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Hum from Yamaha Bass
- Thread starter Luckydog
- Start date
Great advice again, thanks. The bridge idea is nice. Will do that. Yes, the bass had hum when I first checked it out. Yeah, I was sort of expecting that I might get *some* improvement, but would certainly not expect dead quiet. I went into this thing with the goal to lower his action only, since he wanted to be able to more easily do hammer ons and pops.……but once I got into it, it was pretty clear that he probably doesnt even know what he wants specifically, nor how it might benefit him. His strings were stiff nickel-plated rounds which were pretty dirty. If I can get his bass back to him with low action, bright sound, and greatly reduced noise…then both he and I will be happy campers!
Oh, ok. I initially misunderstood you, and thought you meant to try to unscrew the knob itself. Yes, I expect to see the thin hex nut under the knob like usual. Thanks.
Well it certainly isn't going back to him in a worse state, a nice shielding job will do very nicely thank you, especially if you consider that it's a time and labour heavy process and I dunno what a tech would charge but gotta be 150 plus if done right.
Since materials are very cheap you're not really out of pocket too much and it's always rewarding to help others and make something a bit better for them with your skillset.
Hope you get the knobs off OK.
I don't know if this makes a big difference, but I always shield the inside of the control cavity cover.
Also, I make sure the control cavity shielding overlaps the control cover screw holes. Home spun Faraday cage!
Another thing. I noticed replaced the preamp on my Ibanez and shielded the pickup cavities while I was at it. Ibanez factory wiring includes a ground wire from the floor of each pickup cavity to the common ground in the control cavity.
One last thing. I had someone assemble a Warmoth P bass parts caster for me a few years ago. A few months ago I changed the pickup and noticed that when the bass was put together a ground wire was soldered from the black wire on the pickup to the floor of the pickup cavity shielding.
Hope this helps!
Also, I make sure the control cavity shielding overlaps the control cover screw holes. Home spun Faraday cage!
Another thing. I noticed replaced the preamp on my Ibanez and shielded the pickup cavities while I was at it. Ibanez factory wiring includes a ground wire from the floor of each pickup cavity to the common ground in the control cavity.
One last thing. I had someone assemble a Warmoth P bass parts caster for me a few years ago. A few months ago I changed the pickup and noticed that when the bass was put together a ground wire was soldered from the black wire on the pickup to the floor of the pickup cavity shielding.
Hope this helps!
Right. All cavities should have a good continuity reading between them is the first thing achieved by soldered wires or connection through the pickup cavity to control cavity via copper tape tunnels that connect the 2 cavities. Secondly all grounds should be connected either individually to a star point said star point attached in some way to the shielding, or via the pots that are in contact with the shielding including the bridge ground.
Continuity should be strong from the meter when you have one probe on your jack ground and the other probe randomly placed in any cavity shield and pot case.
Pro tip: Copper tape is not that expensive, but you can buy it for even less if you look for "copper snail tape". It's literally the same tape as shielding tape for instruments and has the same conductive adhesive, but is available for a third or a quarter of the price.Well it certainly isn't going back to him in a worse state, a nice shielding job will do very nicely thank you, especially if you consider that it's a time and labour heavy process and I dunno what a tech would charge but gotta be 150 plus if done right.
Since materials are very cheap you're not really out of pocket too much and it's always rewarding to help others and make something a bit better for them with your skillset.
Hope you get the knobs off OK.
When I worked on my Vision bass (link earlier in the thread), the reason why I shielded the pickup wires was so that it was easier to have ground continuity between the three cavities that way. Otherwise you can route a bare wire alongside pickup wires and solder it to the copper.
I also taped under and over the bridge grounding wire to make a better connection. Soldering under the bridge doesn't make much sense, but if you can make a nice solder ball about 15 mm (¼") from the end, it will help prevent the bridge grounding wire from moving and slipping into the tunnel.
Thanks TeeSee. I’m a grandpa, and we got our 2 grandkids (13, 15) into music a couple years ago. They jumped in with both feet and are having a blast. They are doing guitar and drum lessons and the 15 year old also starting vocal lessons.Their basement is now…yeah you guessed it….a band room. The 15 year old also started a 3-piece band already with his friends, and they have gigged lightly in a few places. His bass player is the one I am trying to help out. He is such a good kid, and I’m sure he has no money for string changes, or really anything much. He didnt ask for new strings, but I know he will appreciate them, and I want him to feel good about his bass. I can tell he is rapidly getting quite good, and I want to help him as much as I can (within my limitations of course).Well it certainly isn't going back to him in a worse state, a nice shielding job will do very nicely thank you, especially if you consider that it's a time and labour heavy process and I dunno what a tech would charge but gotta be 150 plus if done right.
