it didn't reach to the screw holes or pu cavity and wasn't soldered to ground. The shielding paint would likely work the same. I'll try the foil again but with more thoroughness (as soon as I get off these 12hr workdays)