nashsnazzy Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hello, I've been a long time lurker but this is my first post. I picked up a SG 61 reissue and I love this axe. However, the neck pickup makes this awful crackling sound that is especially prominent when you barely touch the strings. We thought it was a bad tube in the amp but the problem is present on all of my amps. The issue is with the neck pickup only and I've never heard a pickup that does this. Any ideas on what the issue may be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hello Nash, and welcome here. To my experiences the most likely reason is a contact problem. There can be dust or tarnish on toggle switch contacts or within pots. A good contact cleaner may help. Two of my Gibson Les Paul and one of my Gibson SG guitars were in need of treating the toggle switch when they were brand-new. They work flawlessly since then, that is July, 2012; March, 2013; and July, 2014 respectively. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashsnazzy Posted October 25, 2014 Author Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hello, I took the guitar back to GC today and they sprayed all of the pots and switch with contact cleaner. We didn't notice any noise when testing it in the store but when I got home the problem still persists. Its even worse when I plug the guitar into my Pod HD. Could this be a microphonic pickup and if so what does that sound like exactly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 To my experience it is more likely that there is still some residue oon the contacts. It took me lots of cleaner and several attempts to flush it out of my Les Paul Standard 2012's toggle switch and make work properly. Another possibility could be a bad soldering point. A Frank Zappa "Roxy" SG of mine had that problem, and it was not even obvious. It's solved now and appeared never again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashsnazzy Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Well the guitar has been back to guitar center twice and no luck. I thought we had it licked today. I brought it home, and it sounded fine. I played happily for about 15 minutes then I could hear the crackling softly in the background. After a few more minutes the static was back in full swing. At moments it is louder than the signal. The issue still only exists with the neck pickup. I've swamped the cable out to a brand new Monster Cable and the noise persist only in the neck position. I'm about to pull my hair out. GC offered a another SG in this one's place but I didn't care for the wood on that guitar. It's as if the guitar builds up a charge or something after you play it for a bit. I read about static buildup and this noise doesn't change no matter what I touch on the guitar or if I remove the pickguard. Any help you guys can offer is much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 When about static pops and clicks, these appear sometimes when the electronic cavity cover is rubbing my clothing. It depends on the kind of cloth in first order, but not on the pickup selector position. All of the crackling appearing depending on pickup has been due to contact problems including dust, tarnish and bad soldering points. Could it be you sometimes touch a pickup screw of the neck pickup while playing and discharge your body through it? This current will run through the pickup cable shield and may cause crackling. When picking near the bridge pickup, discharge is more likely to happen through strings or bridge, and when using the bridge pickup while picking close to the neck pickup, the discharge may happen without affecting the tone. Just an idea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 these can be a real pain to run down, sort of sounds like static electricity is building up somehow. do you have any florescent lights in in the room? are you near an LCD or PC screens? Have you tried floating the ground on your amp? if it's static building up, have you tried the dryer sheet trick? (Take an anti-static dryer sheet, and wipe down the pickgaurd, body, and then the pickup covers?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashsnazzy Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Thanks for the help. This happens only on the neck pickup and it doesn't matter where I touch the guitar, the noise only happens when a note is played and can get louder as the note dies out. I took the pickguard off so any buildup specific to the pickguard is no longer in play. I have no florescent lights but I am usually in front of a computer, as I am with all of my guitars. I haven't tried floating the ground. I'm not sure if any of my dryer sheets are anti static but I'll pick up a few that are. Is there any sort of wiring fault that would cause the neck pickup to not deal with static electricity as well as the bridge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 the noise only happens when a note is played and can get louder as the note dies out very strange. Is there any sort of wiring fault that would cause the neck pickup to not deal with static electricity as well as the bridge? off hand, not really.. unless in some way the pickup itself, or the wiring to it is just borked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Thanks for the help. This happens only on the neck pickup and it doesn't matter where I touch the guitar, the noise only happens when a note is played and can get louder as the note dies out. ... Is there any sort of wiring fault that would cause the neck pickup to not deal with static electricity as well as the bridge? The last question first: In case the neck pickup is active and there's not a loud hum when touching