I get static/noise when I rest my thumb on a pickup

[jscomposer]

"So don't rest your thumb on the pickup!"

Everything's wired correctly. (I believe!) My bass is dead quiet, even when I crank the volume and/or gain. But when I rest my thumb on one of the pickups, I hear a hum/static/noise. It only happens with the currently selected pickup--so if I've selected bridge, I'll get the noise when touching the bridge but not the neck pickup.

I also tried this on my guitar, and lo and behold, same thing. Except I don't rest my thumb on the pickups so it's never an issue!

FWIW, I'm using Q-tuners. Is this issue less noticeable with covered pickups like Bartolinis and a few Duncans? Although, even when I'm not touching the actual coils, I still get a little noise, but it's louder when I touch the actual coils. (I don't rest my thumb on the coils, I'm just sayin'.)

Or is resting your thumb on the pickup a n00b technique?

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by jscomposer

"So don't rest your thumb on the pickup!"

Everything's wired correctly. (I believe!) My bass is dead quiet, even when I crank the volume and/or gain. But when I rest my thumb on one of the pickups, I hear a hum/static/noise. It only happens with the currently selected pickup--so if I've selected bridge, I'll get the noise when touching the bridge but not the neck pickup.

I also tried this on my guitar, and lo and behold, same thing. Except I don't rest my thumb on the pickups so it's never an issue!

FWIW, I'm using Q-tuners. Is this issue less noticeable with covered pickups like Bartolinis and a few Duncans? Although, even when I'm not touching the actual coils, I still get a little noise, but it's louder when I touch the actual coils. (I don't rest my thumb on the coils, I'm just sayin'.)

Or is resting your thumb on the pickup a n00b technique?

Well it's the standard thing depending on your pickup. Think about it. Here is this coil of very fine high resistance wire (in the pickup). One end is grounded. If you touch the coil near that end nothing happens. The other end however is going to a high gain preamp in either the bass or head. You touch that end or even get near those wires and it's just like touching the tip of your guitar cord when it's not plugged into a bass. HUMMMMM!

Well the answer is obvious. All manufactures should take time to put foil shielding around the coils and to ground the magnets down through the center so if you touch them nothing happens.

So this is how life works: Many of them don't bother. Some don't bother but give you instructions online as to how to do the job that they should have done. And a few build them right.

So if you say, "Doc, it only hurts when I do this!" He says, "then don't do that!" Henny Youngman 1943.

And yeah resting a thumb on a pickup is a kind of noob thing. You are supposed to keep it on the B string or across the low strings to damp them. ( Even though I love to put my thumb on the pickup when I can get away with it)

[wvbass]

Originally Posted by bassbenj

And yeah resting a thumb on a pickup is a kind of noob thing. You are supposed to keep it on the B string or across the low strings to damp them. ( Even though I love to put my thumb on the pickup when I can get away with it)

Benj, what do I do when my bass doesn't have a B string? Just call me the 40-year old noob, I guess.

Two thoughts: Q-tuners are a bit different, but it ought to be possible to ground the pickup poles so this is not an issue. I have resolved this problem before in three ways: clear nail polish over the pickup poles to keep my fingers from making electrical contact with the poles; electrical tape for the same reason; or by grounding the poles from the underside of the pickup using copper foil and a wire to connect the foil to the ground.

As for it being a noob thing, that is ridiculous. There are many different right hand techniques, and plenty of pros use their pickups as a thumb rest. Even when you use a string as a thumbrest, your thumb or fingers can still come into contact with a pickup pole. Nothing at all wrong with your pickup as a thumb rest; there's plenty wrong with crackling and popping sounds interfering with your enjoyment of your bass.

[jscomposer]

Well, it's magically gone today.

Maybe it was because yesterday I did a sound check after I finished installing the new pickups and electronics just to make sure everything was wired and working properly, and I only had 2 strings on it? Now it's fully strung up. I'm guessing 2 strings don't provide the same grounding coverage as all 5 strings. Though I'm not sure why I was only getting the noise when touching the pickups. I also lowered the adjustable pole pieces a bit so they're not sticking out of the housing.

Onwards...

[FunkMetalBass]

How do you like the Q-tuners? I was looking into them yesterday, and I'm quite curious now...

[jscomposer]

^As a pianist/guitarist posing as a bassist, they're awesome in the sense that they have adjustable pole pieces, which means I can compensate for the fact that the thinner strings tend to sound louder/more obnoxious than the thicker strings. Kinda like having built-in compression on the first few strings. Tone-wise, I'm far from a connoisseur, but I think they sound really good. Very sensitive/responsive to tone adjustments on the amp... err, Sansamp. They also pickup EVERYTHING, so you have to make sure your setup is pristine to avoid farts, rattles, buzzes, etc.

[blockinlay]

I get static when rubbing my fingers across my pic guards. On one guitar I fooled and fooled with it. I grounded everything and painted the pic guard and control cavety with special paint. Didn't work. Fixed it by simply wiping once across the pic guard with a dryer sheet.