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Jazz Shielding Pictorial (Big Images Warning)

#581
Livewire said:
I thought so but I switched basses and my Fender MIM P was silent. I'm not exactly sure what to do, this hum is annoying me.
Click to expand...
The P is a totally different pickup design. If you're sure you've followed all the instructions here in this thread, and you've made sure all the shielding and grounding is 0 ohms everywhere, your only options are to try different amps or maybe pickups.
 
#584
Maybe I'm a little slow, but I'm still confused on what to do :(. Right now the ground wire is soldered to one of the volume pots I believe. If I take the ground wire running from the bridge and screw it into the body where the aluminum shielding is and then put sodder over it, would that do anything?
 
#585
Livewire said:
Maybe I'm a little slow, but I'm still confused on what to do :(. Right now the ground wire is soldered to one of the volume pots I believe. If I take the ground wire running from the bridge and screw it into the body where the aluminum shielding is and then put sodder over it, would that do anything?
Click to expand...
Only if you don't already have a good connection everywhere (btw, it's spelled "solder").

It's really not hard. You just have to make sure the "can" you're forming with all the sheilding reads 0 ohms from any two points anywhere, and make sure you have all your ground wires going to a common point somewhere. If you've done all that, and you still have noise, it's probably just a pickup design issue.

The hardest lesson to learn here is, you can't always silent every bass... even if you do this project perfectly.
 
#586
Vic said:
Only if you don't already have a good connection everywhere (btw, it's spelled "solder").

It's really not hard. You just have to make sure the "can" you're forming with all the sheilding reads 0 ohms from any two points anywhere, and make sure you have all your ground wires going to a common point somewhere. If you've done all that, and you still have noise, it's probably just a pickup design issue.

The hardest lesson to learn here is, you can't always silent every bass... even if you do this project perfectly.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
#589
after re-wiring checking and double checking the wiring on my marcus miller jazz bass like the thread suggested i still have noise..it is basically wired like a jazz only with added preamp..the room i just moved to seems give me horrible buzz even thru headphones etc..the other basses i have only buzz if i roll the pup off and/or am not touching the strings..but this is my main bas right now and id really like to be able to jam on it when at home..what to do?? should i try the copper shielding or just gett all new preamp and pups? any help would be awesome thanks!!
 
#590
erikmilan1987 said:
Thats totally right... well now everybody knows why star grouding on guitars is not necessary...

short asnwer is... ITS ALREADY STAR GROUNDED.

This is a lesson for those that thought that the jazz bass control plate was made for cosmetical reasons.

So ppl if you have a great jazz bass (good craftmanship) and want to reduce the noise in the signal just do a well made shielding with copper tape or/and buy hummbucking jazz bass pickups.
Click to expand...

I would love nothing better than to see the star ground discussions come to an end. It breaks my heart to see people running individual wires all over the place knowing that it probably isn't going to help them make their instruments any quieter.

I'll say it along with you erikmilan1987, and perhaps more will start listening....

STAR GROUNDING DOESN'T HELP!
 
#591
MglMatador said:
I'll say it along with you erikmilan1987, and perhaps more will start listening....

STAR GROUNDING DOESN'T HELP!
Click to expand...
HAH! You guys a WAY late to the game. I fought that fight pages ago. :)

I will say this tho, that qualification only works if you have excellent connectivity between all ground points. However, given that stipulation, yeah, don't sweat the star. Bottom line, just make sure you can't measure any significant resistance between all your ground points and you're good.
 
#592
Damn, sorry guys, forgot about this.

If one of the mods would be so kind as to edit my first post, changing psionicaudio.COM to psionicaudio.NET will fix the links.

SchematicBVT.jpg


ControlCavity.jpg


PickupCavities.jpg


ControlsTop.jpg


PotsWiring2.jpg


PotsWiring1.jpg


GroundLugCloseUp.jpg
 
#593
Here's some shielding on an SX jazz.

1) First shield bottom of neck pickup route

IMG_6723.jpg


2) Then two pieces on the front and back of the route, with a little bit hanging over the top edge

IMG_6725.jpg


3) Then the left edge of the route

IMG_6726.jpg


4) Rub a piece over the control plate route, and use that to cut out a piece to cover the bottom

IMG_6728.jpg


IMG_6729.jpg


5) Cover the sides of the control cavity, overlapping the bottom and side edges

IMG_6730.jpg


IMG_6731.jpg


6) Bridge pickup route is done in the same way: a piece for the bottom, then two pieces to cover the sides.

