Double Bass Full Circle Repair?

[61pollmann]

One of my two FCs is acting up again. I believe that the problem is the wire coming out of the PU/adjuster. I know that this was a problem spot on earlier models, where you couldn't unscrew the two halves of the disk. Has anyone successfully opened one of these up, and repaired the connection? I'm hoping to avoid having to fork out over $200 because of a flimsy wire. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

George

 

[Eric Hochberg]

I think this came up in another thread recently and the answer was no to repair...

 

[anonymous02282011]

I'd contact Fishman and see if they'll fix it for you

 

[Michael Eisenman]

As a preventive measure, I put a drop of nonpenetrating (5-15 second) cyanoacrylate where the wire comes out of the pickup. Nice strain relief. Silicone or similar should work, too.

I also secured the plug end of the wire to the tailpiece, while leaving some slack in the wire. Be careful when you turn the adjuster.

Hope this helps for next time.

 

[vejesse]

I've had some limited success re soldering the ground inside the adjuster body. You unscrew the two halves and and re melt the blob that connects the coax ground to the shell. After re connecting the ground and screwing it back together sometimes it works fine and sometimes it make noise as if the two halves of the adjuster aren't making contact.

If the loose connection is at the RCA it's a piece of cake. Simply snip off the RCA plug and attach a new one. A local audio supply company sells me the Switchcraft plugs. They're slightly different than the Fishman plugs but are actually better for strain relief.

 

[61pollmann]

The problem is that the earlier FCs don't unscrew. I did contact Fishman--they said "can't do it!'. It looks like time for a new one. Maybe I'll try the new Gage clamp-on instead. Any thoughts about this?

George

 

[vejesse]

Those early glued together Full Circle pickups would sometimes open up on their own. It doesn't take much to pop them open - instead of throwing it away why don't you pop it apart and see what it looks like.