straight-to-jack buzzzzzzzz

morebass! · #1 03-19-2010, 10:20 AM

I've been trying my hand at wiring lately I have a Barker B1 and wired the pickups straight to the jack. The hum (more like a buzz) is out of hand. It's not the pickups because I had them wired up to the pots before and they were okay. I thought maybe it was the tapewounds I had on there but Elixers are just as bad so I'm thinking I did something wrong (or maybe that elixer nanocoat insulates like tape?). Anyway, I've got both pup black wires and the bridge ground soldered to the jack sleeve connection, and both pup white wires soldered to the jack tip connection. The cavity cover is shielded and the inside looks to be painted with a black shielding paint. My other basses don't do this in the same location so I don't think its a lighting or electrical power source issue. Any ideas on what I fubbed up?

PSPookie · #2 03-19-2010, 10:37 AM

Are those single coils? What you may have done is wired the pickups in-phase which makes them hum-adding instead of hum cancelling.

ewimsatt · #3 03-19-2010, 10:41 AM

Try putting the Jack into one of the potentiometer holes. When a cavity and cover is shielded, the potentiometer housing naturally touches the shielding paint when it is installed. The backs of the pots are grounded so in essence, the pot grounds the shielded cavity completing the Faraday Cage. Putting the jack in one of the pot holes would accomplish this. Also, make sure you soldered the grounds to the ground lug and the hots to the hot lug.

morebass! · #4 03-21-2010, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSPookie

Are those single coils? What you may have done is wired the pickups in-phase which makes them hum-adding instead of hum cancelling.

Black to ground (sleeve) and white to tip right?

PSPookie · #5 03-22-2010, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by morebass!

Black to ground (sleeve) and white to tip right?

Try switching that for one of the pickups and see if your hum goes away.

morebass! · #6 03-26-2010, 09:27 AM

At the suggestion of Interceptor I connected the output jack to the shielding and it helped. It was essentially unshielded as it was. It still hums more than I'd like so switching the pickup wires might be warranted too. I'll see how it goes tonight when plugged into my big rig (with a tweeter).