1962 Fender Jazz advice needed

[Rocky72]

I've owned a 1962 Jazz since 1985... the only bass I currently own. It's been basically untouched all that time, and I guess pretty much original. I am now playing with two acoustic guitarists. The problem is the hum. It's not too bad through any amp alone, but put it into the PA and it gets a lot worse. Some places we play are of course worse than others. I figure to bring it in somewhere for a general setup, but am a little reluctant to change the pickups. Anyone ever solve this problem? My bandmates are getting slightly annoyed.

[Turnaround]

There are some folks out there that claim to be able to nearly silence the noise from single-coil pickups with proper shielding and star-grounding. Others say it doesn't help.

I have shielded a Jazz bass and a Stratocaster, both known for noise when a single pickup was selected. The results were quite amazing - noise was substantially reduced. But you have to do the shielding and rewire for star-grounding. Doing just one or the other doesn't provide significant gains IMO. You should be able to do this with the original pickups just fine.

[Rocky72]

thanks for the quick turnaround on my question. I'm not familiar with star-grounding but I'll bring it up with the tech.

Rocky

[Turnaround]

Originally Posted by Rocky72

thanks for the quick turnaround on my question. I'm not familiar with star-grounding but I'll bring it up with the tech.

Rocky

Check out GuitarNuts.com for some pretty good articles on shielding and wiring for hum reduction.

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/index.php

The site deals with Stratocaster guitars speicifically, but the principles are universal.

[KeithPas]

I would not do anything to mod a 62 Jazz, it is just too valuable as it is. Why not get a second mid priced bass to do the acoustic gig with?

[Philbiker]

Originally Posted by KeithPas

I would not do anything to mod a 62 Jazz, it is just too valuable as it is. Why not get a second mid priced bass to do the acoustic gig with?

+ 10 zillion and a half! You can get something for under $400 that is very good quality and will be silent, used Peaveys are an incredible bargain. Don't TOUCH the bass you own unless it's already modified.

You are aware of the 60 cycle hum from single coil pickups, right? On the jazz bass, if you play the bass with both pickup volume controls all the way up, it should be silent.

[Rocky72]

Thought I'd let anyone interested know how this turned out.
Seems one pickup was wired backwards and the bridge was never grounded. I guess that explains why when I turned up both volumes all the way the hum never changed. Must have been made on a Friday afternoon. Anyway it's a lot quieter now.

[KeithPas]

Good to see that you have solved that problem without modding that bass. Thanks for the update.