Pickup buzz

[TheBassFreak]

In contrast with almost all the people here on TalkBass, I don't have a lot of knowledge about everything related to bass and pickups, so that's why I need you guys.

I have a bad habit of putting my thump on the first magnet (I think-) of my P-bass Pickup (Fender American Standard P-Bass, 2001). This makes a lot of noice when playing, and even gives me a little electric shock sometimes. I already went to a music store, and the guy looked at it and said the pickups are absolutely fine, and I just don't have to put mu thumb on the pickup magnet like that.

I play like this for 5 years, and just now it is getting a problem with only this pickup (on my other PJ bass, on the P-pickup, I don't have this problem with the buzz)

I may get some hate for this question, but hey, I'm here to learn. Thanks already for the people who really want to to help me! (Sorry for bad english tho)

Here a link to a video with the problem: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yJzeG4GlSpE
(I hope you can open it?)

 

[Plucky The Bassist]

Sounds like a grounding issue to me...had this on a few basses and fixed it (recently).

How handy are you with a soldering iron? Some copper shielding tape in the control cavity and an extra wire from the output jack ground to it could do the trick. Might be a good idea to put some copper shielding tape under the pickups too. LOTS of tutorials and threads on here about doing that, it's also a good habit for any basses since other factors can cause noise or buzzing (wifi APs, shoddy building electrical wiring, sub-optimal cables, etc.).

 

[Matt Liebenau]

The shock part concerns me a little. You should probably have all the wiring checked over by someone competent. The only place an actual electric shock could be coming from is the amp and there’s the potential for high voltages in there that could be serious if it finds a path to your hands through the cable and bass.


That said, I suspect a shielding job as mentioned above will help. Make sure to use a couple of extra pieces of copper tape and ground the pickup polepieces as well.

 

[sunbeast]

In contrast with almost all the people here on TalkBass, I don't have a lot of knowledge about everything related to bass and pickups, so that's why I need you guys.

I have a bad habit of putting my thump on the first magnet (I think-) of my P-bass Pickup (Fender American Standard P-Bass, 2001). This makes a lot of noice when playing, and even gives me a little electric shock sometimes. I already went to a music store, and the guy looked at it and said the pickups are absolutely fine, and I just don't have to put mu thumb on the pickup magnet like that.

I play like this for 5 years, and just now it is getting a problem with only this pickup (on my other PJ bass, on the P-pickup, I don't have this problem with the buzz)

I may get some hate for this question, but hey, I'm here to learn. Thanks already for the people who really want to to help me! (Sorry for bad english tho)

Here a link to a video with the problem: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yJzeG4GlSpE
(I hope you can open it?)

Does this happen if you touch a string with your fingers and the polepiece simultaneously? The bridge should already be grounded via a wire to the control cavity, so if you are touching the strings this shouldn't be an issue because your body should already be grounded via touching the strings. You can add a strip of foil to the bottom of each coil across the polepieces and solder wires to these strips that are then sent to ground in the control cavity and this should fix the issue assuming the rest of the ground path is also functioning correctly (cable shielding to amplifier chassis to 3rd prong of wall outlet to hopefully a properly grounded mains circuit in your house). If you are getting a shock then there is some stray charge finding its way through your body to a ground potential somewhere, but this could be as simple as static electricity