Shielding Question

[BigBadBen67]

Wow! That is gorgeous!

And you can’t even see the back of the neck! I splurged and got a nice flame maple. It’s gorgeous

 

[BigBadBen67]

Check the bridge ground.

Yep. I’ll check that when I pull it apart. Thanks!

 

[BigBadBen67]

Also if the foil you used doesn't have conductive adhesive the pieces should be grounded to each other (a bit more soldering).

Thanks. I’ll check that

 

[dwizum]

If touching the strings makes it quiet, then we know that the bridge ground is complete and intact. Touching the strings basically turns your body into a giant meat antenna, grounded through the bridge. If the bridge ground was missing or had a bad connection, touching the strings would make no difference, because there would be no path to ground. Of course, it doesn't hurt to check the connection.

This is also how we know that shielding the pickups correctly will help - when you touch the strings and make your body becomes a shield, the bass is quiet. What you need to do is put a (grounded!) shield inside the bass to play the same role.

 

[Roxbororob]

I should add (forgot), that is a beautiful bass you put togther. Congrats on that!

 

[Deleted member 365158]

meat antenna

There’s a band name if I ever heard one!

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Yep. I’ll check that when I pull it apart. Thanks!

You don’t have to pull it apart use a multimeter put it on continuity and you can test the bridge ground and all your grounds without taking it apart at all.

 

[BigBadBen67]

My girlfriend’s been calling me that for years.

 

[BigBadBen67]

You don’t have to pull it apart use a multimeter put it on continuity and you can test the bridge ground and all your grounds without taking it apart at all.

I strongly suspect it’s the pickup cavity not being grounded. The hum got way better when I shielded everything. It’s just not fully gone yet. So I’ll try that in a bit.
Some bass players are techies, some of us just play. If I’m being honest I’m mostly the latter. I had no idea shielding had to be grounded to work. I thought it was just about blocking negative waves

 

[Deleted member 365158]

I strongly suspect it’s the pickup cavity not being grounded. The hum got way better when I shielded everything. It’s just not fully gone yet. So I’ll try that in a bit.
Some bass players are techies, some of us just play. If I’m being honest I’m mostly the latter. I had no idea shielding had to be grounded to work. I thought it was just about blocking negative waves

The bug may have bitten,
Next thing you know, the bridge or tuners could use an upgrade.
Then parts and pieces start collecting. Hmm a cheap bass could use those, and some killer pickups!!

 

[BigBadBen67]

Looks like that was it! I broke it down tonight, ran the ground from the pickup cavity shielding and grounded the control cavity shielding. And now I can't discern any hum, even with headphones on. So thanks for all the replies!

Now off to practice.

B