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I'm getting a lot of noise from my guitar when hooked up to my Mbox 2 mini from time to time. I live in a condo. and am thinking it has to do when a neighbor turns on a light or something of that nature later in the day. I have a mic hooked up as well and it doesn't pick up the frequency noise at all. It's crystal clear. To test a theory, I hooked up my guitar to the Mbox with a XLR jack and got noise as well. The guitar hooked up to it is a Taylor 614ce acoustic. When I touch the metal at the jack going into the guitar, the noise goes away. Also, if I touch the top of the Mbox the noise goes away. This leads me to think that it's a ground problem. Could it be a simple fix by getting a better shielded (and overly expensive) cable? Or is it something guitar-related that needs attention.

After doing a lengthy Google search, I found a temporary fix. Since it is most likely a ground issue I am having, it is suggested that I attached an alligator clip to the 1/4 jack into the guitar lead by a ground wire to something metal, such as my belt clip. I'm not totally enthusiastic about being wired-up but I guess a fix is a fix.

Does the noise go away if you touch the guitar strings?

Regardless of that, the problem is RFI - if you have any halfway decent guitar cable that won't be the problem.

You could wrap yourself, the guitar, and the MBOX with aluminum foil and ground the whole thing to a water pipe.

Although, you probably just need to make sure your guitar is properly shielded (Google it), there are no loose connections inside the guitar, and also your pick-ups should be of good quality.

One important thing: If the sound DOES stop after touching your strings, the strings/bridge need to be grounded. There is usually a wire that goes from the back of the volume pot through a hole and under the bridge.

That's all I got.

Have you tried using a di box?

Yeah I was going to suggest that as well, converting it to low impedance via DI Box usually fixes all my noise issues with 1/4 cables.

if you whip a old guitar string around the headstock of your guitar, and attatch the other end to a spoon and slip it into your sock, it should work