Crackling noise from bass guitar

[Dustin Teel]

One of my basses is making a random crackling/buzzing noise. I've encountered this kind of thing in the past and have always been able to resolve the issue, but am kind of stumped this time. It is not the input jack, cord, or amp. None of the knobs are loose. The wire connections all appear to be in good, clean condition and are not loose. The bass is passive.

It's weird, because it doesn't seem to depend on my playing. While playing or not, there will be a faint, very quiet sizzling sound for just a few seconds and it will stop and not happen again for another minute or so.

It's so quiet it would be unnoticable in a band setting. But when I'm at home practicing, it's enough to annoy the piss out of me.

Any ideas?

[Sleeq]

Loose solder joint?

[Antny]

Assuming it isnt your chord, liberaly shoot the pots with contact cleaner.

[Spinal Tapper]

could be corrosion in your input jack. my buddy who used to work at a vintage guitar shop taught me this trick - it might help...

take a piece of sandpaper, roll it up so its shaped like a tiny cigarette. stick it in the input jack of your bass and twist it around making sure it's touching all of the inside of the jack. then blow it out with some compressed air.

that might do the trick. it has worked for me on pedals and many of my guitars.

[Rafael]

I've seen at least one occasion where crackling was coming from static electricity from a plastic control cavity cover....the solution was to foil the inside and make sure it was grounded. Problem solved.

[XylemBassGuitar]

When did the crackling start? Has it always crackled? Was there some work done to the bass shortly before it began to crackle?

Have you tried playing the bass in different places (a friend's house, at band practice, etc.), does it still crackle elsewhere?

Is the whole thing shielded? Have you checked your ground wire to the bridge?

You might also try opening up the cavity, plugging it into an amp and gently turning knobs, nudging wires, etc. to see if any of those actions cause crackle/buzz. You might be able to isolate the problem that way.

Also try contact cleaner on your pots like Antny suggests.

[ExaltBass]

Soooo many opportunities for noise! Time to eliminate the gremlins one-by-one. BTW: I'd start with the tuner cleaner.

[EagleMoon]

Also make sure you're not using coated strings, such as Elixirs. I've had problems in the past with them not making good contact with the bridge, therefore the grounding doesn't work correctly. It caused a crackling noise.

[Ewo]

Originally Posted by EagleMoon

Also make sure you're not using coated strings, such as Elixirs. I've had problems in the past with them not making good contact with the bridge, therefore the grounding doesn't work correctly. It caused a crackling noise.

I had the same problem EagleMoon described, on a Lakie Skyline strung with Elixirs.

[Ewo]

Originally Posted by Spinal Tapper

could be corrosion in your input jack. my buddy who used to work at a vintage guitar shop taught me this trick - it might help...

take a piece of sandpaper, roll it up so its shaped like a tiny cigarette. stick it in the input jack of your bass and twist it around making sure it's touching all of the inside of the jack. then blow it out with some compressed air.

that might do the trick. it has worked for me on pedals and many of my guitars.

Another way to clean contacts (like the jack on your bass, or the tip of your cord) is to use a good-quality pencil eraser. No kidding!

A long time ago I was an assistant engineer in a studio, and the chief engineer used to put me to work cleaning patch cords with a pencil eraser. It works.

[Ewo]

Another possibility is RF interference. (That can sound like sizzling, IME.) The control cavity of the bass shielded?