I'm having the same issue with my '08 deluxe jazz V.
After waiting over 2 months (and battling customer service- took 3 weeks for them to tell me that it would be 8 more weeks for them to cut me a new neck, finally they 'found' one deep in the system) for a replacement neck on my new bass (truss rod not set properly), I get the bass back last week, and 2 days later in the middle of practice, it started buzzing.
The bridge pickup is by far the loudest, and it gets louder if I just touch the bridge pickup, and if I'm holding the strings and touching metal on the bass, it gets quieter. I brought it back into the shop (right before closing) and they basically told me that there will always be some noise because of unbalanced pickups etc and I took the bass home with me. My cottage only runs on 2 circuits and it can get loud sometimes, so I figured I'd take it home and try it through a different rig in another house. I had already changed batteries, tried different cables, my Pbass through the same set up, and through my combo- which I then redid.
It is definitely a loud buzz, and is even poppy/staticy if I lightly touch the strings or pickup with my fingertips.
So today I called the shop and explained, and asked about having everything shielded- They replied that fender has been using some shielded cavity or pod or something (i forget what they said, but not that it was just a standard shielded cavity) and that the shielding probably wouldn't do anything. That there was a Fender bulletin out for most of their electrics, saying to try rubbing down the bass, especially the plastic parts, with a Drier sheet, IE Downy, because of static issues?? And that if that didn't work, they would make the complaint to Fender..
Does any of this sound ridiculous? Granted, they are the largest regional Fender service center, but I feel like I kind of just got brushed off. It was a little bit quieter through the tweeterless 15 and old ampeg tube amp, but definitely noticeable as more than just an inherent hum.
Anyway, I'm going to try the drier sheet today, and I'll report back. I really like the feel and sound of this bass... but I've had it for 6 months, and it's been down for 3 of them. There is a Vic Bailey in the classifieds I'm eyeing as a replacement, but I would still have to fix this hum issue before I could sell mine. I need a gigable bass while this damn JazzV is down, but I'm a bit hesitant to replace it with something that might just do the same thing!
*edit*
Does anyone know off hand if there was any update between the '06 and '08 Victor Bailey Jazz basses?
