hiss when touching pup magnets

My experience is that grounding the pole pieces is like putting a wet blanket over the output. It takes away the highs, at least it did on my Mexican Fender Blacktop.

 

So stop touching the mags!
JK. Clear Fingernail polish on the magnet ends. Just a thin coat or two. Remove the cover first so you can coat the tops and sides to cover a good amount of suface for good adhesion.

If you are used to working with CA, you can do the same with thick CA which adheres better.

Niether will affect the signal.

 

Just to offer a contrary view, I've grounded pole pieces on two different basses, which eliminated the hum without causing any detrimental side effects. Shielding tape or aluminum foil does the trick.

 

Don’t the MIM Fender Deluxe Active Jazz Basses have Fender Noiseless pickups? If so, you can’t ground the pole pieces, as the pickups are epoxied together and the pole pieces aren’t exposed on the bottom.

I would try the lacquer/nail polish trick. Cheap and easy.

 

CA=Cyanoacrylate Adhesive=Super Glue.

A small dab on the pole serves as an insulator.
Edit: A piece of electrical tape will serve the same purpose, either as a temporary experiment or a permanent solution (depending on the aesthetics).

 

Lol, just say that the first time man

 

The fumes might produce a white, misty discolouration on the cover of the pickups. This disocolouration comes off poly finishes with acetone, but acetone would likely start eating into the pickup cover. A small quantity of 2-part epoxy, applied to each pole in turn, would be a safer bet.

 

You seem to know exactly what is up. You need to ground your pole pieces. You can do this either with a strip of copper tape to ground them or some clear nail polish to prevent contact with them. I have done both.

 

Dude, this is the big leagues now. We use proper nomenclature around here when referring to the tools and supplies used, not cursive. Savvy?

 

Audere Audio Pole Piece Noise FAQ

 

Yeah, try earthing the magnets from the bottom. The trouble with this is that pickups such as duncans and others will have foam glued to the underside, and this is a bit of a pain to remove completely. Also, IME the copper tape, even if it boasts conductive adhesive, doesn't stay reliably electrically connected with the bottoms of the magnets in the long term. Your best bet for a permanent solution, is to use a piece of copper tape so a wire can be soldered, but actually use conductive paint on the magnets and overlapping onto the copper tape.

Another approach is to simply swap both the wires on both the pickups. If the inner windings (start) of the coil is at earth, then the hum is far less. With a pair of jazz bass single coil pickups that are "reverse wound", you should be able to wire them in-phase, hum-cancelling, and both will have the inner windings to earth.

 

Good copper tape will stay stuck (especially if you have foam under the pickup pushing on it) and be conductive - it's what you need. Your bass will be a bit less noisy, so yes it'll "sound different" , but the tone of what you are playing and want to hear won't change, unless what you want to hear is buzz.