Should a '70's P-Bass Do This?

[Nate74]

I haven't had my old '73 P-Bass out of the case for a year or more, but went to a blues jam last night and dusted it off (literally). I noticed some FOD on one of the exposed pole-pieces and when I went to brush it off, got a pretty nasty hum. Obviously, not something I do in the course of typical playing but am curious if maybe that means there's an issue with the electronics on this bass that might lead to other issues down the line? Don't have any other P-Basses to try it on so am wondering what the group here has to say. The pickups are original btw. Thanks.

[electracoyote]

Two questions:

What's FOD?

What did you use to brush it off the pole piece?

[Nate74]

FOD - Sorry, I forget not everybody lives in my geeky aerospace world. It usually means Foreign Object Damage or Foreign Object Debris. In this case, I just noticed what appeared to be part of a dried up, beer soaked cocktail napkin

Just used my finger to scrape it off.

[joeyl]

perfectly normal when you touch the polepieces to get some buzz. Some people actually use a copper or similar foil under the pickup to connect the polepieces to ground to prevent the buzz

[Nate74]

Hmmm... good to know. Happy the old girl isn't circling the drain as it where.

Thank you.