Noisy Mustang RI

[ThingsAbove]

I've had my Mustang RI for about a month now and played it out in several venues. Most of what I'd read before purchasing was that it was a very quiet instrument but that has not been my experience.

It's been a little noisy most places I've played but the ast place I played there were halogen stage lights on dimmers and I had to roll the tone almost completely off to eliminate a very loud buzz.

I opened it up and was surprised to find absolutely no shielding of any type, no shielding paint, no foil on the backside of the pickguard, nothing. To me that's a bit upsetting for an instrument in that price range from a company like Fender.

I shielded it last night and now it's dead quiet. IMO it should have come from the factory with some shielding.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by ThingsAbove

To me that's a bit upsetting for an instrument in that price range from a company like Fender.

Amen to that! More and more they seem to just be interested in a profit.

[ThingsAbove]

Yep... seems that way.

I'm wondering what others have seen in terms of shielding from the factory for their single coil PUP basses?

Do the new American made Fender basses come with factory shielding?

[boynamedsuse]

If you touch the strings, it should go away. I like to keep my hand on the strings at all times anyway to keep them warm (and stable for tuning purposes).

Even with the tone on mine cranked all the way up (never did anything else), I have not noticed a problem--but then again we haven't played the same places.

[ThingsAbove]

Originally Posted by boynamedsuse

If you touch the strings, it should go away. I like to keep my hand on the strings at all times anyway to keep them warm (and stable for tuning purposes).

Even with the tone on mine cranked all the way up (never did anything else), I have not noticed a problem--but then again we haven't played the same places.

I was always touching the strings and that was enough to quiet it down when sitting in front of a computer or at a couple of the places I played. But one of the places I play has tons of LED light bars chained with DMX cables and big powered cabinets near me as well as the aforementioned halogen spots. I think it was the dimmers on the big light bar last week that sent the noise over the edge because the stage lighting seemed lower than normal. I admit that it's a very noisy environment and I even get a little noise from my fully active NS/Stick in that place.

But now that the Mustang is fully shielded it is completely silent without holding strings, sitting right in front of a computer. That hasn't happened to me with any other bass I own (other than my Variax which has no magnetic PUP).

Now it's too quiet... now I don't know if I have the volume up without looking.

I'm not dissing on the Mustang. I love it's tone and I'm playing it to the exclusion of my other basses, but Fender should shield their basses.

[TimB 619]

Originally Posted by ThingsAbove

I've had my Mustang RI for about a month now and played it out in several venues. Most of what I'd read before purchasing was that it was a very quiet instrument but that has not been my experience.

It's been a little noisy most places I've played but the ast place I played there were halogen stage lights on dimmers and I had to roll the tone almost completely off to eliminate a very loud buzz.

I opened it up and was surprised to find absolutely no shielding of any type, no shielding paint, no foil on the backside of the pickguard, nothing. To me that's a bit upsetting for an instrument in that price range from a company like Fender.

I shielded it last night and now it's dead quiet. IMO it should have come from the factory with some shielding.

My 200 dollar Peavey Milleniums have shielding on the control cavities. Under certain conditions, the single coil pickups will buzz a bit, but putting them at equal volume eliminates that (I recordered both recently using neck only-no buzz at all.)

So, I'am in full agreement with you. Those instruments should have some kind of shielding in them, especially at 600 bucks a pop!