Since materials are very cheap you're not really out of pocket too much and it's always rewarding to help others and make something a bit better for them with your skillset.
Hope you get the knobs off OK.
WFrance, thank you. Very helpful info, re the cover and the overlap. That is something I probably would have neglected to do. I havent yet restarted into the control cavity but will today.
Yes, my BB734 (and -5A) buzz more than I’d like, though not nearly so much as the RBX260F or Roadstar mentioned above did before shielding.
It don't hurt to help young 'uns these days, in UK at least they don't have the spending power we had at their age, some will never even afford to buy their own starter house on a reasonable salary like we we able to back then. I had a bass for sale a few months ago I'd put on at £250 the buyer came 50 miles on the train, turned out he was starting at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts in August just gone, I let him have the bass for a good deal less as it was surplus to me and threw in a Fender gig bag cos he had nothing to carry it home with. Told him to see whether he could score a little secondhand combo with the discount. He texted me about a month ago thanking me profusely and said it was really helping him out, sent a vid of his fledgling band and they were really good. Hope he gets where he wants to go, but one thing is he really appreciated the help. I've got 11 basses still and can't play them all at once and if you can help a kid out, that works better in my bank that telling him to get lost and holding out for the highest bidder.
We got to look after the kids, as they will be looking after us one day...
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Good advice here for you.
Another trick for gently removing the knobs is to use dental floss. Slides underneath very easily... has bailed me out several times.
Once the knob is off, the hex nuts are easy to get at, which makes the control cavity easier to shield.
Cool.help you are giving the young bassist!
Didn't see this, you should be able to work around the cavity with the soldered joints in situ not ideal I know as the loose pots will still get in the way a bit but they'll be loose enough to move up the way. Just don't forget to connect each 'silo' to the control cavity you should have enough room in the holes between the pickup cavities and control cavity to get some thin gauge insulated wire through the as well as the pickup wires. Just strip the ends of each wire and solder each to the shielding. As long as the shielding hasn't got too many mucky paw prints from your fingers then the solder will take to the copper like a duck to water, if any problems the tiniest bit of rosin flux will sort it in a heartbeat
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Not to sound like a boomer, since I'm a millenial, but this is mostly untrue. The price per square meter (or foot) vs. average salary didn't change much over the years, but the average floor area of houses increased significantly.
Spending habits also changed and despite having a higher real disposable income, consumer spending is significantly higher in proportion to the salaries.
It's not true that the boomers and Gen X have so much money and that they learned how to be thrifty when they were young. It's that there just weren't that many opportunities to spend money. Luxuries like a cruise, traveling by plane, foreign vacations, TV, Hi-Fi, were completely out of reach, so you might have treated yourself to them maybe once or twice in a lifetime. Those luxuries went down in price drastically (and were replaced by other, completely unreachable, luxuries, like yachts or private jets), and since they are in reach
But that's for average salaries. The real problem is in minimum salaries or wages which haven't changed in some places (looking at you, USA), which contributes to the bleak outlook for a lot of people.
My son got a Yamaha RBX170 about a year ago when they were on sale….his is dead quiet, even when he solos the single coil bridge pickup. They are fairly high output pickups too, because I lowered them when I did a setup for him. I didn’t have to do any shielding at all. Maybe he just got lucky.
Absolutely, TeeSee. Thats the thinking we should maintain. We seniors used to be the harbingers of the future. We did some things well, other things not so well. That’s apparent from the mixed legacies we leave behind. Now, these kids are the future. So, before we lose the opportunity, we need to help them be the best people they can be, and achieve as much as they aspire to (within our limits of course).It don't hurt to help young 'uns these days, in UK at least they don't have the spending power we had at their age, some will never even afford to buy their own starter house on a reasonable salary like we we able to back then. I had a bass for sale a few months ago I'd put on at £250 the buyer came 50 miles on the train, turned out he was starting at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts in August just gone, I let him have the bass for a good deal less as it was surplus to me and threw in a Fender gig bag cos he had nothing to carry it home with. Told him to see whether he could score a little secondhand combo with the discount. He texted me about a month ago thanking me profusely and said it was really helping him out, sent a vid of his fledgling band and they were really good. Hope he gets where he wants to go, but one thing is he really appreciated the help. I've got 11 basses still and can't play them all at once and if you can help a kid out, that works better in my bank that telling him to get lost and holding out for the highest bidder.
We got to look after the kids, as they will be looking after us one day...
Got it, thanks! Good note on paw prints. Maybe I’ll wipe with alcohol prior to soldering. I’ve used a tiny set of needle nose pliers to help orient the tape prior to pressing in place. Works much better than my fat meat hooks!
