Loud crackling and humming on a brand new 2021 Les Paul Studio

[Keyo guitar]

I've just received a new Les Paul Studio, through the post. When you touch the strings there is a popping sound, and if you rub the back of the guitar there is a crackling sound, also, when you turn the volume down there is a loud humming. This all sounds like some sort of earthing problem. I took the rear covers off and looked at the pc board and the wiring to see if there are any wires hanging off, but it all looks ok. I'm no electrician so being as there's nothing obvious, I haven't got a clue what to do next. I don't want to send it back to Thomann in Germany (I'm in the UK), and would much rather get it sorted locally, though I am starting to worry that it might be expensive to sort.

Any advice would be very welcome.

Thanks.

Keyo Langford 

Edited March 15, 2021 by Keyo guitar

[kidblast]

the cracking...

that is  probably the case where it's partly the new nitro finish, it's very active for static. Iif you use dryer sheets in your laundry, rescue one from your next load, (a used dryer sheet is what you want not a new one) 

see if rubbing it on the areas where you get static improves.  Once the drier climate surrenders to a warmer and more humid one, you should see the problem dissipate.  but I don't believe that there is a lot you can do about it.   The replacement, if you go that route, will probably do the same..  I've had it with every new Gibson I've ever owned. 

Eventually it WILL go away.  on new Gibson's though, I won't deny, it's a massive PITA,

the humming,, yea,, not sure.. may be there IS something going on...  

Edited March 15, 2021 by kidblast

[Keyo guitar]

Thanks Kidblast.

I talked to my local hero (luthier), he's going to have a look at it. The static isn't the main issue, the main problems are the humming and popping. He thinks an earthing connection has gone adrift somewhere, either in the tailpiece or within the pc board. Hopefully he'll sort it out. I considered sending it back for a replacement, but here in the UK we've just left the EU, so now we have to pay 20% VAT on imports. I paid this when the guitar was delivered. If I were to send it back I would have to reclaim my VAT and start again. I looked into how you do that, and it looks like you need a degree in economics to figure out the forms involved. So it's worth spending a bit more to get it done locally. Thanks for your advice, Cheers.

[Sgt. Pepper]

17 minutes ago, Keyo guitar said:

Thanks Kidblast.

I talked to my local hero (luthier), he's going to have a look at it. The static isn't the main issue, the main problems are the humming and popping. He thinks an earthing connection has gone adrift somewhere, either in the tailpiece or within the pc board. Hopefully he'll sort it out. I considered sending it back for a replacement, but here in the UK we've just left the EU, so now we have to pay 20% VAT on imports. I paid this when the guitar was delivered. If I were to send it back I would have to reclaim my VAT and start again. I looked into how you do that, and it looks like you need a degree in economics to figure out the forms involved. So it's worth spending a bit more to get it done locally. Thanks for your advice, Cheers.

Does he hum go away when you touch  the strings on the guitar. If so it is not 100%  but most likely you UK-ers call an earthing (in the USA a grounding) problem. I am an electrician and I also play one at work.

The bridge grounding wire is a common issue as there is just a big solid wire that is stuck under the I believe, bottom bridge post and soldered to the closest pot. Could be a cold solder joint. If you know any one that has a meter and knows what they are doing. Give em a call and buy them a pint if they find and can fix the issue.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Sgt. Pepper

[kidblast]

On 3/16/2021 at 3:09 PM, Keyo guitar said:

Thanks Kidblast.

I talked to my local hero (luthier), he's going to have a look at it. The static isn't the main issue, the main problems are the humming and popping. He thinks an earthing connection has gone adrift somewhere, either in the tailpiece or within the pc board. Hopefully he'll sort it out. I considered sending it back for a replacement, but here in the UK we've just left the EU, so now we have to pay 20% VAT on imports. I paid this when the guitar was delivered. If I were to send it back I would have to reclaim my VAT and start again. I looked into how you do that, and it looks like you need a degree in economics to figure out the forms involved. So it's worth spending a bit more to get it done locally. Thanks for your advice, Cheers.

yea  anything is possible with the static/grounding noise issues.  I feel bad for you folks across the pond, the devil be in the details!  Good luck!

[Keyo guitar]

Thanks Sgt, Pepper.

It mostly goes away when I touch the strings, but not entirely. Hopefully it's just an earthing (grounding) problem. I did notice that there are no wires soldered to the back of the pots. Anyway, I'm taking it to my luthier colleague tomorrow, he knows his stuff, so with any luck he'll fix it up. Cheers.

