jazz bass pick guard static?

JohnDavisNYC · #1 02-03-2009, 07:44 AM

somehow my pickguard on my '78 jazz bass just developed a static issue... the last few days it was snapping and crackling, and i had a session, so i took the pickguard off, and it's fine, but the routing is so shoddy on late 70's basses, that it looks pretty bad with no guard...

how can i deal with the static? is the foil shield not grounding properly?

any ideas?

john

Vakmere · #2 02-03-2009, 09:18 PM

Winter breeds dry weather, If the Rh is below 30% you will cause static. Feet moving across the rug or floor enhances it also. Im in Philly and I found this out recently. Use a humidifier in the room and get it up to 40-50% and you wont encounter this. Even my Ken Smith as quiet as it is will get this crackle when the air is dry.

LM Bass · #3 02-03-2009, 11:44 PM

I have a great tip for you, John!
While the pickguard is off, run a dryer sheet over it, front and back. It works wonders, in fact you can probably just leave a piece of it under the pickguard when you put it together. Weird, but it works!

The other thing you might try is buying a sheet of copper foil and attaching it to the underside of the pickguard. Leave a tab hanging over that drapes into the control cavity -make sure this is touching your metal plate or the shielding in the cavity, if you have it. Stained glass stores are great places to buy copper sheet -I think it's about $10 for enough to do this job.

Cutty · #4 02-04-2009, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnDavisNYC

somehow my pickguard on my '78 jazz bass just developed a static issue... the last few days it was snapping and crackling, and i had a session, so i took the pickguard off, and it's fine, but the routing is so shoddy on late 70's basses, that it looks pretty bad with no guard...

how can i deal with the static? is the foil shield not grounding properly?

any ideas?

john

I had this problem!i solved it by putting a small piece of shielding foil with a wire soldered to it under the pickguard,near where the control plate butts up to it,just fold the foil down into the control cavity,you don't want the wire under the pickguard,just the foil, and solder the wire to your earthing point,this drains the static charge away,job done,iv'e never had the problem since,hope it works for you!!

Vakmere · #5 02-04-2009, 07:32 AM

True, dryer sheets reduce static but the reason you have static is because the air is dry around you. The dryer sheet will help and make your bass smell a little better to. Try Downey or Snuggle .........

and buy a humidifier.

JohnDavisNYC · #6 02-05-2009, 08:11 AM

well, nyc in the winter is a dry place, and the bass has been in the same conditions before... i think i need to check the grounding/shielding... i changed some stuff in the electronics, and maybe the ground to the shielding isn't connected?

7 years static free in the same conditions, now all of a sudden i have static.... probably my error when i was changing stuff up.

thanks all... i am going to try cutty's approach. my pickguard is shielded, and there is a bit leading into the control cavity, but something may have come loose in the grounding scheme.

john

Sparkdog · #7 02-05-2009, 08:25 AM

Every Jazz bass I've ever owned developed that static crackle at some point, depending on humidity and the room I was playing in. Even my DJ5, which is easily the best Jazz I've ever played, does it sometimes.

I hear it mostly when my fingers brush across the top of the pickguard.

One solution I've used is to put a sticker of some kind on the pg where you tend to touch it while playing. Completely eliminates that crackle because you're no longer touching the pg itself.

Just make sure it's a cool sticker you don't mind having on there...it's really hard to get them off!

jmain · #8 02-05-2009, 11:14 AM

I've used Endust also and it works well. Works well to polish the poly finish on the body (wouldn't put it on nitro until I did some research).

JohnDavisNYC · #9 02-05-2009, 05:49 PM

i used some de-oxit to clean the shielding on the back of the pickgaurd and the strip going into the control cavity... cut some small slivers out of chop sticks, glued them in the totally stripped holes, and put everything back together really tight, and the problem seems to be gone...

i'm guessing that the shield wasn't making contact through to the control plate, and thus was ungrounded.

anyway, it works. sounded clean.

john

jmain · #10 02-05-2009, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnDavisNYC

i used some de-oxit to clean the shielding on the back of the pickgaurd and the strip going into the control cavity... cut some small slivers out of chop sticks, glued them in the totally stripped holes, and put everything back together really tight, and the problem seems to be gone...

i'm guessing that the shield wasn't making contact through to the control plate, and thus was ungrounded.

anyway, it works. sounded clean.

john

Good deal. Chopsticks were probably a quicker fix than toothpicks or matches.