P Bass pickup problem

[Spidey2112]

2 year warranty on all guitars apparently.

I emailed my "sales technician" (I hate that title) and am awaiting a response back. I"m still trying to figure out if they are supposed to come grounded out of the factory, or if something in the bass is now malfunctioning.

Either way, I'm sure I'll get a response soon. If it's covered under warranty, cool. If not, from the information gleaned in this thread it won't be an expensive mod / fix / whaterveryouwannacallit.

Tah dah... Sound the trumpets! Clear the stage for 8 maids-a-milking!

 

[bassbenj]

2 year warranty on all guitars apparently.

I emailed my "sales technician" (I hate that title) and am awaiting a response back. I"m still trying to figure out if they are supposed to come grounded out of the factory, or if something in the bass is now malfunctioning.

Either way, I'm sure I'll get a response soon. If it's covered under warranty, cool. If not, from the information gleaned in this thread it won't be an expensive mod / fix / whaterveryouwannacallit.

Well you really don't know it won't be expensive and I'll tell you why.

First what is going on: You didn't say what exactly kind of "weird noise" you are getting but generally there are two. A loud hum or a super loud click. The click is when the metal string touches the metal poles. Since the strings (bridge) is usually grounded that is a magnetic sound not an electric one. Fix is lower pickups and/or tape over top.

The usual problem is hum injection. A pickup is made by winding wire around magnets (poles). So one end of the coil is wrapped tight around the poles and he other end of the coil is on the outside. On a Jazz bass it is typical to have the wire that is around the pols the GROUND side of the pickup. Thus, the pickup wire itself acts like a shield when your body (which acts like a huge hum antenna) injects hum into the poles. If the wires are reversed, any hum into the poles goes right into the output of the pickup. That's a jazz bass. But a P-bass is different you have two coils in series and that means one of the coils is ALWAYS floating above ground. Any hum injected into the coil will go right to the amp. This is why poles need to be grounded. IF you ground the poles it shorts out the hum and it doesn't get into the coil. Hence grounded poles are the proper procedure. But many makers just cut that corner. Fender is famous for half-baked shielding on their basses. You'd think on a MIA bass They get the electrics right, but go figure.

Finally there is the bad news. Because the coils are wound right around the poles it's possible for a short to develop between the poles and the coil. IF this happens you get hum injection in spades and even worse, if you ground the poles it just shorts out the pickup and it quits. Hence in this case the only fix is new pickups or having them rewound. however, usually the problem is just ungrounded poles. For example the MFD pickups on my G&L L2500s (both USA and Tribute) had ungrounded poles that injected hum. I had to fix them by grounding the poles. I just used conductive paint and covered the pole bottoms and the copper grounding plate under there to connect them. Worked great.

Good luck.

 

[Wolfenstein666]

I know what it sounds like when my strings hit the poles.

That's not it.

It's when my finger directly contacts a pole. Crackling and maybe a hiss.

Other than that they are quiet.

 

[bassbenj]

I know what it sounds like when my strings hit the poles.

That's not it.

It's when my finger directly contacts a pole. Crackling and maybe a hiss.

Other than that they are quiet.

Well a hum, a crackling, and a hiss are three totally different sounds!

I do suspect it's "hum" pickup though. "Crackling" is often the sigh of a loose connection, but without hearing what is going on it's hard to tell. Point is that if you touch a pole and this noise comes up and stays going on so long as your finger is there that probably what we call "hum". The thing is, however, that while hum is typically a low 60 Hz note because that is the usual electrical noise in a room from the wiring, but electrical noise in a room does not have to be hum! Many things put out all manner of noises, light dimmers, computers, you name it. So for that reason the "weird" noise you hear could be whatever is nearby creating interference. The fact that the noise is there so long as your finger is touching the poles may be a sign that it's noise pickup. On the other hand, if you tap on the pickups (or poles) with something plastic (say a comb or hairbrush handle) and you hear a crackling sound, that is a sign the problem is a loose wire or connection somewhere in the pickup.

Since you aren't too techy, these will be the sort of things the tech will go through, but at least now you know more or less what is going on.

 

[petrus61]

Just undo the pickup covers (after removing the strings), buy some clear nail polish from the pharmacy for like $1, apply a thin layer to the poles and repeat several times after each layer dries, it dries quick, put the covers back on, enjoy. Repeat as necessary when it begins to flake off (probably years). Done!