Crackling / popping when i touch metal parts

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Crackling / popping when i touch metal parts

It looks like the big black wire coming from the jack is an insulating cover on a grounded wire similar to the pickup wires. Make sure the metal braided part is grounded on the lug on the metal plate, and the inner wire is connected to the yellow wire (this appears to be the lead wire from the selector switch). And make sure that this wire is NOT touching any ground.

If the backs of all the pots have continuity with the plate when tested with your ohmmeter, and the grounding lug also has continuity (except for the lead wire from the jack, of course), then all appears ok.

If you still get a crackle when you rub a finger on the pickguard, then this is static electricity which is rare on a LP. The only way to completely get rid of that is to glue some foil to the back of the pickguard, solder a wire to it and run it under the bridge PU mounting ring (cut a small notch in the bottom of the ring, don't worry, it won't show), and into the body cavity where it can be soldered to a pot.

I don't see how what you describe can be related to the caps.

Make sure the P-Rails is grounded.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Crackling / popping when i touch metal parts

Try wiggle around the plug while in the jack. If that causes more noises and stuff, you got it.

 

[rts99]

Re: Crackling / popping when i touch metal parts

Grounding sucks.

You may have one of several problems......

First is a bad connection to ground in the "house" wiring. Check the path from the jack ground (or cable ground) to the ground pin of your amp's power cable. If you don't have a 3-prong power cable, but only a 2-prong, the ground is the "neutral" wire.

I DON'T recommend plugging your meter into the live AC connections.

If you don't get a direct connection between the jack ground & earth ground make one. Get a cable & connect it directly to the jack plate or bridge or any grounded point on your guitar. Then you'll know you have a proper ground connection. This bypasses the wiring through the amp.

Second is a ground "loop". Don't ask me to explain this, it makes my head hurt. The point here is that the ground in your guitar MUST come from a single point. I noticed individual ground braids on the back of 2 of the pots. The ground from the jack should connect to the back of one of the pots & the remaining grounds should fan out to a single "load" (another pot, the bridge, each pick-up) from this single piont. There are several methods for creating this "Star" ground configuration, but the traditional method is to solder to the back of one of the Vol Pots. Soldering to the back of the Pots is troublesome, but that's part of the fun. Again there are other methods, but the objective is to have a single point ground in a "Star" configuration to eliminate ground loops.

Third is simply static discharge through the guitar ground. Humans carry an electric charge. It can be a very high voltage. When you touch the any of the grounded parts of the guitar (strings, bridge, metal Vol/Tone Knobs) this static electricity is discharged through the guitar. Bummer. Just like touching a metal door knob after walking across a carpet in the winter. If this is the problem there are several things you can try. The anti-static dryer sheet may work as a temporary fix. I've also heard shielding/grounding the underside of the pick-guard on an LP helps.

But I would try something a little more direct. You can buy static "bracelets" that are used in electronics. They are basically a watch band connected to a coiled cable that plugs into the "house" ground. Wear the static bracelet whenever you play & it will discharge any static preventing the popping. Again if you have 3-prong safety ground wiring this is easy. If not, I don't recommend this path, too risky. :firedevil

The next step would be to add a 1 Mohm resistor between the bridge ground and the output jack. The resistor is intended to limit the current flow between you and the ground. The bridge is still grounded, it just slows the current flow. The static energy from your body will discharge more slowly eliminating the "popping" sound you get now. Note that this will only fix the popping from touching the bridge & strings. The Vol/Tone knobs & jack plate will still pop. For the Vol/Tone knobs you'll need to switch to non-conductive knobs (plastic or wood). If you have an amp cable with a conductive metal back-shell you should replace it with a non-conductive plastic molded back-shell. This should leave only the actual jack plate ground contact point where it can pop. Just don't touch it & you'll be fine.

Good Luck

 

[matt239]

Re: Crackling / popping when i touch metal parts

Did you solve this?

 

[MythicGuitarCo]

Re: Crackling / popping when i touch metal parts

Ok so i have installed some p-rails with triple shots and i have followed all the instructions and now i get popping or crackling everytime i touch any metal parts on my LP. I have metal tone and vol knobs so i get this problem everytime i touch them.

I have my bridge earthed and i have checked this with my volt meter and it passed so im unsure what it could be? However i did read that this noise could be the cap discharging and im using ceramic caps so could this be true???

The only thing i have not done is shield my cavity but should i need to do this as everything is earthed the way it should be.
Cheers Wils

I know that this is a crazy old post, literally a decade old, but it pops up on Google when someone searches for this issue. I thought I'd add my 2 cents. ALWAYS check the Jack first to make sure that you connected the wires to the right posts. That should be first and foremost.

I say this, because I just made this rookie mistake while trying to hurry through a wiring job, and since I've wired more Jacks than I can count, it was the last thing I thought to check and literally went to a forum for help before checking it. It's also the one thing that (as far as I read into it) no one mentioned to do. And... the one thing that worked immediately.

Hope this helps someone 10 years from now.