Fender Jaguar Modern Player Noise?

utnut1 · #1 11-19-2012, 06:46 AM

Hello, this is my first post, but I read through this forum quite often. Hopefully I've posted this in the correct section. I recently purchased a new Fender Jaguar Modern Player (MP) bass online. I was thrilled with the quality of construction as far as the body and neck. And, I love the overall sound...a very good Fender P-bass sound. However, I've noticed two issues:

1) I hear a little line noise/hum with the J-pup turned up all of the way. Maybe this is just standard with the J pup and/or guitar? This is not a huge concern, but I would like to know if this is common for this guitar.

2) The bigger issue...I hear alot of what seems to be unshielded hum from the tone control. The more I turned it up, the more pronounced. I say unshielded because as long as I have two hands on the strings (or left hand on strings and right hand resting on the bridge), the noise goes away. This would probably not be noticed when playing live, but it is very pronounced and a bit annoying when playing solo, as you can hear the hum/static coming in and out as my hands come off the strings. I'm not sure I'd want to record with it either because of this. I have tried different guitar cords and amps, to no avail. The only thing I have not tried is a different electric A/C circuit. I suppose my house electricity could be the culprit (although my active Ibanez bass with humbuckers does not have this problem). Does anyone else have this guitar? Have you experienced the same thing? I really love this guitar and I want to keep it. But, I would like to know if I need to return for exchange/repair. If this is standard, I would not mind modding it slightly to get rid of the hum.

Finally, let me say that I am not really familiar with the behavior of Fender non-active basses (P or J pups). So, I don't know what noises/behavior are "standard" and I'm not familiar with common Fender issues. I have read about some shielding issues with Fender Jazz basses (and some solutions), and maybe this is related? I guess I would just like to know if this a defect or a common occurance, and possible solutions.

Thank you!

SGD Lutherie · #2 11-19-2012, 07:30 AM

The J is a single coil, so it will hum. The P is a humbucker. To get rid of that noise you need a hum canceling J at the bridge.

The other noise is due to lack of shielding. You can also fix that with some copper foil and a little work.

utnut1 · #3 11-19-2012, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

The J is a single coil, so it will hum. The P is a humbucker. To get rid of that noise you need a hum canceling J at the bridge.

The other noise is due to lack of shielding. You can also fix that with some copper foil and a little work.

Okay, so it sounds like you are saying that this is somewhat typical and I can search this forum for J-pup mods and/or grounding issues to fix this. Am I tracking?

KeithPas · #4 11-19-2012, 07:54 AM

I wonder if the grounding wire is making contact with the under side of the bridge.

utnut1 · #5 11-19-2012, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KeithPas

I wonder if the grounding wire is making contact with the under side of the bridge.

While I'm not a complete novice with electronics, I'm not sure I want to poke around too much on a brand new guitar still under warranty. Maybe worthwhile to take to my local Fender-certified electronics guy. I thought I would get some opinions on this forum first. Thanks!

Bobster · #6 11-19-2012, 08:05 AM

I put a DiMarzio DP148 humbucking Jazz pickup in mine. It got rid of the hum and is a better match for the stock P pickup. http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/bass...ra-jazz-bridge

All the best,

Bob

utnut1 · #7 11-19-2012, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobster

I put a DiMarzio DP148 humbucking Jazz pickup in mine. It got rid of the hum and is a better match for the stock P pickup. http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/bass...ra-jazz-bridge

All the best,

Bob

Thank you. I'm curious, did you have the noise problem with the tone control as well? I'm wondering if the noise from the J and noise from the tone are related. I can turn the J pup all the way down, and I still get noise with the tone and P pup turned up.

BassFuzz24 · #8 11-19-2012, 08:13 AM

That hum is pretty typical of many fender jags. The cavity just needs to be shielded with some inexpensive copper foil tape. There's a nice step-by-step instruction by fellow TB'er "ashtray" on the 35th post in this thread:

Dang Noisy Jaguar!!!

Hope that helps!

utnut1 · #9 11-19-2012, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassFuzz24

That hum is pretty typical of many fender jags. The cavity just needs to be shielded with some inexpensive copper foil tape. There's a nice step-by-step instruction by fellow TB'er "ashtray" on the 35th post in this thread:

Dang Noisy Jaguar!!!

Hope that helps!

Cool. While mine is the MP and not a standard Jag, that still looks to be the exact issue I'm having -- shielding. I will try that first (or have my local Fender guy do it), and see what happens. And then perhaps will consider new J pup too. Thank you so much.

Bobster · #10 11-19-2012, 08:27 AM

utnut1,

With all my basses, I shield the electronics compartment with a carbon or aquadag paint, like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hum-Bugger-C...item35ba327d34 The results of this are similar to copper shielding.

Between those two actions it made the bass very quiet. This is with the stock pots.

I also like concentric Jazz setups, and later I changed my controls to that layout. It continues to be a quiet bass.

Bob

utnut1 · #11 11-19-2012, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobster

utnut1,

With all my basses, I shield the electronics compartment with a carbon or aquadag paint, like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hum-Bugger-C...item35ba327d34 The results of this are similar to copper shielding.

Between those two actions it made the bass very quiet. This is with the stock pots.

I also like concentric Jazz setups, and later I changed my controls to that layout. It continues to be a quiet bass.

Bob

Thanks Bob! I'm sure with a little shielding of some sort (as mentioned by you and others), mine can be hushed!

SGD Lutherie · #12 11-19-2012, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by utnut1

Thank you. I'm curious, did you have the noise problem with the tone control as well? I'm wondering if the noise from the J and noise from the tone are related. I can turn the J pup all the way down, and I still get noise with the tone and P pup turned up.

You don't have noise problems with the tone control. What is happening is when you turn the tone down you are filtering out the buzz, so you don't hear it. The tone control is passive. It can't make any noise. It just removes treble frequencies.

utnut1 · #13 11-20-2012, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

You don't have noise problems with the tone control. What is happening is when you turn the tone down you are filtering out the buzz, so you don't hear it. The tone control is passive. It can't make any noise. It just removes treble frequencies.

Okay, yes that makes sense. Noise goes away when I cut the treble on both amps I'm using as well.