Double Bass Schaller Pickup, Mechanical Vibration.

[Jazzpah]

I am very happy with my Schaller magnetic pickup, it has plenty of oomf and doesn't feedback. It suits my purposes, (playing in a big band).

But I also use my bass for symphony work and when the bass is unamplified, I get a mechanical buzzing/vibration/rattle coming from the pickup. It occurs mostly around certain frequencies, and is very annoying.

I sent the PUp off for repairs, an although it is better than before, the rattle is still noticable.

Has anyone else had this problem, and come up with a solution?

 

[jtlownds]

It's possible that 1 or more of your magnet cores is rattling in the winding. I actually had the "A" magnet vibrate right out of it's threads during an acoustic gig. You might try wrapping 2 or 3 layers of teflon tape around the magnets, and re-inserting them. They come from the factory with the teflon tape all ready on them, but maybe a couple extra layers would help. You can find it at any hardware store in the plumbing section

 

[Jazzpah]

Good advice, cheers, I will do that straight away.

 

[moles]

You could try dipping in in wax like we used to do with guitar pickups that had gone microphonic.

 

[Monkey]

I used to use a Schaller and liked it, but after a year or so, I started getting a rattle. It turned out it was the A-string magnet on mine, too. I never tried the teflon tape (good idea), but I tried gluing it in place. I could never get rid of the rattle, so I sold it.

I never liked the chrome look anyway.....