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Squier Vintage Modified 70's Hum when Touching Strings

#5
that means that your bass's electronics are not grounded!

i would make sure that there is a wire running from the ground solder joint on your tone pot to your bridge. The wire does not need to be soldered to the bridge, a contact/touch is all you need, so you can wedge the wire between the bridge and the wood and then tighten your bridge.
 
#6
Gadela is correct, if you are touching the strings/bridge/metal and the noise gets louder you have a grounding issue.

If you touch the strings/bridge/metal and the noise reduces in volume, you have a shielding issue.

I would start with checking your ground wire from the bridge, check continuity if you have an ohmmeter kicking around.
 
#7
I had the same problem with my Squier VM P. The bridge ground wire was just floating in the channel, not making contact with the bridge at all. I removed the bridge, fed the wire through and taped it down with a small piece of copper shielding tape (the kind that is conductive on both sides). Put the bridge back on and no more buzz! To my pleasant surprise the bass is well-shielded with paint throughout and a cavity ground wire.
 
#10
So I started playing around and really concentrating on the hum.

The noise is more pronounced when I do NOT touch the strings.

When I touch the strings, the hum goes away.

I took off the control plate and verified that the grounds are connected. The bridge ground shows continuity.

What puzzles me is that the pots and pickups do not match like in the Squier diagram from the Fender web site.

The black wire from both pick-ups goes to the neck pot.

The white wires from both pick-ups go to their respected pots.

Has this thing been wired incorrectly from the factory?

I would love to post a picture of the wiring, but I am forum challenged in the picture department.
 
#12
That is a great picture.

My bass looks NOTHING like that.

The bass is brand new out of the box at Christmas time.

Something else this Squier.

What I might do is just bring it back to GC and have their tech look at it.

Being that the bass is new and not used, I'll have their guy tear it up and be reasonable for it.

I must have picked the one made on Friday at the end of quota month. :rolleyes:
 
#13
The black wires are pup grounds. They can go to any ground point. The whites are hot and ok. Single coil Jazz P'ups will hum, it lessens when both are on the same volume. When your hands aren't touching the strings hum increases. When you touch it should lessen. If I'm reading you right, sounds normal to me.
 
#15
Also, the sterling control plate is a ground between pots. The pot casing and washers may not make great contact. I suggest running a ground wire from pot to pot to pot, then to the jack ground. While you're at it, check that the shield paint had a good connection too; it's a wire with a "star" eyelet screwed into the wood in the cavity. This will not get rid of hum, bit it's good practice to head off future ground issues.
 

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