Bad humming les Paul bass

[mr.mow]

But it stops if I turn one of the pickups upside down?!

Ok, my new lp bass hums badly, as much as my single coil guitars, as you move around the room it comes and goes.. Bit mainly comes.

Checked bridge ground, it's ok.. All the wiring looks ok, touching metal parts does nothing however.

So, I wanted to check the pickups, found by turning one upside down (poles facing down) the hum stops dead.. Could I have a faulty pickup? Could it be one is wound the wrong way?

[Stealth]

More likely that it's both wound wrong and magnetically wrong.

Try flipping the bar magnet on the underside and swap the leads. Should fix it right up.

[mr.mow]

Originally Posted by Stealth

More likely that it's both wound wrong and magnetically wrong.

Try flipping the bar magnet on the underside and swap the leads. Should fix it right up.

Magnets are all epoxied in unfortunately..

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Stealth

More likely that it's both wound wrong and magnetically wrong.

Try flipping the bar magnet on the underside and swap the leads. Should fix it right up.

They are humbuckers, so it shouldn't matter how they are wound. Also humbuckers have both coils wound in the same direction, but wired up in reverse.

If he could flip the magnet, it would put the two pickups out of phase.

It sounds like a defective pickup where one coil stopped working. That doesn't make sense if the two coils are wired in series however.

Do the pickups have 4 conductor wiring, or just two?

Flipping the pickup over reverses the direction the coil is wound in, but that wouldn't make sense since it's a humbucker. The other pickup would have to be a single coil. It's more likely it's defective and maybe turning it over flexes the wire and makes it work right.

If the bass is new I'd either return it for a new one or send it in for warranty and get a new pickup.

[mr.mow]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

They are humbuckers, so it shouldn't matter how they are wound. Also humbuckers have both coils wound in the same direction, but wired up in reverse.

If he could flip the magnet, it would put the two pickups out of phase.

It sounds like a defective pickup where one coil stopped working. That doesn't make sense if the two coils are wired in series however.

Do the pickups have 4 conductor wiring, or just two?

Flipping the pickup over reverses the direction the coil is wound in, but that wouldn't make sense since it's a humbucker. The other pickup would have to be a single coil. It's more likely it's defective and maybe turning it over flexes the wire and makes it work right.

If the bass is new I'd either return it for a new one or send it in for warranty and get a new pickup.

Just standard 2 conductor Gibson pickups.. Flipping either pickup makes it go silent.. It's an odd one! It was humming louder than our guitarists tele the other night it's that bad.

It is new, but a model that's been discontinued for about 5 or so years, here's hoping Gibson actually hold stock!

[BigOldHarry]

A good buddy of mine runs a local Gibson repair center here in San Diego... He doesn't have ANYTHING good to say about Gibson's production QA - - he does a ton of warranty work for unhappy Gibson customers, with a great deal of it being... Wiring / electroncs issues.

[mr.mow]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

A good buddy of mine runs a local Gibson repair center here in San Diego... He doesn't have ANYTHING good to say about Gibson's production QA - - he does a ton of warranty work for unhappy Gibson customers, with a great deal of it being... Wiring / electroncs issues.

Part of me is hoping they no longer have the pickups so I wrangle a discount deal and just buy some fralins!!

The wiring in it IS terrible, really low grade soldering.. I'm actually somewhat shocked, the bass is awesome otherwise.

[SGD Lutherie]

I agree with Harry, Gibson's quality is really getting bad.

Gibson can't seem to get basses right. That's a shame too.

Are those regular humbucker sized pickups?

I recently did a set of my neo pickups in chrome covers for someone with an LP bass. His had Bartolinis, and the reason he wanted new pickups was the bass was very noisy. It's quiet now.

[BigOldHarry]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

I agree with Harry, Gibson's quality is really getting bad.

Gibson can't seem to get basses right. That's a shame too.

Are those regular humbucker sized pickups?

I recently did a set of my neo pickups in chrome covers for someone with an LP bass. His had Bartolinis, and the reason he wanted new pickups was the bass was very noisy. It's quiet now.

I know some folks will argue this, but I've always thought Gibson basses were a sad echo of their guitars... Sure, they hit on something with the T-bird, but the rest are curiosities and novelties...