cover or screws while touching nothing else, everything should be OK. There were 1970's L6-S (later L6-S Custom) guitars with omitted neck pickup grounding like mine, so I know the problem well. I added a ground wire to it. Now on the distorted neck pickup signal. Contact corrosion, on switches and occasionally pots as well as within bad soldering points, may consist of semiconducting oxides. Their avalanche voltage is a hysteresis material constant, i. e. it will act as an offset voltage and create a dynamic transition resistance. This will oscillate with the signal and add distortions. As the envelope of the signal voltage decreases, the share of the offset becomes relatively larger creating just the phenomenon you described. Therefore in my opinion it is extremely likely that either the toggle switch contacts of the neck pickup or perhaps its pot contacts are the culprits, or a soldering point is bad even if not visible. The two of my Custom Gibsons and one of my USA Gibsons had this switch trouble when new. It took me several cleaning operations and lots of contact cleaner, but it went away. As mentioned earlier, a Frank Zappa "Roxy" SG of mine built up an invisible soldering point problem on one of the mini toggle switches. Resoldering solved the problem. Leaving the guitar with the toggle switch in middle position when not played is also recommendable. I hope this helps and you will get the problem solved. Due to my own experiences, I know how bad such accidents can be in particular during the honeymoon with a dream guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashsnazzy Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Capmaster, thanks for the help. There are no loud hums when touching anything so I don't believe I have a grounding issue. I appreciate you covering that base. "avalanche voltage is a hysteresis material constant" I have no idea what this means but it is comforting that you can explain this behavior. Is there a way to lightly polish the switch's contacts or just jumper it to test the theory of a bad switch? The guitar is back at GC right now and they can't reproduce the issue. I think this is odd. I also don't understand why it happens for me and other folks at my home and not at GC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Angled toggle switches like used in SG guitars are easily accessable for cleaning. Pulling through some blotting paper between the contact surfaces soaked with contact cleaner should do the trick. As for the hysteresis voltage of semiconductors, this mostly is about copper(I) oxide present in wires, cables and contacts. For this substance you may also refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper(I)_oxide#Semiconducting_properties The adverse effects of copper(I) oxide are the reason for using OFC meaning Oxygene Free Copper for many applications like pickup coil wires and cables. Sadly, contact surfaces may build up oxides with time though. That's why so many switches, plugs and jacks come gold-plated nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashsnazzy Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 We've tried cleaning the switch and it hasn't made a difference. I ordered a pre-wired vintage upgrade kit from RS Guitar Works. I'm going to replace all of the electronics other than the pickups with that kit. It seems shameful that a brand new Gibson guitar requires that sort of investment but I can't get GC or Gibson to take ownership of the issue. I really like the guitar so I reckon it is worth the investment and it should make the sound a little better. I'll let you all know if it fixes it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashsnazzy Posted November 9, 2014 Author Share Posted November 9, 2014 I just replaced all of the wiring, pots, caps, jack, and switch with a kit from RS Guitarworks. It looks like I have a bad pickup folks. The noise is still there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 I just replaced all of the wiring, pots, caps, jack, and switch with a kit from RS Guitarworks. It looks like I have a bad pickup folks. The noise is still there. Such a thing might happen, but it's definitely poor. I'm sorry for your bad luck, Nash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashsnazzy Posted November 9, 2014 Author Share Posted November 9, 2014 Now the question becomes , will Gibson actually replace the pickup for me? I've had a real hard time reproducing the symptom at the shop. Guitar Center doesn't believe the problem is real so I have to take it to another local shop. I wish they would just send me a new freaking pickup and let me swap it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Now the question becomes , will Gibson actually replace the pickup for me? I've had a real hard time reproducing the symptom at the shop. Guitar Center doesn't believe the problem is real so I have to take it to another local shop. I wish they would just send me a new freaking pickup and let me swap it out. I cross my fingers for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashsnazzy Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 Well, Gibson sent me a new neck PU and now everything is A OK. I just need to get the PU height tweaked a bit and I'll be golden. Now onto my next project. I cross my fingers for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 What a relief, thanks for posting. Glad you worked it out. =D> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGuy Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 That's news I didn't want to read about. My '61 Reissue is doing a very similar thing. Pretty annoying to say the least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.