Toggle Switch

[HELLonWheels187]

I just installed a on/off toggle switch on my bass. I seem to be having grounding problem or at least thats what i think it is because i checked all the wires multiple times. I put the switch in the hot wire that leads to input jack.

[RyreInc]

I think you'll still get noise if you don't ground the lead wire when in the off position.

[HELLonWheels187]

I don't get any noise when its in the off position.

[LoveThatBass]

It is best to just use the switch to short the output wire to ground.
If you just open the output wire you can get lots of hum as it will act as just having a guitar cable plugged into the amp and the other end dangling in air. This acts as an antenna for noise.
Shorting the output will kill the signal AND noise at the same time. This is what input jacks on an amplifier typically do to the input is short it out when not in use.

[HELLonWheels187]

I don't know if this helps. But if i move the cable inside the bass i can get the hum to go away if i can get the cable in at a certain angle

[PilbaraBass]

Originally Posted by HELLonWheels187

I don't know if this helps. But if i move the cable inside the bass i can get the hum to go away if i can get the cable in at a certain angle

that appears to me to be a "dry" solder joint.
Either that, or you have a loose connection at your jack.

bend the jack contact a tad forward so that it makes good contact when the plug is in. If this doesn't solve the problem, then plug in your bass, turn it on, and carefully move each wire until you find the suspect joint, and resolder.

[HELLonWheels187]

Originally Posted by PilbaraBass

that appears to me to be a "dry" solder joint.
Either that, or you have a loose connection at your jack.

bend the jack contact a tad forward so that it makes good contact when the plug is in. If this doesn't solve the problem, then plug in your bass, turn it on, and carefully move each wire until you find the suspect joint, and resolder.

I will try that. Today i was trying to play again and i noticed that as soon as i touched the cable(the metal part of the cable) the hum completely stopped. That leaves to beleive its a grounding problem. So how would i go about grounding the input jack?

[Searcy]

Your jack output jack should already be grounded. Check to be sure you have a ground wire going to your bridge.

[HELLonWheels187]

Originally Posted by Searcy

Your jack output jack should already be grounded. Check to be sure you have a ground wire going to your bridge.

How do I do that(i mean if its isn't connect what do i do.....). Its funny because i just changed my bridge as well. Its very possible that its grounding wire.

[Searcy]

If you don’t have a meter then just run a wire on the outside of your bass from you’re your bridge to the nut on the output jack. If this seems to cure the problem then you need to open the bass up and check your ground wire. It’s either suffering from a bad solder joint at one end or ( as I would suspect) not making good contact with the bridge at the other. Your ground wire needs to have a good mechanical connection with the bridge. That is to say the end of the wire should be bare and clamped tightly to the bass by the bridge.

[HELLonWheels187]

The grounding wire comes up right under my bridge. Its possible because the Badass bridge doesn't have a smooth bottom. Shuold i tape the wire on?

[Searcy]

If some tape shims the wire and gives you a better connection that tape won’t hurt. But if you know the end of the wire is bare and you can tug it out from the control cavity it should be good. Check your solder joints.

[PilbaraBass]

never do any wiring mods on your bass without a meter...it's as essential a piece of equipment as a soldering iron.

if you have copper foil tape, then remove the bridge, put a pad of this tape around the bare end of the bridge ground wire and then put this square of foil under the bridge...this will make much better contact than the bare wire itsself.

ensure that this wire is in turn soldered to a ground inside your control cavity.

BTW...I have 5 basses and none of them have grounded bridges and one does have a small issue, but the others are clean

[HELLonWheels187]

So I just tried the putting tape on the grounding wire under the bridge and i didn't have copper tape so i used electrical tape instead. Basically it made the problem worse. Now as soon as i touch anything metal on the bass the noise gets lounder instead of softer. Of comes the pickguard........



EDIT: I just opened my bass the noise is completely gone. There isn't any static at all. This is what happened every time berfore and then as soon as i close it the static comes back. All the soldering joints look good Im out of ideas

[PilbaraBass]

Originally Posted by HELLonWheels187

So I just tried the putting tape on the grounding wire under the bridge and i didn't have copper tape so i used electrical tape instead. Basically it made the problem worse. Now as soon as i touch anything metal on the bass the noise gets lounder instead of softer. Of comes the pickguard........



EDIT: I just opened my bass the noise is completely gone. There isn't any static at all. This is what happened every time berfore and then as soon as i close it the static comes back. All the soldering joints look good Im out of ideas

oops...no no...you want CONDUCTIVE tape. basically what you are trying to do is establish a good electrical connection between the bridge and the ground connection.

based on your edit, you may have a ground loop happening...a little copper tape under your pickguard around the control cavity and a good connection to ground may well help that.

keep at it...you WILL get it...I promise

[Searcy]

Hell,

First off I apologize for recommending the tape before. You don’t need it at all. It’s just going to confuse the issue here. What we want is for the wire to be clamped between the body and the bridge so that it makes good contact with the bridge. BUT!!

Before you start taking things apart again try this simple trick to check your ground. If you had a meter we would set it to Ohms and check the continuity between the jack and the bridge like this. It should be near zero.



These things are cheap these days. If you’re going to get into hot rodding your bass you need to pick one up. They are useful for all sorts of things. However for this problem we don’t need one. Take a bit of wire and run it from the jack to the bridge like this.



If this makes the buzz go away then it tells us that your ground wire is not making a good connection. Try that before going any further and report back what you find. We’ll get you fixed up eventually!

[HELLonWheels187]

I have discovered the problem!! As i went to put the pickguard back on the peice of electrical tap the connects the volume to the switch touched the wood/paint of the body and it made that buzzing noise. Which makes perfect sence because wood is not a conductor of electricity. The questions is how do i fix it? sorry for the big pics and thanks for all the pervious help

[PilbaraBass]

I am confused, and your photos don't show me conclusively what you are on about.

Electrical tape is an insulator...if it touches ANYTHING, wood, metal or otherwise, it is not a problem.

Loose joints, however, such as tape joints instead of solder joints COVERED with tape are a problem.

Please explain to me what is going on with that grey wire from your jack...where is it going? It appears to be your jack's ground wire and it should be soldered to one of your pot cases.

[HELLonWheels187]

Green- wire from volume pot

Grey- Carries the wire from the switch to the jack.

White(small one by the green)- I dunno if you can see it but it carries the hot wire from the volume pot to the switch.

Black- Grounding wire it comes out from the back of the tone pot

[HELLonWheels187]

pics without the tape