Fender Japan pick-up issue..

Hello fellow TB peepz!

I'm going to try to give as much info as possible describing my problem.
I've got a problem with my Fender - Classic Special Precision Bass '62 reissue. The bass is 'crafted' in Japan. I bought the bass new last year at my local music shop. Haven't had any problems untill now, I've also made no modifications.

So the problem is: whenever I plug my bass in my interface, I get this really annoying hum. I can best describe the sound as hum with a little bit of pigsquealling. The problem occurs when the tone knob is open, when it's all the way closed there is no hum. But as soon as I open the tone knob a bit more, the squealling starts. The more I open the tone, the worse the noise becomes.
This started a while back, and since then it's gotten worse. When playing through different amps I have the same problem, only less loud. I've tried it with different amps (Ashdown MAG300, Ampeg V4B and a MesaBoogie Walkabout) and also with different cables, from the most expensive in my bag to the cheapest. Nothing helped, so it seems like it's a pick-up problem. I've also tried two diffrent basses on my interface, but no such hum.

Today I took the bass to the same shop I bought it and asked if they could take a look at it again. The electronics guy told me that the problem is the winding of the pick-up. He also said the only way to fix it was to put new pick-ups in it, or to shield the specific magnets that cause the problems. But the problem with the shielding is that you're gonna lose some of the signal. So the pick-up won't be working 100%. The guy said that it won't matter that much and that you won't be able to tell the difference.

Now here comes the funny part. It's basicly Fender's fault, but they also said that it won't make a difference if I hit them up and tell them they have to fix it. They say because it was a special edition they have no spare parts and won't be able to make them. I trust their expertise on this, since they are an official Fender dealer. The pick-up is a Japan design, so there a no 'after market' pick ups that are exactly the same as the one in my bass, and they suspect they did the winding the wrong way around to save on production costs?

So now I'm in this dilemma between two options that I basicly don't want to choose from.
One: shielding (they'll do it for free, because I'm a regular customer)
Two: a new pick-up, which I'll have to pay for myself (they won't charge installation costs)

It's my main bass, I absoluty love it (you all know the love with your main axe) and I can't bear that it might never be the same anymore.

I've left the bass at the shop and the guy is going to work on it this friday, but I'm not sure what to do know. Has anyone had the same problem? What do you guys think I should do?
I can still pick it up before the guy starts working on it.

This is us in better times :D

benlennaG.jpg
 
Get your bass shielded. This is common for Fender basses. Fender doesn't recognize RF interference as an issue so in their opinion the bass is performing perfectly fine. I highly doubt you notice a difference in tone and I bet you really notice the lack of buzz. If you are really upset about the tone at the point it takes a few minutes to negate the shielding effect.
 
Get your bass shielded. This is common for Fender basses. Fender doesn't recognize RF interference as an issue so in their opinion the bass is performing perfectly fine. I highly doubt you notice a difference in tone and I bet you really notice the lack of buzz. If you are really upset about the tone at the point it takes a few minutes to negate the shielding effect.

Thanks for the quick reply. I also read the post you have attached to your profile. It was really clarifying!
 
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If they would, the pickup 'wrong' then you simply disconnect the 2 sides and then reconnect swapping the leads... In general the PBass pickups I have worked on / with have been wired RWRP so they are inherently hum cancelling...

I would suspect a faulty tone pot or broken bridge ground if it really just all of a sudden started this symptom.

Shielding a P Bass ... not gonna solve it is my guess. It won't hurt but I doubt there is my audible impact. If were a J then absolutely!