RE: Electric Guitar - fix for static noise?

["Goddard, Duncan" <goddard.duncan@mtvne.com>]

>>I have a wonderful Stratocaster, but whenever I briefly touch the  
pick guard with my right hands pinky (which happens all the time when  
you play) a small amount of static power is built up and creates an  
unpleasant audio artifact.<<

hmmm..... I've never heard a strat do this. me & my guitarist have about 
two dozen between us. what's this pickguard made of, chromed steel or 
something? :-) are you playing with velvet gloves on while sliding up & 
down a perspex pole?

ahem.

you might want to try some self-adhesive foil on the underside of it, & 
ground this through the output jack. a lot of fender pickguards already 
have this stuff on them, & it's also found in many guitar control cavities 
& under pickups. your local luthier or guitar tech should be able to 
supply something suitable. usually, the foil finds it's way to ground via 
the chassis of one or more of the control pots which are fastened through 
the foil.

if that doesn't fix it, get an antistatic wristband from y'r local 
computer shop & figure out a way to wear it while you are playing, with 
the ground lead attached to the bridge/tailpiece or some other way to the 
guitar's ground connection.

I often have trouble with clicks & buzzes from my basses- mainly a buzzing 
that goes away when I touch the strings. this is because I am picking up 
EM myself (acting as an aerial, in other words) & the pickups pick this 
up. I stop being an aerial when I am grounded by the guitar. the 
antistatic wrist-strap thing works for me, whenever this issue is critical 
(i.e. in the studio). on-stage, I ignore it.

d.