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Troubleshooting : Input jack wiring on a Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI

AvianSavara

AvianSavara

Apr 26, 2020
8
1
Longueuil, QC
#1
Hello good folk

I am the very happy owner of a used Squier VM Bass VI (CS14054267) but as with most VIes, it comes with its own bag of little issues. Some peeps complain about persistent intonation issues, some have opinions on the bridge, neck shim and string break angle, etc etc. I'm fine on most of these accounts. Mine, however, is a noisy beast.

Rolling up the tone knob has a tendency to be introduce immense buzz, particularly when playing through an pedalboard and amp, which makes using my fuzz/distorsion effects a little wild and annoying. I'm tired of it, so I decided to do some research.

I'm currently planning to do an electronics overhaul which includes shielding the pickguard and cavities with copper foil tape, including the cable routes/channels, grounding the trem plate and maybe rewiring/resoldering parts of the electronics. My experience with this is limited, so I'm taking my time to gather all tools, materials etc to do it right the first time (measure twice cut once, right?)

A lot of the wiring guides I see online seem to have one of the poles on the input jack connected to ground. When I opened the cavity on mine, I saw that that there was no such connection (see picture). Is this normal? Specific to the VM model? A flaw in quality assurance?

Thanks in advance for any advice :)
 

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#5
A VI is actually generally not super noisy from RFI (what “buzz” usually refers to) inherently compared to a lot of other single-coil Fenders as the pickups are relatively shielded via the metal combs around them (and that’s often where a lot of RFI buzz noise is introduced)- mine also had shielding paint from the factory, though the paint used to shield cheap guitars can vary in effectiveness. Make sure all these metal pickup combs and any shielding paint are all properly grounded through some route. Also make sure there is a ground wire running to the bridge (in a VI it usually goes into one of the routes for the cups that hold the bridge- make sure you have continuity between the bridge and ground using a multimeter- if someone added tape or anything around the bridge posts that sit in the cups as many do then you may not be getting a reliable bridge ground connection). I personally don’t like relying on grounding through the control plate alone and would add a lead attaching the ground lug of the output jack to one of the pots (then from that pot to the second pot) so you don’t have cutting out issues if one of the pots or jack come loose.

They are single-coil pickups so there will be some EMI hum anytime you solo pickups or use combinations that aren’t humbucking (you should get humbucking with both neck + middle together or middle + bridge together as the middle pickup is RWRP to both the neck and bridge pickups). This hum won’t be improved much if at all via shielding, it’s just the nature of single-coil pickups (but the high-frequency “buzz” sounds more like an RFI issue which shielding should improve to some degree)
 
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#6
Brilliant summary, Sunbeast, thanks!

I usually play with neck and bridge pickups, and more rarely do I play with solo middle, so pair-humbucking isn't really an issue in my case.

It's very much, as you described, a high-frequency hiss that's from RF. Come to think of it, the jamspace I go to is a mess of wires, neon lighting, wifi signals going to too many dang devices etc, so that might add up.

I inspected the other cavities. The shielding paint is very poor, and some patches are completely bare. So I'm going to do the total continuous shielding job.
 
#7
AvianSavara said:
Brilliant summary, Sunbeast, thanks!

I usually play with neck and bridge pickups, and more rarely do I play with solo middle, so pair-humbucking isn't really an issue in my case.

It's very much, as you described, a high-frequency hiss that's from RF. Come to think of it, the jamspace I go to is a mess of wires, neon lighting, wifi signals going to too many dang devices etc, so that might add up.

I inspected the other cavities. The shielding paint is very poor, and some patches are completely bare. So I'm going to do the total continuous shielding job.
Click to expand...
Yeah RFI is very environment-dependent. Some people play completely unshielded instruments and never have distracting issues, while some of us live and play in places that are inundated with interference (I found part of Los Angeles particularly bad when I lived there, not quite as bad in the part of Denver I live- but venues can be a total crapshoot so best to be prepared for the worst!). Just make sure that you ground any shielding you ad or it will actually make noise worse! Did you double-check the bridge-ground wire and continuity to ensure the strings are grounded? Comprehensive shielding can sometimes eliminate the need for a bridge ground but it is still useful
 
#8
sunbeast said:
Did you double-check the bridge-ground wire and continuity to ensure the strings are grounded?
Click to expand...

Yep. Checked it out while waiting for my soldering iron kit to arrive. There is no bridge wire that I can tell, so I'm thinking of using a length of copper foil tape as a relay between the bridge pickup cavity and the backplate and running another length of tape between both bridge posts. (I'm taking inspiration from Invalid Link Removed on Offset Guitars) and since I'm not using any rubber or tape inside my bridge posts, but copper tubing, the connection should be continuous.
 

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