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  #1  
Old 01-29-2013, 12:43 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Question Need to get rid of the bridge pickup

Hi guys, I have a SX SPJ62 bass, it has passive PJ set up, 2 vol knobs and 1 tone knob.

I really love the P (neck PU) on it's own. But I don't like the J (bridge PU). It's crappy and very noisy.

So I want to totally get rid of the bridge PU.

What should I do?
  #2  
Old 01-29-2013, 01:03 PM
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Why not just refrain from using it? Taking the pickup out is going to leave you with an ugly open route.
  #3  
Old 01-29-2013, 01:17 PM
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You like the sound of your P-Pickup ...

But the sound of your P is the sum of all restistors parallel (or serial) to PU and Jack ...

It you want to keep the sound 100% with making the J-PU out of function:
"De-solder" (what's the correct expression???) the J-PU wire from the middle contact and solder it to ground (housing).

Effect: The J volume pot capacity is still parallel to the P-PU (like before). Both wires from the J-PU are grounded > same as putting the J-Knob to zero.

If you like to, you can screw the J-PU deeper into the body - or leave it as it is.

This is the way do deactivate the J-PU and keep the sound (99.9%) as it is ...
  #4  
Old 01-29-2013, 02:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cadfael View Post
You like the sound of your P-Pickup ...

But the sound of your P is the sum of all restistors parallel (or serial) to PU and Jack ...

It you want to keep the sound 100% with making the J-PU out of function:
"De-solder" (what's the correct expression???) the J-PU wire from the middle contact and solder it to ground (housing).

Effect: The J volume pot capacity is still parallel to the P-PU (like before). Both wires from the J-PU are grounded > same as putting the J-Knob to zero.

If you like to, you can screw the J-PU deeper into the body - or leave it as it is.

This is the way do deactivate the J-PU and keep the sound (99.9%) as it is ...

You have a point. I might try that.

Why I wanna do it? Well...the P is a little noisy, too. I don't know if it's because the J and/or the J pot. So I want a pure P bass circuit.
  #5  
Old 01-29-2013, 02:10 PM
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If you solder both J wires to GND, the J can not influence noise ...
The pot is still in series - but that's just a 250K resistor.

The "little noise" might come from the preamp of your amp???
Is the gain of the preamp as high as possible and the master volume of the amp as low to make the right volume?

The lower the preamp volume (mostly called GAIN), the higher the noise from the power amp (MASTER) ...

I recommend to play with a guitar player with distortion. Then you won't hear your noise ...
  #6  
Old 01-29-2013, 02:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cadfael View Post
If you solder both J wires to GND, the J can not influence noise ...
The pot is still in series - but that's just a 250K resistor.

The "little noise" might come from the preamp of your amp???
Is the gain of the preamp as high as possible and the master volume of the amp as low to make the right volume?

The lower the preamp volume (mostly called GAIN), the higher the noise from the power amp (MASTER) ...

I recommend to play with a guitar player with distortion. Then you won't hear your noise ...
Thanks man! I'll try to do some soldering then. And I'll tweak the amp a little.
BTW, I've read the shielding thread here. I have some aluminium foil, can I do the shielding with this? And does the thickness of the aluminium foil matters?
  #7  
Old 01-29-2013, 02:30 PM
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Aluminum foil is a great shielding material, but tougher to solder to than copper foil. You need to solder a wire to the shield and to the sleeve contact on your output jack for the shielding to work.
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  #8  
Old 01-29-2013, 02:50 PM
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Location: Germany, EU
[humor on]
A 3" Aluminium "foil" on the pickguard an on the back of the bass should to weel. Better would be 3" grounded Steel or 3" plumb. The 3" plumb might also shield the bass from a nuclear bomb 10 or more miles away ...
[humor off]

Honest ...

Copper foil is mostly thicker and copper does not react as quick with air as alu does. The copper foil is better to cut into the right form.

Fender used thick brass plates in from the late 50s-80s ...
But NOT for the cavity of the P-bass! There was only a grounded brass plate under the PU (and the aluminium pickguard or a pastic pickguard with alu foil). The Jazz Bass had brass plates under the pickups and in the cavity!

Copper foil is a method but ...
At a certain point, cannabis products or better a relaxing training (also much cheaper!!!) are the best mehtod! It will still hum - but you don't mind!

