Neck Pickup "Popping" While Slapping Strings - Help!

Strings are hitting the pickup? Maybe try lowering the pickup.

 

Fender has a recommended pickup height. Might be good to start there and adjust to your liking. Seems likely the strings may be coming into contact with the poles on the pup.

 

Yep, absolutely the problem. The string won't look like it's hitting the pickup when you're actually playing, first because it's a single momentary hit happening in 1/31 of a second max (for slapping an open E string), and second because your hand's probably obscuring your view of the string. But if you press the string down to touch the polepiece you'll get the same sound, and lowering the pickup will cure it.

Other fixes include pickup covers; they're not just for show, they prevent this metal on metal contact. You can get either a complete replacement pickup cover, or if the pickup is "gooped" into the cover (many aftermarket coils, especially hum-canceling, are epoxy-bedded for a number of reasons), you can probably find or make an overlay that fits over the top of the pickup and is secured by the screws.

 

Just stick a thin rubber strip over the part of the pickup that the string touches. It’s probably the E and/or A string hitting the bridge pickup pole.

 

NEOPRENE SPONGE/FOAM SELF ADHESIVE STRIP 5MTR & 10MTR 3MM, 6MM,10MM THICK

 

Or electrical tape...

 

Electrical tape didn’t work for me. It needed more cushioning and thicker insolation. The tape I used was similar to that shown in my previous post but probably about 1mm thick. It was a actually the tape used on my laptop stand that the laptop sits on to stop it moving around. Works brilliantly. No more popping sounds when I slap the E string.

 

I know that many people advocate to set the pickups as high as possible to achieve a powerful sound. I found that exact opposite works for me. On my jazzbass, I set the neck pickup as low as possible, it's almost in line with the pickguard. I've done this because of slap popping, but later I found that it is also most dynamically sensitive setting. In that setting, the bass is most sensitive to what fingers are doing, which in my opinion is the must for developing effective right hand technique.
The bridge pickup I set so that the volume of both pickups would be similar. In my case, the bridge pickup is quite high.
I play '77 fender jazz with the pickups it came with.

 

Yep. Pickup too high.

 

Some pickups have poles that protrude above the plastic housing and slapping can cause the string to hit the pole. I have EMG active pickups that can be as close to the strings as you want. Other passive pickups I have are usually about 3mm from E and 2mm from G (with string fretted at highest fret) but they should be adjusted to give an even string to string volume.

 

Exactly, that issue is solved by using "sealed" pickups like EMGs that don't have the poles protruding through the casing.
I too have a Jazz Bass that has a pair of Seymour Ducan that I really like for the tone, but that neck pickup will give me the pop no matter how low I move it.

It is mainly due to my right hand technique, If I don't use the E string, I rest the bottom of my palm on it and it will get it closer to the pickups...and pop it goes at times.
I was ready to try solutions like nail polish to seal the pickup, but this is a pricey bass and resorted to playing closer to the neck and that did it. However is not a natural position for me and so if anyone has a more elegant fix, I am a taker!

 

I have EMGs with exposed poles pieces. The neoprene tape in my earlier post totally solved the problem. Try it. I can now have the pickups as near as I want to the strings. The tape I used is about 1mm thick.