Jazz Bass pickups noise when I touch pickup poles

jokergio

jokergio

Jun 25, 2021
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10
1,551
#1
Hello,

I'm new here. I've been lurking for one year, reading and learning a lot of things because of you and because of this great place. I'm a guitar player but I've been into bass and bass modding since I discovered this forum. I've been searching all over the forum for a solution, but I can't seem to find it.

I own a 10 yo unbranded jazz bass, bought for 150 euros approx. I wanted to do some modding just for fun, so I bought a pair of Wilkinson M series pickups, cause I heard they are cheap and they sound good. Since the whole thing is just for fun I wanted to spend for pickups less than the bass value.
The bass has always had problems with noise, even with stock Pups, so I decided to do wiring and shielding from scratch. I did the shieldind with copper adhesive foil and grounding everything. I replaced every cable inside the control, following Jazz bass diagrams. But I'm still having a big problem with Noise.

Whenever I touch pickup poles I get a noise like the one you get when you touch a guitar Jack connected to an amp.
It is strongest on the bridge pickup, way less on the neck one, but I get the noise on both. I checked the grounding e did the soldering two times, but the problem is still there. You would tell me "don't touch the pickup poles", but the problem is that even though my fingers are close to the pickup, I hear noise. The noise stops if I touch metal parts, but it doesn't completely stop. This makes the bass pretty much unusable.

Is there any way I can solve the problem?

Thank you very much and sorry if I have been long-winded!
 
#3
Try grounding the pole pieces on the bottom of the pickups with some copper tape.

upload_2021-6-29_13-36-17.jpeg
 
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#8
You might try grounding the tops of the poles with copper tape, and then put the covers on (if they can still fit). If you can do that much successfully, you'd also need to connect that copper tape to the rest of the shielding.
 
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#9
BlueTalon said:
You might try grounding the tops of the poles with copper tape, and then put the covers on (if they can still fit). If you can do that much successfully, you'd also need to connect that copper tape to the rest of the shielding.
Click to expand...

That's a good idea. You may also be able to put a strip of tape along the inside top of the cover too. Or, heck, right on top of the pickup, if you want copper colored pickups. :D

Or, if you're brave, pop the magnets off, put some copper tape on, and glue the magnets back on.

Or coat the tops of the pole pieces with clear nail polish or some other clear insulating material. Like, a strip of clear tape - you could use the kind used as chip protector material for cars, it's clear and very durable. Or even just packing tape.

Or switch to solid covers with no holes for the poles.
 
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#11
ex-tension said:
Sounds like some parts of the pickup coils are touching to the polepieces. Can you measure the resistance between the pole pieces and pickup coil connections?
Click to expand...

That's not necessarily the problem. The pole pieces are electrically conductive. Your body is picking up electrical noise from the environment. When you touch the pole piece, the pole piece is in a circuit with your body, and the noise you're picking up is causing a current in the pole piece. That current radiates from the pole piece, which is right in the worst possible place from a noise perspective - in the middle of the coil. The coil picks up the radiated signal.

Essentially, when you touch the pole piece, it acts like a tiny noise antenna and creates a noise signal in the middle of the pickup.

If you ground the pole piece, then the noise signal your body injects just goes to ground instead of radiating from the pole piece.

Many Fender style pickups do not have grounded pole pieces and they will predictably cause noise when you touch the pole pieces. It's a mystery to me why a manufacturer wouldn't ground the pole pieces, but many don't.

Of course, if the pole piece IS actually in contact with an uninsulated section of the coil wire, then you will get noise that way, too, but IME that's much less common. That's a legitimate failure versus just bad design.
 
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#12
BlueTalon said:
You might try grounding the tops of the poles with copper tape, and then put the covers on (if they can still fit). If you can do that much successfully, you'd also need to connect that copper tape to the rest of the shielding.
Click to expand...

Yess, it worked!! I did exactly like this. It wasn't so easy but it's working!
I covered the inside of the pickup cover too, just in case some of the copper foil had taken off near the poles.
Thanks to all of you for your quick and helpful replies! :thumbsup:
 
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#13
jokergio said:
Yess, it worked!! I did exactly like this. It wasn't so easy but it's working!
I covered the inside of the pickup cover too, just in case some of the copper foil had taken off near the poles.
Thanks to all of you for your quick and helpful replies! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Glad we could help!

May I ask where you're from?
 
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