Cool down! You produce music - not silence ...
  #9  
Old 01-29-2013, 03:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stealth View Post
Aluminum foil is a great shielding material, but tougher to solder to than copper foil. You need to solder a wire to the shield and to the sleeve contact on your output jack for the shielding to work.
Noted.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cadfael View Post
[humor on]
A 3" Aluminium "foil" on the pickguard an on the back of the bass should to weel. Better would be 3" grounded Steel or 3" plumb. The 3" plumb might also shield the bass from a nuclear bomb 10 or more miles away ...
[humor off]

Honest ...

Copper foil is mostly thicker and copper does not react as quick with air as alu does. The copper foil is better to cut into the right form.

Fender used thick brass plates in from the late 50s-80s ...
But NOT for the cavity of the P-bass! There was only a grounded brass plate under the PU (and the aluminium pickguard or a pastic pickguard with alu foil). The Jazz Bass had brass plates under the pickups and in the cavity!

Copper foil is a method but ...
At a certain point, cannabis products or better a relaxing training (also much cheaper!!!) are the best mehtod! It will still hum - but you don't mind!

Cool down! You produce music - not silence ...
I think I'm just a little perfectionism. Hmm, maybe you're right.
  #10  
Old 01-29-2013, 03:17 PM
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It's true, you learn something everyday! Thank you, guys! I'll bypass the J-PU first, and see how it'll turn out. Fingers crossed!

Last edited by pickerrr : 01-29-2013 at 03:20 PM.
  #11  
Old 01-30-2013, 06:45 AM
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Quick one: I'm doing shielding now, If I totally disconnect (no wire attached) a pot, and I want to leave it there on the body, do I need to ground it? I mean, it's in the cavity, and it's metal.
Second thought, I won't, because the pot will be touching the foil on the pick guard.

Last edited by pickerrr : 01-30-2013 at 06:54 AM.
  #12  
Old 01-30-2013, 07:11 AM
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Location: Germany, EU
Fender didn't do it on the Jazz Bass with its chrome plate ...
But he did it on the alu pickguard or foil covered plastic pickguards ...

If the contakt isn't 100% but only 95% you get a probelem ...
Metals react with oxygen. So, I would solder the GND connections (without "star").
I would also ground the free pot because you can solder both wires of the J-PU onto the housing ...
  #13  
Old 01-30-2013, 03:01 PM
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I did it! It works perfectly!!! Dead quiet!!!

Here's the before and after:

BEFORE:
http://soundcloud.com/user55241157/spj62-bass-noise-before

AFTER:
http://soundcloud.com/user55241157/spj62-bass-noise-after


All I did are the shielding and the "break the ground loop" thing. And I totally disconnect the bridge J-PU and the J vol pot.

Here's some pics:

Open the pick guard, what? No shielding at all!


What's this oil stuff?


The cavity is not shielded, either.


I only have these aluminium foil tape, the pick guard is done!


Then I took out the pickups, the wires and the pots, plugged in the iron, started soldering, first time! I forgot to take pictures, because I was very nerves! After shielding the cavity, finally, it's done!



Here's what I've done to the wiring:

BEFORE:


AFTER:


I found an article on Guitarnuts, it's about shielding a strat, and it's very useful to me.
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php
  #14  
Old 01-30-2013, 03:05 PM
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I'm so excited!!! Thank you guys!!!
  #15  
Old 01-30-2013, 03:12 PM
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Location: Brookfield, CT
Good job, enjoy!
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  #16  
Old 01-30-2013, 11:23 PM
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Location: San Diego
You ever hear P/J pickups ran in series? it's a powerful unique sound of its own. I would remove the unused pot and use the hole for a switch so I could switch between P solo and series mode
  #17  
Old 01-31-2013, 02:36 AM
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Location: Germany, EU
GND to the "right" contact of the volume pot?
Sorry - that's wrong?!

Series J ... Yes and no ...
As the J is a SC, you will get humming again - as you need pairs (2/4/6/8 coils) to get the HB effect ...
  #18  
Old 01-31-2013, 05:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cadfael View Post
GND to the "right" contact of the volume pot?
Sorry - that's wrong?!
I don't know, but the end lug of the vol pot is used to bent back and soldered to the shell...So I assumed that's the ground. It works fine.
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