Help! My guitar keeps going "BZZT"!!!!!

[Huckleberry]

I get this "bzzt" sound when I touch the strings, bridge or knobs of my ASAT Special. I initially wrote it off as static electricity, but it does it every time(static would eventually discharge, right?), but it's worse now: i happens in the middle of playing a riff or lead. Ex: I hit the open low "E", then bend a double stop at the 9th fret(yeah, yeah, lame SRV wannabe lick). You only hear the double stop after the "bzzt!" noise.
I'm not even using overdrive or distortion. Happens in both of my amps, and at the shop I bought it from. I had it in there for a set-up, and the tech verified that it was in fact the guitar & not just the wiring in this ancient house I live in. He suggested copper shielding to solve it. Now, I'm considering that, but: wouldn't the design of the guitar take that into consideration? This can't be "just the way it is" with ASAT Specials, or I'd have heard about it before now. And why wasn't this happening the 1st few months I owned the guitar?
Chugga Chugga "bzzt" chugga "bzzt" wheedly wee "bzzt" is no way to go through life, folks. Anyone agree it just needs to be shielded, or maybe the ground wire is screwed up?

[mkg]

This may not help at all, or only slightly, or (hopefully) quite a bit:
Take a dryer sheet (Bounce, or something similar) and rub it all over the pickguard. Static can really build up on the plastic.
Do you have other single coil guitars, and do they do the same thing?
Good luck!

[Huckleberry]

I just have the one guitar at the moment. The dryer sheet helped a tiny bit, but it's still happening.

[mkg]

And you said it does it in the shop too, right? The shop probably has fluorescent lighting, which doesn't help single coils. Got any dimmer switches in your house? They're bad unless turned completely off.
It's also possible that shielding would help, but it can get pretty involved if you're thorough about it.
When I'm gigging and get unwanted noise, I can usually just change position a bit and it goes away. At home it's much more noticeable and annoying!
If it's something as simple as a loose ground wire, it's easy to fix.
I saw a site on shielding just a while back, I'll see if I can find it and post it...but be forewarned, there's a lot involved to do it right.

[mkg]

Okay, here's the link. Scroll down to "Quieting the beast" or "Quieting the beast's cousin"...the first is for Strats, the second is for Teles. I'm not familiar with yours, whether it's one or the other.


click

[photoweborama]

I am an advocate of shielding paint myself. I had a similar problem with a squire strat and my MiM Stat that when I touched the pickup mounting screws it would pop really loud.

It does sound like a static problem and any kind plastic pickguard will amplify it quite a bit. And by the way, static does not seem to bleed off on a guitar. I would let it sit for a couple of days and it was still there.

Paint is really messy, but it's easy to apply, but the main reason I love it is I can paint the pickguard with it and it kills all static what so ever. On my AmSer Tele I have a full copper pickguard shield and it still pops from static. I think it has to do with air gaps between the plastic and the copper shield.

When I paint the pickguard, it seems to bleed the static off and since I have paint overlapping out of the cavities around a screw hole, when I screw it down, it makes a grounding contact.

It just works. I wish you were close; I'd do it for free. I have lots of the stuff left over. I got a 1/2 pt can and I've done five guitars so far and I still have half a can.

Paint

[mkg]

Mark, thanks for the link, that looks like a great method.
:yay

[photoweborama]

Thank you, I appreciate that.
Any shielding on a single coil improves it so much. It just makes playing so much more fun.

Except for 60-cycle hum if you are really close to something, the buzz is gone. I don't have to be embarrassed by the hum and people saying, "How come so-and-so's Les Paul does not make that sound?"

[Old Tele man]

TIP -- to "test" if static is the cause, simply wipe your pickguard with a fabric softner dryer sheet (ie: Clingfree, Downey, Bounce, etc.) and if the static goes away for a day or so, then static really is THE cause of your problem.

[Huckleberry]

Well, a "Bounce" sheet didn't make it go away. And I was under the impression that the "middle" switch position was hum-cancalling on ASATs.
Here's what's happening now:
Bridge pickup,"hmmmmmmmmm" 60 cycle hum(don't ask me why, but I LIKE 60 cycle hum)
Neck pickup, "hmmmmmmmmm" 60 cycle hum(still fine with me)

Both pickups, "Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" unles I touch a metal component. Then there's a quick "bzzt" and all is quiet on the western front.


Back to the tech. Then up on e-bay. This thing is friggin' cursed.

[Old Tele man]

sounds like a broken/disconnected "ground" lead.

To "test" if this is the problem, temporarily connect a jumper between the GROUND lug on the chord and: (1) bridge/strings, then (2) pickup covers (if metal), while playing.

If BZZT goes away with (1) , then the ground wire to the bridge assembly is the problem.

If BZZT goes away with (2) then the ground wire to THAT pickup is the problem.