So, I LOVE tapewounds on two particular basses I own that were overly aggressive and the tapes (Labella Copper White) tamed them in the best possible way. I love the feel as well as the sound. The catch is that because you're not making contact with the strings, there is a grounding issue and noise is introduced. I was thinking about another way for the metal parts of your bass to make contact with your body and I finally came up with an idea that may be perfect OR stupid... or both! What if I drilled a tiny hole in the rear compartment cover and had a ground wire with a small clip that goes on your belt? The inner part of the clip would be touching your six-pack, or beer belly or whatever and then everything would be grounded? If you were playing live, it would be invisible to the audience and your tapewound-sporting bass would be nice and quiet. Can you think of a better solution? I'm all ears because I REALLY don't want to take the tapes off. Except for the noise, they sound great.
it does not sound reasonable to me. that said: i had a beater bass that i grounded (to bridge) externally until i realized how unreasonable it was. {}
@Claymore Somebody already beat you to the market with that idea. I forget the name but it was around $300 a pop.
It wasn't that much, was it? Yes, a gizmo like this exists, I can't find it on the web because I can't remember its catchy name. Anyway, it is a regular instrument cable, except on one end there's an extra wire coming out of the instrument plug, the other end of the wire is soldered to thin metal disk or coin. You're supposed to tuck this under your belt (I assume) and... Oh, nevermind, I just remembered the name. dBuz... (a 15' one is $55) dBuz - Aero Instrument
This sounds reasonable to me. I discovered the same problem with elixirs the first time I’d used them and it drove me nuts until I figured it out. As an alternate idea, in case you want something completely on the bass, what if you ran a ground wire through either the pickup route or under a pickguard (if it has one), so it comes out where you rest your thumb? Or have it attached to a metal thumb rest that you stick on with double sided tape. Just some other ideas if you find the whole clip on your belt thing annoying.
I know for a fact that I have seen a set of tapes that had conductive windings, I dont remember what they were called but I will search for them If I find them I will post them here!
GHS Balanced Pure Nickels have a nice round tone, and you don't have the grounding issue you have with nylon tape strings. I had the same issues. One bass I changed out to EMG actives. One bass has a chrome pickup cover where I anchor my thumb to get the contact to kill the noise. That's about it for solutions.
I had thought about the pickguard thing. That was definitely on the table but I move my right hand position a lot. Sometimes not even touching the body. I guess I could make a point to be touching it at all times just on that instrument.
If I am not wrong, reduced hum when you touch the strings indicates a grounding problem in the bass since the string are grounded to begin with through the bridge. I don't have any noise like this with any of my many basses. I remember some issue like that in the past but can't remember what I did about it. I hope someone can either correct me or quantify the issue.
He’s playing nylon tapewounds so there’s no electrical contact between their metal cores and the bridge.
Scrape off some nylon behind the bridge to expose the string’s metal core, then attach the $55 alligator clip connected with the coin to the exposed core, and use the coin as a pick. Gibson might have a patent on this, so be careful.
Get a wireless system so the bass is no longer electrically connected to anything. There are lots of inexpensive ones out there that work well. I have been using the Sennheiser XSW-D instrument set, and it has been working really well. Good range and no interference issues. I have have tried quite a number, and this is the best I've tried without going to a full FM system.
That is a way to ground yourself. I'd suggest metal mesh underwear and an alligator clip to connect yourself to your bass. But seriously, when you go to a gig, it's a very good idea to find out if things like a mic in front of you are grounded to the same potential as your instrument. I've had my lips shocked a couple times due to bad wiring. If I ran into that situation again, I'd hate for what's in my shorts to be the thing that gets shocked.
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