Noisy Bass

[bassbully]

I have an 84' SQ MIJ bullet that is ticking me off. It was quiet when I bought it but now its unplayable to to buzzing. It started after I adjusted one of the pups (mustang type humbuckers) and added tapewounds. I figured its the tape wounds and took then off..no help. I then thought it was the volume pot since it made the buzzing worse if I turned it full open..changed it..nope. I tried shielding it but ran out of tape but the job was decent...nope. I pulled the bridge all is ok ..good contact. I even soldered a ground wire from the jacks ground lug to the sheilding..no help.

I am giving up ..any ideas? its a simple bass circuit. I thought of just gutting it and starting over new wire, pots, jack or take it to a shop I know of. Could it be the pups..I'm wondering but the bass sounds great except for a very loud humming and buzz. Thanks.

[BGF]

Take it to the shop you know of. Hopefully, they can test out the pickups as the problem started when you adjusted one of them. Could be just a loose wire at the pickup.

Good luck!

[bassbully]

Originally Posted by BGF

Take it to the shop you know of. Hopefully, they can test out the pickups as the problem started when you adjusted one of them. Could be just a loose wire at the pickup.

Good luck!

Yea, I looked at the connections on the pups and they look good...?

[bassbully]

I thought I would pass this on although I doubt few care. I thought this might help someone else with his issue.

I finally fixed this bass. After sheilding it and all with no effect on the hum/buzz. I soldered a wire from the shielding tape itself to the lug on the jack where the bridge grounding wire was attached...done!

I had heard of star grounding a bass or something like this with a screw and all ground wires connected before when it just hit me. The bridge reduced the buzz when touched so follow the bridge lead and attach a gound wire to it at the jack lug. I am a happy camper now

[PlungerModerno]

Originally Posted by bassbully

I thought I would pass this on although I doubt few care. I thought this might help someone else with his issue.

I finally fixed this bass. After sheilding it and all with no effect on the hum/buzz. I soldered a wire from the shielding tape itself to the lug on the jack where the bridge grounding wire was attached...done!

I had heard of star grounding a bass or something like this with a screw and all ground wires connected before when it just hit me. The bridge reduced the buzz when touched so follow the bridge lead and attach a gound wire to it at the jack lug. I am a happy camper now

Happy news, It's great to get an old favourite back to serious playing condition!

[bassbully]

Originally Posted by PlungerModerno

Happy news, It's great to get an old favourite back to serious playing condition!

Thanks! This old Squier has a sick maple neck on it with rolled edges ..really fast. Even thou it has Mustang type pups it has a cool tone that cuts thru and will come in handy in my new rock band.

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by bassbully

I finally fixed this bass. After sheilding it and all with no effect on the hum/buzz. I soldered a wire from the shielding tape itself to the lug on the jack where the bridge grounding wire was attached...done!

Yup, that's a basic ground connection that should be present on every bass. If the bridge isn't grounded, it's buzz waiting to happen.

[bassbully]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

Yup, that's a basic ground connection that should be present on every bass. If the bridge isn't grounded, it's buzz waiting to happen.

Well there is the issue and the reason for my post. The bridge ground was fine ...well connected and good contact to the bridge. I have worked on guitars and basses for years and this one stumped me.

I raised the pups a few months ago and tried tapewounds for the first time. I always thought it was the tapewounds which I never dug and took them off. It still buzzed like crazy with reg chromes on her. So I shielded it, even changed out the volume pot thinking it was bad...BUZZZZ is all I got.

I had shielded a few basses before including a very noisy SX years ago and it worked...not this time. I posted here and figured I jacked up the pups and was going to take it to a shop. I was lost.

Last night I got angry wondering WTH? So I said if the bridge when touched and properly grounded stops all humming then I should trace the wire from the bridge to the jack. From there I attached a wire (jack) and soldered the other end of the wire to the shielding tape and .."poof" no more buzz = a happy camper and bassist.