• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

HELP ME!!

heavyfunkmachin

heavyfunkmachin

Jan 21, 2005
1,276
500
42
#1
Hi,

im replacing my mim jazz pickups for 60´s custom shop pickups and guess what... they are really diferent

when i was going to replace them i realised that the 60´s had 2 pieces, mainpiece (pickups and pickup cover with the 2 cables sticking out and all... ok so far) AND a piece of metal, looks like coper, with a piece of foam stick to it and a a cable sticking out....

WHAT DO I DO WITH THAT???!!

i guess it goes underneath the "main" pickup piece or something and that has something to do with the tone control... but i need to know where do i solder the "extra" cable i didnt have on the mim pick ups....

help me. does anybody know what am i talking about?

i wont be able to play bass untill i find out and i can mount them properly so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me... i have to play!!! (it would be so sad to reinstall the original mim pickups having the custom shop ones... :bawl: )

thanks
 
#4
heavyfunkmachin said:
Hi,

im replacing my mim jazz pickups for 60´s custom shop pickups and guess what... they are really diferent

when i was going to replace them i realised that the 60´s had 2 pieces, mainpiece (pickups and pickup cover with the 2 cables sticking out and all... ok so far) AND a piece of metal, looks like coper, with a piece of foam stick to it and a a cable sticking out....

WHAT DO I DO WITH THAT???!!

i guess it goes underneath the "main" pickup piece or something and that has something to do with the tone control... but i need to know where do i solder the "extra" cable i didnt have on the mim pick ups....

help me. does anybody know what am i talking about?

i wont be able to play bass untill i find out and i can mount them properly so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me... i have to play!!! (it would be so sad to reinstall the original mim pickups having the custom shop ones... :bawl: )

thanks
Click to expand...

It sounds like the piece of copper with the foam on one side and cable sticking out is a ground plate. If you don't already have a ground plate under your pickups, put it in. The foam is most likely double-faced tape, so there should be a thin layer over some sticky stuff...remove that layer with your fingernail and if it's sticky, that's what she is...

solder the cables from the ground plates to the body of your volume knob (careful! not too much heat). Connect your replacement pickups as you normally would. You should be in business.
 
#5
thanks,

so, just to make sure, the foam side of the ground plate its "glued" to the body wood and the coper/metallic side of it touches the pickup, and then the cable from the ground plate its solder to the same place, knob body, as one of the cables from the "real" pickup, is that so?

whats the porpouse of this thing?
 
#6
Hey, Funkin'

The foam is only sticking to your pup because of age, it's not really glued to it. Just gently pry the foam and ground plate off of the pickup.

The plate is there as part of a shielding system. Not a good shielding system but shielding nonetheless. What most guys do is replace it and line their pup cavity AND control cavity with copper or aluminum tape then put the same on the back of the pickguard to completely encase the cavities in a metal shield. This helps with RF interference like you get from fluorescent lights when you have single coil pups like the Jazz. The plate you've got will ground to your ground loop in the control cavity - either to a pot body or to the ground directly connected to the jack.

The best grounding system yet is what's called the "star" grounding system where all of the ground connections are the same length. Do a google of the term and you should find plenty of in depth reading on the subject.
 
#7
i did it, didnt shield it, maybe some day, but i changed the bridge, the pickups and the strings... whole new sound

what a pity that you have to wait till the neck settles again and you tune it perfectly and get the action right and all that instead of just being able of beating the funk out of it rifht away... arg... i gotta go to work... but i wanna play so much... someone is gonna get "tired fingers" soon... :cool:
 
#8
Hambone said:
Hey, Funkin'

The foam is only sticking to your pup because of age, it's not really glued to it. Just gently pry the foam and ground plate off of the pickup.

The plate is there as part of a shielding system. Not a good shielding system but shielding nonetheless. What most guys do is replace it and line their pup cavity AND control cavity with copper or aluminum tape then put the same on the back of the pickguard to completely encase the cavities in a metal shield. This helps with RF interference like you get from fluorescent lights when you have single coil pups like the Jazz. The plate you've got will ground to your ground loop in the control cavity - either to a pot body or to the ground directly connected to the jack.

The best grounding system yet is what's called the "star" grounding system where all of the ground connections are the same length. Do a google of the term and you should find plenty of in depth reading on the subject.
Click to expand...

Hi Hambone,

The reason the "star" grounding system is superior is not so much that all the ground connections are the same length, but that they all reference a common point (hence, the "star" terminology). This common reference point then becomes the uni-potential point from which all grounds are referenced, eliminating the possibility of ground loops.

BTW...Jake has been showing off the work you've been doing on his "Jazzwick"...Great stuff! I can't wait to see the finished product.

Kez
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back