[Sgt. Pepper]

1 hour ago, Keyo guitar said:

Thanks Sgt, Pepper.

It mostly goes away when I touch the strings, but not entirely. Hopefully it's just an earthing (grounding) problem. I did notice that there are no wires soldered to the back of the pots. Anyway, I'm taking it to my luthier colleague tomorrow, he knows his stuff, so with any luck he'll fix it up. Cheers.

If your LP has the PC board it is all done probably by the board where the pot is connected and goes thought the guitar to the top. I had a SG with a PC board, Ripped it out and wired it proper.  You need to check with a meter to see if you have good grounds on all your metal parts. 

And its new. It may be a hassle to deal with it over in Europe but there should be a warranty on it. 

[10K-DB]

On 3/19/2021 at 6:44 PM, Sgt. Pepper said:

If your LP has the PC board it is all done probably by the board where the pot is connected and goes thought the guitar to the top. I had a SG with a PC board, Ripped it out and wired it proper.  You need to check with a meter to see if you have good grounds on all your metal parts. 

And its new. It may be a hassle to deal with it over in Europe but there should be a warranty on it. 

+1    circuit boards are  happier in other things other  than Gtrs

[M. Moore]

Searching for info on this problem and came across your advice. Recently purchased a 2021 LP 50's model and the same exact thing is going on. opened it up and found nothing, zero, zip. everything points to a grounding issue but I see none. Brought it back to G.C. and of course the popping and crackling were almost none existing, figures right. But he took my word for it and pointed up all the solder connections and gave it a clean bill of health. I thought at first that the problem was solved, but it started again within a few minutes. I'm running clean through a 65 Twin and the longer its plugged in the more prevalent it is. Did all the trouble shooting, switched up guitars, changed cords, outlets, power strips even tightened up the light bulbs in the room LOL. Nothing made a difference. I absolutely love this guitar, it checks all the boxes. I did swap out the orange capacitors for bumblebees but honestly that just can't be it. Hearing about the Nitro finish possibly causing static issues was a first so I guess I need to be patient for a little while and hopefully it will die down. Honestly 9 out 10 people probably wouldn't even blink an eye over it and believe me it's not really a principle issue. Yes I paid top dollar for this LP and you would think those issues would be ironed. The reality is it's driving me F'n crazy!!!  Thanks for bringing it up, I feel better venting a bit.

[kidblast]

22 hours ago, M. Moore said:

Searching for info on this problem and came across your advice. Recently purchased a 2021 LP 50's model and the same exact thing is going on. opened it up and found nothing, zero, zip. everything points to a grounding issue but I see none. Brought it back to G.C. and of course the popping and crackling were almost none existing, figures right. But he took my word for it and pointed up all the solder connections and gave it a clean bill of health. I thought at first that the problem was solved, but it started again within a few minutes. I'm running clean through a 65 Twin and the longer its plugged in the more prevalent it is. Did all the trouble shooting, switched up guitars, changed cords, outlets, power strips even tightened up the light bulbs in the room LOL. Nothing made a difference. I absolutely love this guitar, it checks all the boxes. I did swap out the orange capacitors for bumblebees but honestly that just can't be it. Hearing about the Nitro finish possibly causing static issues was a first so I guess I need to be patient for a little while and hopefully it will die down. Honestly 9 out 10 people probably wouldn't even blink an eye over it and believe me it's not really a principle issue. Yes I paid top dollar for this LP and you would think those issues would be ironed. The reality is it's driving me F'n crazy!!!  Thanks for bringing it up, I feel better venting a bit.

I love all my LPs, SGs, and ES135, but that static when they were new was way beyond annoying.   They all do it to some degree, and yes... it will fade away. 

In the winter months, when it's really dry, it's definitely a bit more noticeable.

 Just something one learns to live with, like the 60 cyc hum on a single coil pickup.

I know many say it's unacceptable, but I've never seen a one that doesn't do it to some degree,, Nitro.. it is what it is.  

[Daniel V.]

Well, I have a brand new LP 60's (2021) and I have the same issue, humming that will be gone when I touch the strings...I was told that this is a design issue from the 60's and 50's and since Gibson replicated them with the same specs, we have the 'old issue; of humming.

Not sure if this is correct...I understand trying to replicate the old models, but replicate the problems, is not a good idea.

