Electric guitar making staticy noise and sound keeps going out?

Question

I have an Ibanez Electric guitar that I received almost new. I also have an acoustic/electric guitar. When I plug my Ibanez in my amp, it plays fine for a few seconds, but then makes a crackly, staticky, sound and the sound keeps going from normal, to mellow or silence. When I plug in my acoustic/electric guitar, it has no problems whatsoever. Do you know whats wrong with my electric guitar? It used to play normally. Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

You've probably got a dirty jack on your Ibanez. That's easy to fix. Unplug it, dip a cotton swab in some rubbing alcohol (don't soak it, a quick dip will do) and swab the inside of the jack, especially the metal "tongue" in the middle (you may have to hold it up to the light to see this). Give it a little while to dry and plug it in again. And make sure the jack's not loose. It could also be dirty/corroded controls or pickup switch, but that's less likely.

In the worst case scenario, you might have a seriously corroded part in there that a simple cleaning won't correct (jack, control pot, pickup switch) but they don't cost very much to replace.