But something I think we can all agree with that it is a crying shame that a real, honest-to-God US company like Gibson, which such a great brand name, is turning out what appears to be the worst products in company history - - and they don't have a good excuse like Fender did under the CBS reign of terror...

[mr.mow]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

I agree with Harry, Gibson's quality is really getting bad.

Gibson can't seem to get basses right. That's a shame too.

Are those regular humbucker sized pickups?

I recently did a set of my neo pickups in chrome covers for someone with an LP bass. His had Bartolinis, and the reason he wanted new pickups was the bass was very noisy. It's quiet now.

Ooh.. Nice! Yes, the same size.. Neo pickups are they more 'alnicoish' or ceramicish? Vintagey is more my thing.. Can you pm me with an idea of price?

Otherwise it's fralins at $300 a set or sd hawkbuckers..

[mr.mow]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

I know some folks will argue this, but I've always thought Gibson basses were a sad echo of their guitars... Sure, they hit on something with the T-bird, but the rest are curiosities and novelties...

But something I think we can all agree with that it is a crying shame that a real, honest-to-God US company like Gibson, which such a great brand name, is turning out what appears to be the worst products in company history - - and they don't have a good excuse like Fender did under the CBS reign of terror...

Having said that, the lp bass is an absolute joy to play, gibsons do have that 'something', not to mention the 'whoa, a les Paul bass?!' comments I get!

I love Gibson necks, not sure what it is about them, les Paul, thunderbirds.. Just love the necks.

[BigOldHarry]

Originally Posted by mr.mow

Having said that, the lp bass is an absolute joy to play, gibsons do have that 'something', not to mention the 'whoa, a les Paul bass?!' comments I get!

I love Gibson necks, not sure what it is about them, les Paul, thunderbirds.. Just love the necks.

Well, that's very cool - Pity they didn't think to ship it to you with working electronics... Sad. Just sad.

Well, suck it up and upgrade the p'ups and be a happy guy. It's sort of like it was with Fenders back when I started out - crappy Fender electronics made for a cottage industry of new companies (DiMarzio/Lawrence/Duncan/etc).

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by mr.mow

Ooh.. Nice! Yes, the same size.. Neo pickups are they more 'alnicoish' or ceramicish?

Neos are very warm sounding, and have a nice textured midrange. They are bright too, so it's like ceramic meets alnico.

How's this for vintage type tone?

Five Year Grove

PM sent.

[mr.mow]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

Well, that's very cool - Pity they didn't think to ship it to you with working electronics... Sad. Just sad.

Well, suck it up and upgrade the p'ups and be a happy guy. It's sort of like it was with Fenders back when I started out - crappy Fender electronics made for a cottage industry of new companies (DiMarzio/Lawrence/Duncan/etc).

Well.. I did get 65% off rrp so I'm not complaining too much

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

It's sort of like it was with Fenders back when I started out - crappy Fender electronics made for a cottage industry of new companies (DiMarzio/Lawrence/Duncan/etc).

Yeah, me too! I remember I wanted to add a P bass pickup to my Rick, so I had to get a real Fender pickup. later on I upgraded it to a Model P. Everyone and their mother was using those.

Then I bought one of these for the bridge position in 1977:



That's a great little pickup.

[mr.mow]

An update..

Took the bass into the dealer (also the importer here), played it back to back with another LP bass they had..

we're CONVINCED these pickups are single coils.. nothing else explains the way these sound.. point them towards an energy source (light etc) and hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm, point it away.. quiet..

The other LP was exactly the same, the Ripper bass they had was dead silent..

Faulty batch of pups or as we suspect.. single coils?

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by mr.mow

The other LP was exactly the same, the Ripper bass they had was dead silent..

The Ripper pickups are "sidewinder" humbuckers. The originals were designed by Bill Lawrence. The new ones are made by Duncan.

[mr.mow]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

The Ripper pickups are "sidewinder" humbuckers. The originals were designed by Bill Lawrence. The new ones are made by Duncan.

I see..

But strange yes that the Les Paul ones appear to be single coils when they were advertised as 'TB+ Humbuckers'..

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by mr.mow

I see..

But strange yes that the Les Paul ones appear to be single coils when they were advertised as 'TB+ Humbuckers'..

They might be poorly designed or have been a run of defective pickups.