I sent email to Gibson support with a video showing the problem, still waiting for an answer, do I have to exchange the guitar (still in warranty) or just deal with the issue?

I have an Heritage guitar with Duncan pickups and they are super noiseless.. same amp, same cables, no noise with the Heritage one.

[Zippydog]

I know this is an old topic but I felt compelled to share my personal story about a guitar with static.

I purchased a new Original Collection '21 Les Paul Special in June. The LP was beautiful and felt and sounded great. It wasn’t perfect for a new git, it came with lots of light scratches on the back and the gloss nitro had some cloudy portions on the front and had a dent on the top of the neck just below the binding.

All that minor cosmetic stuff was not an issue. My main beef was that it had horrible horrible static when you ran your fretting hand up and down the neck when playing or just sitting still or if you ran your hand along the back of the body it had some outrageous loud pops that drove me freaking crazy. It wasn’t as bad when played clean, but step on the Overdrive, forget about playing it.

I tried everything under the sun, in different rooms, various amps, on hardwoods, carpeted, on cement floors outside under humid conditions, sprayed static guard on carpets and chairs nothing worked even the beloved never fail dryer sheet.

So I contacted Gibson and talked with their tech. He was sympathetic but really had no solution. He said that it could possibly go away in time but could not say when of course. I thought you know, it may never go,away because I had a lovely 2006 Gibson Studio that I sold three years ago that had bad static too but not as much as the LP Special plus,  there are countless stories on every guitar forum that talks about this.

I really liked this imperfect LP and thought that I would just ignore the bad static, you know just keep playing.
Last month, I got so pissed about having to deal with the static that I contacted my sales person and asked him what my options were at this point. He asked me to send it back to him. He talked to his tech and said they would shield the cavities for me with copper tape. I was stunned that Gibson would attempt this to solve the issue. I was actually thinking about doing my own shielding, but hey having Gibson do it for me sounded like a good plan so i packed her up and shipped it.

Two weeks later, he called me and said they were not going to shield it after all. The tech said that my guitar had the worse case of static that he had ever heard and no amount of shielding would ever help. Blamed the problem on a huge static charge that decided to stick like glue during the finishing stage.

Wow, I was bummed but pressed on.  My salesman said that he could give me a full refund or find me another LP Special. I told him I would think about this.  After a couple of days hashing over whether to keep it or get another, I finally decided to have him find me another one but make sure it’s static free please!

A week goes by and I get a call that he found another one for me but this would be a ‘22 model. He sent me some pictures and I thought it looked pretty good. It was a nice looking two piece body and had a very dark rosewood fretboard and his tech checked it for static and there was none so I said ok send it. 
Four days later it arrived.

Let me say it’s a happy ending.

This LP Special was flawless and it weighed a nice 8 pounds and it was a super resonant when strummed unplugged which to me was a very good sign. Even the case looked better! Had newer more square heavy duty latches and a locking key.

When I last spoke to my sales guy to thank him for finding this special Special, he ended our conversation by telling me that my original guitar will be destroyed, turned into firewood was his exact words.

I'm glad that I decided to swap.  All is good now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jx0R4Z1B30zflwz3-Z-_AUf5RBxUfeAX/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FJXEF2Cwu_nhHiXfspiHwSz72K67ud2s/view?usp=drivesdk

 

 

 

 

 

[kidblast]

On 8/18/2022 at 11:47 AM, Daniel V. said:

Well, I have a brand new LP 60's (2021) and I have the same issue, humming that will be gone when I touch the strings...I was told that this is a design issue from the 60's and 50's and since Gibson replicated them with the same specs, we have the 'old issue; of humming.

Not sure if this is correct...I understand trying to replicate the old models, but replicate the problems, is not a good idea.

I sent email to Gibson support with a video showing the problem, still waiting for an answer, do I have to exchange the guitar (still in warranty) or just deal with the issue?

I have an Heritage guitar with Duncan pickups and they are super noiseless.. same amp, same cables, no noise with the Heritage one.

unfortunate grounding issue.  the response you got from customer service is  disappointing.

if you know a good / trusted tech, they may have some ideas for you

this is how I fixed my 2002 Standard.  I have a 95 that didn't have the problem.

annoying...

[Tonne]

I just bought my first Gibson Les Paul and I'm having exactly the same problem. The hum when not touching the guitar is as loud as when I play it. But touching makes it almost dead quiet. Have contacted the store but no reply yet and also contacted an luthier that can take a look to see whats wrong.