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Jazz Shielding Pictorial (Big Images Warning)
- Thread starter Lyle Caldwell
- Start date
Thank you Lyle and other knowledgeable contributors to this thread! I just finished upgrading a jazz bass that hummed and buzzed like crazy. Complete coppertape shielding (soldered and all measured through), new pots, jack output and wiring. I applied star grounding, and now it is silent as a mouse. Fun job it was. Highly recommendable.
I must say I spent a good half hour measuring and tweaking because the pickups where dead silent too, initially, but then I discovered that one leg of the tone cap was touching the hot lug of the output jack. Phew.
I must say I spent a good half hour measuring and tweaking because the pickups where dead silent too, initially, but then I discovered that one leg of the tone cap was touching the hot lug of the output jack. Phew.
do the the model j dimarzios (w/adj poles) and/or the stock MIM jazz basses need this kind of shielding? i always used aluminum foil.. i like the idea this post describes
CrashClint
I Play Bass therefore I Am
I wish I would have seen this before I bought Copper Tape. I ended up getting Copper Slug Tape from Home Depot.
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My replica j-bass is dead quiet, but I sure like the idea of changing the pots so there's no volume/volume but a blend/master volume setting. Not sure how to do that though... Is soldering the way it is in the OP all there is to do??
They are, ofcourse. However, if I turn one of the pots down, I get a little hum. So changing pots was something on my list, but the setup in the OP sounds great: only one pot to turn volume down while blending with the other. I'd like that.
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
The wiring schematic in the OP will get you a V/B/T. You can also google a schematic, just look for "jazz bass wiring blend control" or something similar. You would only need to change one pot, not all three.
The hum you get when you favour one pickup is 60hz hum. That is due to your bass using single coil pickups. The only way to stop that hum would be through a pickup swap or modifying your electronics with an Audere pre-amp or dummy coil.
What I do, and what I recommend, is solder the bridge ground wire right to the shielding. I ground everything in the signal chain at the jack. There's no advantage electronically doing it that way, it's just less messy, with fewer wires.In the OP, the pickup and bridge ground wires are attached to the ground lug while the pots use a common ground on the output jack. Is there a specific reason for this? Why not just use one common ground? I'm planning to shield my Jazz Bass and need some insights
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
This is fantsstic as I am planning on doing this to my 2004 HWY-1 Jazz bass once I choose a new set of SC pickups to replace the ridiculously bright stock pickups in the bass. A great road map to cavity shielding success. 
Alright, thanks! So basically, in a bass or guitar the star grounding technique doesn't have major advantages compared to standard grounding except for the tidy look, right?
I think I'll go with your suggestion and wire the brige ground to the shielding and everything else (pickups and pots) to the output jack.
It's my opinion that a star ground is actually less tidy because it requires additional wire(s) to go to the hub.
As anyone who has had grounding issues at a gig knows, good grounds are important. But there's just not enough circuitry inside a passive bass for it to matter. If you shield the entire inside of your control cavities and it's all connected to each other and to the jack, then your shielding IS the hub of a star ground.
As anyone who has had grounding issues at a gig knows, good grounds are important. But there's just not enough circuitry inside a passive bass for it to matter. If you shield the entire inside of your control cavities and it's all connected to each other and to the jack, then your shielding IS the hub of a star ground.
Ordered and received Entwistle JBXN (neodymium) pups. So, I opened my JB (replica) and found out that there was only ONE (red) wire coming from the neck pickup. The bridge pickup has two wires, both soldered to the pots, but again: the neck only one..? Is this common for certain type of pups? And I guess the best thing to do is remove everything and solder it the way it should be?
I'm thinking of doing this type of shielding on my Fender Aerodyne MIJ jazz bass, with p/j pickups (vvt). On this bass, the control cavity is on the backside, the cover is made of plastic (not shielded). Anything special I have to consider?
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Line the inside of the control route completely with the foil extending over the screw holes where the cover attaches. Line the inner side of the cover with foil as well.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Finally a P/J with no hiss or hum or noise.
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If the preamp touches the preamp ilThanks again for your patience and explanation. I have everything connected at one point. The Bare aluminum pickup cavity ground. See it in the pic ? Its the one going under the peice of copper strip tape. The reason why you see 2 wire nuts, is because i was just extending the bridge ground, because it was too short.
Well on second look at the pic, I think I put the pickup ground with that to.
That might be the problem. I need to put both pickup grounds under that top wire nut. The top wire nut, is my main lug. Its going under the coper tape, so that , should ground everything.
Im pretty sure, that is epoxy sheilding paint in that controle cavity.
Im going to try moving that bottom pickup ground to the top wire nut, and see if that fixes it.
John East did say, dont use sheilding paint. Maybe He knows something
I use the small batch $15 version of this. Best shielding paint ever. I also use a pipe cleaner with the shielding paint to coat the channels from cavity to cavity. I will never go back to copper shield
Have people found that nickel/copper paint vs tape works better? Definitely seems more simple to execute.
was the $15 version 12ml? Was that really enough to do both pickup cavities and the control cavity?!
