Static sound coming from Pedals and Levers

[Harvey Valdes]

Hey All,

My first post in the forum. I wanted to see if anyone has come across a similar issue.

When my foot lightly touches any of the pedals before pressing them down, I hear a static crackling sound coming through my amp.It also happens when my knees touch the knee levers before engaging them. Funny thing is, when I play without using the pedals or levers, there’s no static crackle sound coming through. its very clean.
I have checked the pickup, ground wires, solder joints, jack, all is solid. no issues there. I have bypassed my volume pedal and tried going directly from guitar to amp, and the issue is still there.

Its pretty frustrating because I can’t get a clean sound when using pedals/levers without hearing all this static crackling coming through when I’m playing.

Could it be static electricity buildup?

Thanks so much!

H

[Scott Swartz]

It could be static electricity building up, I have fixed this issue with a ground wire as in this pic on knee levers on a couple different steels.

You can test which lever it is with an alligator clip lead, and/or check the resistance of the pedals/levers to ground with a meter. It will not be zero but it should be low say 200 ohms or less.

[Harvey Valdes]

It could be static electricity building up, I have fixed this issue with a ground wire as in this pic on knee levers a couple of times.

You can test which lever it is with an alligator clip lead.

Oh, Hey Scott!

Thanks for your reply.
Looks like a simple solution. But, there’s static electricity on all my pedals and levers.
Would that mean I would have to ground every pedal and lever to the jack???
Or, would grounding only one of them solve the problem?
In your pic, the ground next to the lever, metal on metal contact is that right?

[Scott Swartz]

Yes the green wire with a solder eye lug is clamped under the lever mounting screw to make the ground and then the wire runs to the output jack ground.

Since you are having the issue with all pedals and levers, I would check the resistances of each. I have never seen this on pedals.

I am also wondering about the AC power. Does it happen in all locations, ie home vs a practice space or different room. Seemingly since it clean when playing no pedal that would eliminate the amp and the AC power.

The grounding of the changer/strings could theoretically be an issue but again if its working non pedal that would seemingly eliminate that also.

[Bobby D. Jones]

In low humidity dry air situations, Furnace use or air conditioning use. Some rug fibers, Naga-Hyde's, Synthetic clothes and certain shoe sole materials will cause static electricity to build up by moving, Walking or sliding on the materials.

Wood, Plastic cross rod bushings will not ground metal working parts in the guitar properly.

As Scott Swartz posted, A piece of wire with alligator clips moved from place to place to find problem, And ground wires installed, Is the easiest way to eliminate sparks and shocks.

[Harvey Valdes]

As Scott Swartz posted, A piece of wire with alligator clips moved from place to place to find problem, And ground wires installed, Is the easiest way to eliminate sparks and shocks.

Thanks, Bobby.
Sounds like this would be the best solution.
I can understand one or two pedals/levers with this approach. But,I am having the problem on every pedal and knee lever. Trying to wrap my head around installing ground wires on every pedal and lever(rods in the undercarriage), and soldering them to the output jack. Is this essentially the way to go?

[Harvey Valdes]

Update

Took the guitar to my tech. He noticed that the frame where the legs are screwed into, was powder coated and not making direct contact with the metal on the guitar. He just scratched off a bit off the power coat to make contact with metal and the issue was solved.
Btw, the guitar is a Mullen Discovery.

Thanks again, Scott and Bobby, for your suggestions.

[Henry Schuellerman]

Harvey- I have been having this same issue lately (playing a GFI student model). I'm trying to record for a friend's song and can't get a clean track without that static noise. I thought it was my volume pedal so I impulse purchased a new Moyo volume pedal. It's on the way, but I just plugged direct into my amp and the static didn't go away (I needed to upgrade my VP soon anyways).

The winter air in Ohio has been very dry lately so I'm sure that's contributing to the static issue. Going to see if the leg trick you mentioned works for me.