Re: A Bass In Bali -- Quiet Electronics

On Aug 19, 10:33 am, de...@xxxxxxxxx (Derek Tearne) wrote:
<patpowerss...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

But while great all is not perfect. I use a LOT of treble and there
is "60 cycle" hum, actually much higher but you know the sort. It
doesn't seem to be the amplifier: unplug the cord and turn it all the
way up and there is absolutely no sound, hard to believe, so maybe
there is an on-off switch on the input. The hum is much worse when
not touching the strings or plug and there is a pop when
reestablishing contact.

This is almost certainly due to a poorly shielded electronics cavity.
Cheap basses are almost never well enough shielded, in fact often
expensive passive or even actice basses are not adequately shielded.

What you need is some copper foil shielding or shielding paint. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding.htm
l
You can probably get equivalent stuff locally, but it may prove easier
to simply order from Stewart MacDonald.

If you take off the scratch plate of your bass, or open the electronics
cavity from the back if there is no scratch plate, you'll probably see a
small amount of aluminiun foil shielding behind the volume and tone
controls and no shielding anywhere else.

For the shielding to work properly you have to enclose as much of the
electronics as possible. It doesn't take long to do and will
significantly reduce nasty hums.

There are plenty of 'how to' articles on the web such as this one:http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php
Don't worry that this example is for a stratocaster guitar, the
principles are the same for any electric guitar.

--- Derek

--
Derek Tearne - de...@xxxxxxxxx
Many Hands - Trans Cultural Music from Aotearoa/New Zealandhttp://www.manyhands.co.nz/

Thank you very much, I shielded the control cavity with aluminum foil
and that reduced the buzz from major to minor. I then shielded the
entire pickguard and one pickup cavity and couldn't tell any
difference. I might try wrapping the bridge pickup in metal, who
knows, I might like the sound. I also noted that the split P pickup
is wired with both halves in the same polarity. I should get an
improvement if I reverse one, right?

The Danelectro (pride of New Jersey) bass I had had excellent
shielding. The controls were wrapped in copper cloth and the pickup
was encased in the "lipstick case" cover. I found later that it
really WAS a lipstick case.

What would be the quietest electronics I could get?

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Grounding issue on 1997 SG1
    ... BUT regardless of pickup: ... In single coil mode it sounds like normal single coil hum. ... And the guitar is wired to Gibson spec per their site schematic. ... that by simply shielding the entire back cutout with shielding foil. ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • Re: Squier
    ... If you shield the coil of a single coil pickup and it still hums then ... Shielding the pick guard does ... Thats because only the coils cause hum and a humbuckers coils take care ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • Re: Another shielding questiion
    ... You want copper foil and spray-on glue so it ... The basic idea of shielding is to enclose ... TOPS of the pickups with foil. ... Hum that gets in that way should be minimal. ...
    (alt.guitar.bass)
  • Re: Another shielding questiion
    ... You want copper foil and spray-on glue so it ... The basic idea of shielding is to enclose ... TOPS of the pickups with foil. ... Hum that gets in that way should be minimal. ...
    (alt.guitar.bass)