Loud humming/feedback sound on a MusicMan with black nylon strings.....

[scatman]

1. I was warned when I bought the bass in 2004 that the black nylon string covering may cause humming. However, I played in a setting for 4 years after that, and the bass plugged to an Ampeg SVT had little to no humming at all. (2004-2008).

2. Sat in on a set last Monday and there WAS loud feedback. I'm thinking, "Oh, boy, I should've heeded the warning from the cats at Rudy's Music!"

3. Spoke to two different peeps last night, a) Guitar Center in NYC; b) The bass player I sat in for. Both said that it may be a "grounding problem".

4. I went home and plugged the bass on my own GK Microbass amp. No humming/feedback!

Any thoughts? Could humming/feedback be prevalent with active basses, round, flat or black strings?

Any input is appreciated.

[mmbongo]

Since nylon strings are non-conductive, you are not grounding the bass when you touch the strings like you would with regular nickel or steel strings so if you plug in someplace with shady wiring, you're going to be in hum city!

[Kevin aka Kebo]

Tell Dean at Rudys that Kebo said black nylon strings dont cause hum. (Deans a bro of mine.. lol) Honestly, the only time strings MAY cause hum is in a non-humbucking set up (ie Jazz bass) and the strings are hi steel content and too close to the pup. This is VERY rare. Its a grounding issue, plain and simple...

[khutch]

Actually this is a common problem with tape wound strings. In many situations, with many basses you will get a hum or other noise unless you touch the strings. The problem is that your own body enhances the capacitive noise coupling between noise sources and the bass electronics unless you yourself are grounded to the bass. Normal metal strings can provide this ground connection between you and the bass as long as you touch them and the bridge is grounded with a ground wire as it is on many basses. Tape wound strings do not conduct electricity though so you cannot ground yourself by touching them.

There was a long discussion of this in the string section recently and some people, Roger Sadowsky among them, say that tape wound strings are a stupid idea and you should never use them. Others claim to have good success by doing an excellent shielding job on the bass although Roger says his shielding is as good as anyone's and some of his customers still have issues with this. Other ideas were to use an anti-static wrist bracelet connected to the bass ground (though not many found this a palatable option!) or a grounded metal piece somewhere on the bass that you could keep one hand or the other against. For example a strip of copper tape running along the back of the neck that your fretting hand would naturally stay in contact with.

Ken

[scatman]

Thanks for the replies!

At the venue I was at, it appears that there was a whole lot going on: and keyboard, bass amp, 3-4 mics plus an electric violin all hooked up to a very big sound board! Plus, the stage was elevated (about 6 inches). For the future, I'm considering not hooking up to the board, particularly since I have a powerful bass amp. I'm wondering if bass amps at all should hook up to the board!

I forgot to add: the hum would "stop" when I press my hand on the cable, at the bass input. (one of those "perpendicular" Monster Cables) But I need to play, so I can't keep my hand there! Any thoughts on that?

Oh, yeah, it wasn't Dean at Rudy's who advised me! (LOL!)

[khutch]

Originally Posted by scatman

I forgot to add: the hum would "stop" when I press my hand on the cable, at the bass input. (one of those "perpendicular" Monster Cables) But I need to play, so I can't keep my hand there! Any thoughts on that?

When you ground yourself to the cable connector you are doing exactly the same thing that conductive strings and a bridge ground wire do automatically. The difference is that you can play while touching the strings but not with one hand on the cable connector!

Your options remain:

1) shield the bass better, it will help but not in every case

2) wear an antistatic bracelet connected to the bass ground

3) put some grounded metal on the bass somewhere where you can easily stay in contact with it while playing

In many cases the noise is not loud enough to interfere with playing, it just sounds bad during quiet periods between songs. If that is the case there is a fourth option:

4) turn the volume down between songs or keep one hand on that connector when you are not playing.

Ken

[bassbully]

It could of been the clubs wiring, bad cord, neon signs whatever....I have seen that before. I used tapes on a P bass of mine and it made more noise than when it wore Chromes. I took it to a gig once and something went haywire..all kinds of hum and had to use another bass that night. I tend to agree tapes can cause issues at times.