IMG_6733.jpg


7) Tack-solder all pieces together, and make sure the shielding is electrically connected

Completed job:

IMG_6734.jpg


Also make sure that the shielding in the bridge pickup route is connected to the rest of the shielding in some manner (a wire, a shielded copper tube, etc).
 
#594
Hello everybody,
I am experiencing some issues with my bass. It was previously equipped with EMG active pickups and a BTS System - I used this set for more than 10 years, no problem at all.
I decided to upgrade, and the bass technician advised me to exchange the BTS for a Aguilar OBP-3, keeping the EMG original pickups.
Here is the problem: now the bass has become a FM receiver! I checked and everything is grounded, the cavity is shielded with aluminum.
Does anybody has any hint or idea? Is it possible a issue between Aguilar and EMG?
Regards,
Othon
 
#597
Lyle, I really can't thank you enough for this wonderful thread :).

I got some adhesive copper foil and shielded all of the cavities on my 1983 Tokai 'Jazz Sound' bass last night. It's not quite as neat a job as you made of yours, but it works and I didn't cut my fingers once :D.

I also replaced the original pickups with a set of Nordstrand NJ4s (vintage single-coils). The results totally exceeded my (already fairly high) expectations. I expected a decent reduction in hum - what I got was bass that was (at home) totally silent :eek:! Even when I dab my finger on the bridge or strings, there's no difference in the sound (and no 'click' either).

It's funny, as I did a shielding job once before on a Jazz Bass (below) and even fitted humbuckers to it, but that bass buzzed like a saw :(. As you can see, I only shielded the control cavity and it didn't do much good ...

007e86bc.jpg


Even with these NJ4SEs, I still had at least as much hum as with a normal Jazz Bass ...

e2b73b31.jpg



I didn't take any pictures of the latest shielding job, but it's basically done much the same way as yours, Lyle, but without the tack soldering (I used reversed bits of the copper foil and still got "0" resistance on the meter). Also, my wiring was much like the standard V/V/T job, except that I ran all of the black wires to a common ground screwed into the side wall of the control cavity.

I can't really judge if it had any impact one tone, as the pickups are different now, but the bass is certainly louder when it's meant to be loud and quieter when it's meant to be quite :smug:.

The one thing which still puzzles me about this whole shielding issue is this; Why don't Fender (and other manufacturers of non-boutique basses) not provide any kind of shielding at all on their new instruments :confused:!? I know that it costs time and money, but so do all the other stages of instrument manufacture :hmm:. It seems to me that the huge benefits of it would outweigh any costs.

Anyway, I will be shielding my other basses soon, including my StingRay, which buzzes a little despite having a 'humbucking' pickup. I guess that "bucking" is not the same thing as "eliminating" :p!?

Cheers!

Andy
 
#598
So, inspired by the success of last night's 'adventures in copper', I set out to shield my other (Tokai) Jazz Bass this evening. It only took 45 mins this time :hyper:, until I put it back together and spent ages wrestling with an annoying problem :hmm:. Basically, because the control plate had been put on crooked (by me) to line up with the edges of the (non-standadrd) Fender pickguard, the side of the jack socket was touching the (now shielded) side wall and shorting out, resulting in no signal. Once I'd realised this, I simply put the control plate on 'straight' again, using the old holes ;).

Anyway, although this bass wasn't having new pickups (it doesn't need them :smug:), I did slap on a brand new set of LaBella flats (hard to get in Germany :crying:) and the results were as outstanding as the white Jazz Bass that I shielded the night before - total lack of hum :D!

I took a snap this time, just to show you how it looks when done by an amateur :p ....


Shielding.jpg


Well, it does the job.

And here are my two mid-'80s Tokai 'Jazz Sound' basses, never having sounded so good :smug: ...

DSC_4692_799.jpg



Thanks yet again Lyle, for your inspirational (and easy to follow) post :).

(When the next lot of copper tape arrives, I'm going to do my StingRay :). It's obscene that my two humbuckered basses are now far noisier than my two basses with single coils :p).
 

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