Popping noise when I play

Eric Bergman · Post by **Eric Bergman** » 2 Feb 2011 10:37 am

Just bought a fender s-10(sho-bud) and when I get close to it with the bar it pops and crackles through the amp! As a newbie I haven't a clue what it might be. Any suggestions? Thanks Eric

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 2 Feb 2011 3:32 pm

that's pretty wierd. eric, are you saying it makes noise when you are playing or when you touch the strings with the bar or when the bar is near the guitar but not touching the strings or when you are playing with the bar on the strings near the pickup or what?

Roger Kelly · Post by **Roger Kelly** » 2 Feb 2011 6:19 pm

You might make sure that your guitar cords are not the problem by substituting known good ones. Sometimes a loose/broken ground wire can cause that type of a problem.
Have you tried another instrument through the amp to make sure it's not the amp?

By the way Eric, welcome to the forum. I'm sure others will have some good ideas for you to try too.

Bobby D. Jones · Post by **Bobby D. Jones** » 2 Feb 2011 11:55 pm

Use a volt meter to check for a short in guitar or amp. Let me ask you this. Do you get shocked when you touch the sink, stove, in the kitchen, when you go to turn the water on in the bathroom. Or turn a light on in the house. Walk to your steel sit on your seat at night. Have someone turn off the lights in the room. Now lay the bar on the strings and watch close. Do you see a small Blue-White spark. Getup and walk away come back set down try this 2 or three times. With cold weather and the humity getting low in the house, Static Eletricity will cause this. Certain clothes and shoes will cause this on carpet. I have one pair of house slippers(Retired) In the winter I could reach for the light switch in my bedroom, a spark would go to one of the cover screws. My Smoke Detector will make a squack. I wore a wool-polester blend uniform. If I slid out of one of the cars I drove in the night you could see a spark when I put the key in the steel basement door to get in the house. Good Luck and Happy steelin

Ron Scott · Post by **Ron Scott** » 3 Feb 2011 11:32 am

Any chance you might be touching the pickup with the tip of your medal picks when playing. Sometimes the picks touch the fret board or if you are too close to the pickup it touches it.RS

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 3 Feb 2011 1:02 pm

when I get close to it with the bar it pops and crackles through the amp!

What is the "IT" you're referring to, is it the pickup, or what egg-zactly is "It" ?

You see the problem ? what you imply is when you get close to the guitar,

Just bought a fender s-10(sho-bud) and when I get close to it

I'm afraid that to play the "Guitar you just bought" you WILL need to get VERY close to it !!

FWIW-You're probably pushing the bass string (the fattest one) on to the pickup pole-pieces with the heel of your palm..IMHO

Kenny Brown · Post by **Kenny Brown** » 3 Feb 2011 5:20 pm

plug your guitar directly into your amp & see if the same thing happens. if not then check all your cables & your volume pedal...could be the volume pot taking a dive.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 3 Feb 2011 6:38 pm

Is your amplifier properly grounded? Are your strings properly grounded to the outside of the plug?

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 3 Feb 2011 7:40 pm

It's very difficult to diagnose the problem when the OP doesn't respond to clarification requests, in fact he hasn't posted since the question was posed.

Eric Bergman · Post by **Eric Bergman** » 4 Feb 2011 5:13 am

Thanks for all your suggestions but still can't figure out where the noise is from. Once again when I walk up to get "close" to the guitar without even touching it "the guitar" it starts getting a static type of noise out of amp. As I step away the static scratch quits. Could it need a new pickup? My cords are new, tried directly into amp, checked string grounds. Help! Thanks again Eric

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 4 Feb 2011 7:15 am

Do you have a pacemaker or some other sort of surgically implanted device?

Cell phone in your pocket?

Any other type of electronic device you normally carry...like one of those "help" buttons you can hang around your neck?

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 4 Feb 2011 1:58 pm

It's your brain waves Dude! Chill out! 8^)

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 4 Feb 2011 3:28 pm

Maybe you have a build-up of static electricity from your clothes, your rug, etc.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 4 Feb 2011 3:35 pm

every 26,000 years when nibiru comes back around our magnetic-electro- flux becomes all skewgee and things like this happen.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 5 Feb 2011 10:02 am

chris ivey wrote:Every 26,000 years, when Nibiru comes back around, our magnetic-electro-flux becomes all skewgee and things like this happen.

No doubt the steel guitarists from 26,000 years ago had the same problem. Maybe we should be looking in caves for wall-drawings made at the time.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 5 Feb 2011 7:49 pm

cell phone.

The Steel Guitar Forum