tape wounds and noise

[Green Knight]

Hi everybody! Potentially dumb question here ...

I just put Step Up tape wounds on a PJ parts bass I have. I've played bass for a long time, but I did not know about the noise issue with tapes. I love these strings though!

Weird question: if only the bass string is round wound, would that suffice to complete the circuit, thereby eliminating the noise?

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

I've used Tapes for well over 4 decades, and never noticed any noise issues that people comment on. I've had them on Hofners, Les Pauls, G&Ls, Dean Pace Bass (the stick style upright), and on Spectors. Only the Spectors run EMG pups that don't require grounding.

All I can assume is the Ball end of the string is metal and making bridge contact. That's just my guess.

Most of the time these were Rotosound Tru Bass 88s. But I have used others at times.

BTW, Chris Brubeck (Dave Brubeck's son) plays a fretless Rickenbacker exclusively using Rotosound Tru Bass Tapes and doesn't seem to have any issues. So who knows.

 

[Turnaround]

Your idea of using a non tape-wound on one string will work as long as you are touching that string. But the noise will come back any time you are not touching that string. You are the source of the noise, and when you touch any grounded part of the bass you ground yourself, draining away the noise. But with tape strings you are no longer touching the metal of the string, you are touching the tape which acts as an insulator. So you are not grounded and your body noise invades the circuitry of the bass.

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

BTW, none of the basses I ever used the Tapes on had single coil pups. They were all humbucker pups, except the Piezos on the Dean Pace Bass. Maybe that is what makes the difference. Just saying.

 

[jd56hawk]

Hi everybody! Potentially dumb question here ...

I just put Step Up tape wounds on a PJ parts bass I have. I've played bass for a long time, but I did not know about the noise issue with tapes. I love these strings though!

Weird question: if only the bass string is round wound, would that suffice to complete the circuit, thereby eliminating the noise?

I have four basses with GHS black tapewounds and two with D'Addario black tapewounds...no noise at all.
I've never heard of Step Up tapewounds. Maybe it's a specific issue with them since I've also used Labella tapewounds on basses in the past...Fender Jazz...with no problems.

 

[starjag]

With tapes, shielding the control and pickup cavities helps tremendously. La Bella 760N are my fav tapes

 

[B-Mac]

I have tapes on my Ibanez AGB140 semi-hollow body. No noise. However, it has a MM style humbucker and is passive.

 

[redstrand]

I put tapes on my acinonyx and it’s still dead quiet, they got rid of the hardware rattle too

 

[Mili]

Shield the pickup and control cavity.

 

[Bassclef46]

I only use labella tapes and on my American Original 70s Jazz I get no noise at all. The single coil hum is the same regardless of rounds flats or tapes.

 

[joelns]

With tapes, shielding the control and pickup cavities helps tremendously. La Bella 760N are my fav tapes

This. Had to do it on my Fender J-bass. The noise isn't gone, but it's substantially reduced. Enough that I generally don't notice it.

 

[Green Knight]

I've used Tapes for well over 4 decades, and never noticed any noise issues that people comment on. I've had them on Hofners, Les Pauls, G&Ls, Dean Pace Bass (the stick style upright), and on Spectors. Only the Spectors run EMG pups that don't require grounding.

All I can assume is the Ball end of the string is metal and making bridge contact. That's just my guess.

Most of the time these were Rotosound Tru Bass 88s. But I have used others at times.

BTW, Chris Brubeck (Dave Brubeck's son) plays a fretless Rickenbacker exclusively using Rotosound Tru Bass Tapes and doesn't seem to have any issues. So who knows.

This is string thru only ... maybe that's the problem? I have tapes on my big old Peavey T40, and that guy's pretty freaking quiet.

 

[Green Knight]

Your idea of using a non tape-wound on one string will work as long as you are touching that string. But the noise will come back any time you are not touching that string. You are the source of the noise, and when you touch any grounded part of the bass you ground yourself, draining away the noise. But with tape strings you are no longer touching the metal of the string, you are touching the tape which acts as an insulator. So you are not grounded and your body noise invades the circuitry of the bass.

Ah! That makes sense. Thank you.

 

[Green Knight]

This. Had to do it on my Fender J-bass. The noise isn't gone, but it's substantially reduced. Enough that I generally don't notice it.

Hmm. I'm getting conflicting info about shielding when I ask my gear head friends about this. Maybe I'll try it!

 

[40Hz]

Haven't run into noise issues with any bass I use tapewounds on. But I also make it a point to to make sure any bass I have is adequately shielded. And if it didn't come that way, I installed it myself.

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

This is string thru only ... maybe that's the problem? I have tapes on my big old Peavey T40, and that guy's pretty freaking quiet.

Bingo. The ball end is not finding ground on the bridge. Don't know how to fix that, other than an additional grounding from the ball to the bridge. Possibly a thin strip of brass or something like that from each string, might work.

 

[Rabidhamster]

You can also just shave enough tape off the back end of the string that it touches the bridge metal securely, then as long as you touch the bridge you’ll be good. Of course it depends on your playing style whether that functionally fixes things for you

 

[Wesley R]

I used tapes exclusevily from 1968- 2015, after a short break from I went back.

Never any noise issues. P basses, one Jazz bass, several Ibanez's, several Yamaha's, 1 Decca,1 JCPENNEY bass.

 

[Green Knight]

I used tapes exclusevily from 1968- 2015, after a short break from I went back.

Never any noise issues. P basses, one Jazz bass, several Ibanez's, several Yamaha's, 1 Decca,1 JCPENNEY bass.

JC Penney made basses??

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

You can also just shave enough tape off the back end of the string that it touches the bridge metal securely, then as long as you touch the bridge you’ll be good. Of course it depends on your playing style whether that functionally fixes things for you

If you shave off some of the tape wrapping, I think I'd a little CA Glue to hold the wrap in place. Then maybe sand the area to get good metal to metal conductivity.

I've seen Tape wraps unravel if the wrap breaks. Then you have a mess on your hands.