Single coil P bass=crazy hum?

[Fender_Bender]

Hey gang. I’ve been gassing for a single coil p bass lately so I went into a local store armed with cash. I knew there’d probably be some hum so I plugged into a couple of amps to see how bad it was. It was bad, like 48 ounce can of bees bad. It was doing the quiet in one direction while buzzing at a 45 degree angle thing. The store is all fluorescent lighting which could be a worse case scenario, I dunno. I wasn’t going to plop down the money on a gamble. My jazzes do the same thing at home when soloed but it’s not really terrible like in the store. Putting in a $200 aftermarket pup kinda defeats the purpose of buying a Squier in the first place. Thoughts?

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Spend $20 doing a shielding job on it & put some better pots in there while you're at it.

 

[line6man]

Shielding doesn't do anything for 60Hz hum. Shielding is for higher frequency whine.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

If it was buzzing in one direction & quieter in another, that's not 60 Hz hum.

"It was doing the quiet in one direction while buzzing at a 45 degree angle thing"

 

[Fender_Bender]

The funny thing is that when I aimed the body directly upwards towards the lights the hum went away. But otherwise like I said it depended on the physical orientation of the bass. I take it this is something that’s airborne and not a shielding concern?. Or is it coming through the wiring. Touching the strings etc made no difference. It looks like it is painted inside with a conductive paint.. I wonder how effective the pickup covers that came with them originally are on this problem or if they really did nothing at all?.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

This is probably going to descend into an argument about what shielding can or cannot do, so I'll just point you to a thread where I already discussed this a lot:

Noise when I tilt the bass?

If the noise was not constant, it's not coming from the power & interference travels in waves, which is what (better) shielding is for, to stop it before it gets into your pickups or wiring.

 

[lz4005]

My jazzes do the same thing at home when soloed but it’s not really terrible like in the store.

Thoughts?

It should buzz exactly the same as your Jazz with one pickup soloed. Mine do, at least. Never a problem unless I'm sitting near an old school CRT monitor.

 

[Fender_Bender]

This is probably going to descend into an argument about what shielding can or cannot do, so I'll just point you to a thread where I already discussed this a lot:

Noise when I tilt the bass?

If the noise was not constant, it's not coming from the power & interference travels in waves, which is what shielding is for, to stop it before it gets into your pickups or wiring.

I went through that thread but didn’t know how much was applicable since she was getting noise with a humbucker. What I experienced is I’m sure the most commonplace problem with single coils. I’ve just never had one so I’m not sure what is and isn’t normal. I didn’t want to be one of those guys who bought one and returned it because of the typical noise. I guess it’s not to be as I don’t really want to throw extra money into a CV Squier.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I get that. I bought a couple of different P/J basses for around $100/ea. & couldn't be fussed with spending the time or money to silence their bridge pickups.

 

[Fender_Bender]

It should buzz exactly the same as your Jazz with one pickup soloed. Mine do, at least. Never a problem unless I'm sitting near an old school CRT monitor.

That’s what I was thinking. My house is probably a lot “quieter than the store. If I solo a jazz pup and turn 90 degrees to how I typically play I get the same noise but at maybe 30-40% of the store level. The two amps I tried were different on the noise front to further muddy the waters.

 

[Fender_Bender]

I think the thing I’ll try is to bring one of my jazzes to the store,solo a pup, and compare the hum between the two basses. If they are similar then I think the p bass would be liveable in my house.

 

[DavC]

if you want a quiet old style P , install a stacked pup and copper shield away .. !

my 51 mutant was very quiet .. sshhhhhh

 

[Bassquest]

Armed with cash? You need longer arms so you can dig deeper in your pockets and come up with something better like a Mexi bass. Just kidding. Sometimes the electronics on less expensive basses aren't that great.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I picked up a super lightweight Squier Tele in the pawn shop one day & put it back immediately after plugging it in, horrendous noise from those singles.

 

[shadven]

I have a bunch of single coil Telecaster basses and '52 P. I get a little hum when I am right on top of my amp. I have never had an issue at gigs, recording or at practice.

 

[Fender_Bender]

if you want a quiet old style P , install a stacked pup and copper shield away .. !

my 51 mutant was very quiet .. sshhhhhh

View attachment 2843103

If I were to buy it and really connect with it then a humbucking pickup would be the ultimate solution. Not sure how that would effect the tone or whether I want to get into it for that amount. I should probably check the other stores in the area to see if they have a used one. I would actually prefer the butterscotch colour if I had my druthers. The blonde is white...really,really white.

 

[Fender_Bender]

I have a bunch of single coil Telecaster basses and '52 P. I get a little hum when I am right on top of my amp. I have never had an issue at gigs, recording or at practice.

Looks like you play with the guards in place. Do you think the pickup cover actually helps with noise in this regard?. I think this is one of the rare instances where there is enough space in between there for me to play comfortably (particularly if I notch the guard a bit to bring the cover a little further forward).

 

[Marikk]

I have one of these wired Single/series/parallel

51 P-Bass Stack

 

[Yahboy]

How about this ?

jess_loureiro_hand_wound_pickups | eBay

Make offer with him.

 

[cnltb]

Not necessarily.