Reducing electric guitar noise (foil, battery power, fabric softener sheets!)

[des0free]

I have been annoyed for a while with some noise / hum from all my electric guitars seemingly no matter what interface I used. A general hum that depends on the orientation of the guitar in the room and proximity of my hand to the pickups - I figure it is RF electrical noise pickup. Also there is a scratchy electrical noise only when I rub the pickguard with my fingers (which I tend to do when play), which I figure is static electricity caused by the rubbing.

I decided to try some things.  In retrospect, I probably should have tried the simplest steps first....

1. Completely line the inner "cavity" and the inside of the pickguard with foil, connected to the "ground" of the electronics and bridge.  I used 3M spray adhesive and regular kitchen aluminum foil.  See attached photo.  Was kind of a pain (~2 hours work for the first guitar, ~1 hour for the second one (Fenders with cavity under pickguard); didn't try to do the Gretsch Pro Jet since it has 3 rear cavity ports that are harder to access, though I put foil under the front pickguard though it isn't electrically connected to anything else...)

* This mod did help reduce noise, but didn't completely eliminate.  For one of the guitars (Fender mustang P90) it also nearly eliminated the "static" noise when I rub the pickguard, but for the other two (Fender Duosonic & Gretsch Pro Jet) it didn't help that.

2. I was testing the guitar thru a Zoom G1on modeling unit, plugged into a (cheap) 9v power supply.  Suddenly I thought maybe some of the noise not the guitar but power line noise in the unit - I should try powering the unit by battery.  Yes, this helped!  (but I think the foil shielding was still helping too)

3. Thinking about the "static electricity" noise when rubbing the pickguard, I suddenly thought: let me try rubbing one of those "anti-static sheets you put in your clothes dryer to reduce "static cling" against the pickguard.  Lo and behold the static noise was GONE!!!     (And now all my guitars now have a "Bounce - Outdoor Fresh" clean laundry scent as well...). I don't know how long this treatment will last, but for now I'm happy!

[TPB]

In the home studio there are a couple things that can make for noisy guitars the first if you are experiencing it on more than one guitar is dirty power  A power conditioner would help with this If you are noisy and then go to battery power and it is reduced or gone then it is your power.  In my studio fluorescents lights with  the ballast will create  interference  and cause a hum, Last but not least some guitars are noisy (Strats) and this is  due to the pickups interfering with each other they can be  coil tapped and modified to reduce noise this noise is usually a hum  that goes away if you put your hand on the strings
Good Luck Tim