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Gretsch G2220: noisy pickups
- Thread starter Patrice B
- Start date
I've heard these pickups described as hot a couple of times. I don't really know what "hot" means -- the resistance of the bridge pickup is like 5.8. My P Bass is around 10.2, and the Gretsch is louder. But that's a discussion for another thread. Hopefully I'll get this shielded today and see if that sorts it.
Yeah, it seems like the pickups behave more like single-coils, at least in my experience. Has anyone pulled the cover off of one of these to see what's actually inside?
Unfortunately no in my case. Like @kevrex said, it buzzes in every pickup config. I would had thought that combination of the two pickups would cancel some noise but no…
Two single-coil pickups can be hum-canceling if one is reverse-wound and the magnet is reversed (relative to the other). Reversed pickups are advertised as RWRP (reverse-wound, reverse phase). Two identical single-coil pickups will not cancel hum.
The problem that you brought up in starting the thread is "buzz", which is caused by radiated noise. AFAIK a main entry point is the face of the pickup, especially when there's not a metal cover. Even metal covers won't keep some kinds of radiated noise out — as from lighting dimmers.
The G2220 pickups seem to me to behave like uncovered single-coils noise-wise. I should get my Strat out and compare them.
from my understanding toaster style pickups read less, but because of design, come across as hotter. At least the traditional TV Jones guitar toaster pickups were taller than traditional PAF humbuckers. This would put them closer to the strings. I'm not sure if they're trying to copy that sound of the older gretsch's that had the toasters, but it could be they are, and that's the cause of this unusual behavior for a humbucker...
If I ever get around to buying new pickups, I'll take apart the old ones and post pictures here.
Okay, I shielded the cavity with copper tape. No change. I guess next I'll shield the pickup cavities. While I have the pickups out, I'll see if I can tell if they're actually humbuckers without taking them apart. This really sounds like the 60 cycle hum of singles.
@kevrex make sure you connect the shielding together. a bare wire from pickup grounding to the cavity should work.
I have this Gretsch bass. Bought in 2020. It did not make noise at first. After about a year of owning it, it began to buzz (not hum). On every amp, with no pedals, bad buzz that makes it almost unusable. If I stand a certain direction it minimizes it, but it's still bad. I have another bass and 3 guitars and none of these have this noise.
They are definitely humbucker pickups, covered. They are too dark for me. I love this bass but I want to swap the pickups but I'm having a hard time finding any that would fit. The pickup cavity is 40mm x 78mm, but has rounded corners, so if it was a rectangle pickup, it would have to be no bigger than 40 x 70mm. Anyone know any that would fit? I guess I could enlarge the cavity if absolutely necessary.
They are definitely humbucker pickups, covered. They are too dark for me. I love this bass but I want to swap the pickups but I'm having a hard time finding any that would fit. The pickup cavity is 40mm x 78mm, but has rounded corners, so if it was a rectangle pickup, it would have to be no bigger than 40 x 70mm. Anyone know any that would fit? I guess I could enlarge the cavity if absolutely necessary.
Provided all the pieces of shielding tape are connected to each other (burnish them down really well with the back of Sharpie or a chopstick then test continuity in many different spots in the cavity), just solder one end of a wire to the shielding and the other end to a ground point, ex. the back of the volume pot. If you don't want to solder to the shielding you can solder the wire to an eyelet and screw that into the cavity so that it makes contact with the shielding. Always test for continuity.
Someone already answered your question about how to ground the shielding. However, on this question I can answer some. before you buy, open it up and check everything. When I hear "It was working and now it does not" it makes me think something is loose, or broken. Or something has changed. Find what changed, and you found the cause of your buzzing. (it may not be the source, but it is making it worse).
As to the pickup replacement.... really the only choice is TV Jones. They're a bit bigger than stock, but I've heard some minor filing on the stock pickup ring will get it in. They are 4 wire, so you could split those to get single coil. Other than that, there are some shapes that are close to the cavity, but are not quite there in various dimensions. If you're going to do the work, I'd get a nice set of calipers out and plan it out to every minor detail before altering the body. I've considered doing a second body just to preserve the first in case of a screwup for this very reason.
I believe we may have figured out why we have some mild hum. Check out this post. Another user took the stock pickups apart. They appear to be single coil bar pickups.
That's what I thought too. That was a new G2220. Read a few posts above that one. Krev1955 modified one of the new colors for this year, putting TV Jones in it. I asked him to take a look inside the stock pickups.
It explains why it is my noisiest bass then! The only cure, when I’ll have the time, is definitely to shield the bass. Thanks for the report.
Isn't it hilarious how little idea marketing departments sometimes have of reality? 
Isn't it hilarious how little idea marketing departments sometimes have of reality?
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Yes but now we know how to approach making them quiet. I'm planning on shielding, and grounding the pickup housing while I wait on money to do more.
I'm probably going to do a "4 way tele wiring" to it as well using a rotary switch. Unlike many of my ideas, this should be cheap enough to become real for me. Just wiring and shielding. Cheap enough small project.
