Crackling Noise while Playing Epi Les Paul

[bobkarp]

I have a '56 Epi Gold Top Reissue. It has all new parts installed including upgraded P90's. I notice a crackling sound while playing. I even notice this noise if playing string muted. It usually will only be a single cracking sound but is very repeatable. It seems to get worse the longer the amp/guitar is on. I have tried multiple amps and cables, no joy. I have inspected the solder joints and reflowed several just to make sure. It does it on all pickup switch selector settings. I have run the pots up and down and still the noise persists.

Any thoughts or suggestions are most appreciated! Thanks!

[Musenfreund]

Could it be that you just need to clean the sockets for the jacks?

[bobkarp]

I've been through all the parts make sure they're clean. Actually all the parts are brand new but I have still gone through them. Still fighting the problem though. Could it possibly be one of the tone caps causing the problem? Thanks for the reply.

[s1120]

Did it crackle before all the new parts? If not,its a bad new part,or a bad connection. Not a lot to go bad really. If it did it before you need to look at what wasn't changed. A cap, a pot, a length of wire or two.

All look to the simple stuff. Is the cord bad? Amp issues?

[imalone]

What does the crackling sound like? Is there anything which makes it better? Worse? Is it while playing a note, holding the guitar or all the time? I got a bit of crackling after a recent upgrade which has now gone away, supposedly cleaning the scratchplate (I took the opportunity to really clean everything) can cause static to build up. Does your epi have a pick-guard?

[bobkarp]

I know it's not the cord or amp, have tried multiple ones and not eliminated the sound. It does sound as if it could be a static discharge. The guitar does have a pickguard, I've read about the static thing and using dryer sheets, haven't had a chance to do that yet but plan to this weekend. The sound does seem to get more noticable and more frequent after the guitar has been plugged in with the amp on for a time. It only occurs when striking the strings and as weird as this sound seems to be related to my left-hand placement on the fret board.

[bobkarp]

Problem solved. It did turn out to be static in the pick guard. I almost don't believe it but I found by rubbing my finger on the guard I could create the crackling noise. A wipe down with an anti-static dryer sheet solved the problem. Thanks for all the replies.

[s1120]

Could the ground wire have been left off when the mods were done? Maybe pulled loose from the bridge end when wires were moved around for the pickup swap?

[bobkarp]

I did not replace the bridge components and there was a wire coming from the bridge that I did terminate to ground in the control cavity. I do plan to make sure that ground wire is making solid contact with the bridge. I'll post what I find once I have a chance to check it, could be a few days. Thanks again for all the input.