Pickguard Static

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Playing my new(ish) Vintera bass VI, I've notived that I get a load of 'static' noise when my hand brushes against the pickguard when plugged into an amp. I don't recall ever noticing this phenomenon before on other guitars/basses.

 

I'm planning to do a copper tape shielding job on this bass soon, like I do with most of my instruments. As part of the shielding I'll apply the tape to the back of the pickguard and ensure it is continuous with ground. Should this cure the static?

[DTB]

Hi, have you fixed this?

i have a lot of experience with this if you still need help. 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I haven't had a chance to pick up the VI for a while so I haven't been able to address this yet. Any suggestions are very welcome.

[DTB]

I have a PRS Silver Sky that had terrible static problems as soon as the central heating went on. Pick guard and neck were full of loud static which rendered it totally unplayable. 
i tried all sorts of stuff, including commercial anti static sprays, diluted fabric conditioner etc. all they did was leave some degree of residue on the guitar which worked for about 5 minutes. 
in the end i took the neck off and place a single piece of silver foil in the neck pocket, to which I soldered (tricky but possible) a ground wire that went to one of the ground wires, any one will do. I made certain that the neck screws contacted the silver foil when reassembling so that the neck plate and therefore the surface of the neck were grounded. This solved the neck problem. 
I did the same for the scratchplate, rather than shielding the whole thing which can be bad for tone, i did strips making sure the pickup adjusting screws and rear of scratch plate were connected then wired that to ground. 
sometimes I get the odd crackle now and again still from the scratchplate, when this happens I rub the scratchplate with a fabric conditioner tumble drier dry sheet, and that solves what the earthing cannot for a long time. 
 

strange because I had another Silver Sky with a maple neck and fingerboard rather than rosewood and a satin finish on neck not gloss, and it never had the same problems. 
 

if you get caught out on a gig, a bit of spit rubbed on the area of the scratchplate that is static will work for a while. 
 

good luck. 
 

[strument]

13 hours ago, DTB said:

I have a PRS Silver Sky that had terrible static problems as soon as the central heating went on. Pick guard and neck were full of loud static which rendered it totally unplayable. 
i tried all sorts of stuff, including commercial anti static sprays, diluted fabric conditioner etc. all they did was leave some degree of residue on the guitar which worked for about 5 minutes. 
in the end i took the neck off and place a single piece of silver foil in the neck pocket, to which I soldered (tricky but possible) a ground wire that went to one of the ground wires, any one will do. I made certain that the neck screws contacted the silver foil when reassembling so that the neck plate and therefore the surface of the neck were grounded. This solved the neck problem. 
I did the same for the scratchplate, rather than shielding the whole thing which can be bad for tone, i did strips making sure the pickup adjusting screws and rear of scratch plate were connected then wired that to ground. 
sometimes I get the odd crackle now and again still from the scratchplate, when this happens I rub the scratchplate with a fabric conditioner tumble drier dry sheet, and that solves what the earthing cannot for a long time. 

strange because I had another Silver Sky with a maple neck and fingerboard rather than rosewood and a satin finish on neck not gloss, and it never had the same problems. 
 

if you get caught out on a gig, a bit of spit rubbed on the area of the scratchplate that is static will work for a while. 
 

good luck. 
geometry dash lite

I like that you avoided fully shielding the scratchplate and instead just ensured continuity at the key contact points — that’s a more targeted approach than lining everything with copper.
That’s a really clever solution

Edited 7 hours ago by strument

[miles'tone]

19 hours ago, DTB said:

I have a PRS Silver Sky that had terrible static problems as soon as the central heating went on. Pick guard and neck were full of loud static which rendered it totally unplayable. 
i tried all sorts of stuff, including commercial anti static sprays, diluted fabric conditioner etc. all they did was leave some degree of residue on the guitar which worked for about 5 minutes. 
in the end i took the neck off and place a single piece of silver foil in the neck pocket, to which I soldered (tricky but possible) a ground wire that went to one of the ground wires, any one will do. I made certain that the neck screws contacted the silver foil when reassembling so that the neck plate and therefore the surface of the neck were grounded. This solved the neck problem. 
I did the same for the scratchplate, rather than shielding the whole thing which can be bad for tone, i did strips making sure the pickup adjusting screws and rear of scratch plate were connected then wired that to ground. 
sometimes I get the odd crackle now and again still from the scratchplate, when this happens I rub the scratchplate with a fabric conditioner tumble drier dry sheet, and that solves what the earthing cannot for a long time. 
 

strange because I had another Silver Sky with a maple neck and fingerboard rather than rosewood and a satin finish on neck not gloss, and it never had the same problems. 
 

if you get caught out on a gig, a bit of spit rubbed on the area of the scratchplate that is static will work for a while. 
 

good luck. 
 

Shielding the whole cavity can be bad for tone? Interesting...never heard that one before. Can you elaborate? Kind of makes sense but I'm no expert with electrics ☺️

[DTB]

Shielding the whole of the pickguard, not the cavity, can take out a bit of treble on a strat or similar, and I like a real bite to my guitar tone (Martin Miller style)  so that’s why I did it in strips as minimum as possible. 
can’t see why it would be any different on bass? And again I like the jazz bass high mid growl so if I had to earth the pick guard I would do it as minimalist as poss.