Fender Marcus Miller MIJ 4 Noise

[VW fan]

This is the most expensive instrument I've owned.
In many ways I love it, but am getting fed-up with trying to troubleshoot electrical noise.
I'm aware of the single-coil pick-up "issue", amongst other's (like inadequate shielding) which, in my relatively limited understanding of electronics seems like a bullsh$t excuse for continuing pre- 21st century manufacturing processes.
I bought this bass brand new in 2009, sent to a recommended luthier soon after, essentially just to tweak action and check it over. He did the usual set-up procedure (which I'm now familiar with) and also levelled frets and copper-insulated/soldered cavities.

Do I put up with this PITA, spend more time and money trying to silence it (credit to those here who have been down this path) or get rid of it? A somewhat rhetorical question.

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

I had big issues with the electronics and pickups in my '07 MIJ also. After lots of pickup and preamp swaps I ended up ripping everything out and turning it into a passive jazz. It's basically a 70's reissue Jazz bass now and sounds great.

 

[basadam]

IMHO the playability of an instrument is the most important thing. If you like how it feels (the neck, weight, neck-dive, etc.) when NOT connected to anything (amp, soundboard, etc.) in my book it's an instrument that's worth investing.

There are a lot of ways to get rid of noise: Complete sheilding, getting humcancelling pickups, replacing the preamp. All of these work.

If I were you, I would get a pair of active EMGs, and since your bass already has a battery route the upgrade would be very easy. EMG pickups are internally shielded and no extra shielding would be required. You can go with a simple vol/tone vol/tone setup; this would be the most cost effective solution. Or you can pick one of EMGs EQ systems (extra cost) and do a vol/balance/bass/treble or even vol/balance/mid/stacked-bass-treble.

 

[PhillipHolbrook]

I had big issues with the electronics and pickups in my '07 MIJ also. After lots of pickup and preamp swaps I ended up ripping everything out and turning it into a passive jazz. It's basically a 70's reissue Jazz bass now and sounds great.

I just bought a new Fender 70s Jazz MIJ and it is dead quiet too.

 

[Malak the Mad]

IMHO the playability of an instrument is the most important thing. If you like how it feels (the neck, weight, neck-dive, etc.) when NOT connected to anything (amp, soundboard, etc.) in my book it's an instrument that's worth investing.

There are a lot of ways to get rid of noise: Complete sheilding, getting humcancelling pickups, replacing the preamp. All of these work.

This pretty much sums up what I was going to say, too...if it feels good in your hands, it's worth the time to either troubleshoot the issue(s) or to make some modifications. However, I would be sure to keep the original pickups, just in case push comes to shove and it has to be sold. (If you're gonna sell it, you may as well do it in as stock condition as possible.)

@VW fan; As far as why single-coils are still being sold? From what I've read here and there, splits and stacks have their own sound, for better or worse. For some, there's "something" about a single-coil pickup set that just "does it" for them.

Oh, and if we're on the same page...I, too, am a die-hard Volkswagen fan!