Squier affinity PJ needs shield?

#3
HardNHeavy said:
only if its making noises other than bass sounds, open it up and see. If your bass hums once you touch the strings (but is otherwise quiet), you have a grounding issue. If your instrument hums but becomes quiet once you touch the strings, you have a shielding issue.
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Some says vice versa
 
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#4
You don't have to shield - some do, some don't. Depends on your tolerance for hum. If your J is a single coil you will likely get a certain amount of hum regardless; but it might help.

If you remove the pickguard and there is no paint, its not shielded. If there is paint, it may or may not be conductive (even if its supposed to be conductive, it may not actually be). If you have a meter you can verify. Personally, I use copper tape, even if it has paint. I have yet to come across a consistent factory paint shield job.

But again, with one single coil J, chances are youre going to get a certain level of 60 cycle hum no matter what you do.
 
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#5
SpyderX said:
You don't have to shield - some do, some don't. Depends on your tolerance for hum. If your J is a single coil you will likely get a certain amount of hum regardless; but it might help.

If you remove the pickguard and there is no paint, its not shielded. If there is paint, it may or may not be conductive (even if its supposed to be conductive, it may not actually be). If you have a meter you can verify. Personally, I use copper tape, even if it has paint. I have yet to come across a consistent factory paint shield job.

But again, with one single coil J, chances are youre going to get a certain level of 60 cycle hum no matter what you do.
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What about radio waves? Especially at high trebles EQ
 
#6
icarus88 said:
What about radio waves? Especially at high trebles EQ
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There's only so much you can do. You'll never get rid of all the noise, especially if you have, for instance, a Stingray, and you crank the treble - it can get very unpleasant (to my ears anyway, others may have different experiences). Just make sure you're grounded and shielded properly. Alot of people claim twisting the pickup wires can also help.

DylanTalksTone has 3-4 thorough videos on shielding if you want to check out some of the science

 
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#8
Lava said:
Nature of the beast. Only with both PUs at full tilt will it be silent.
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I'ts a PJ - the bridge pickup is a single coil, the neck pickup is a humbucker. With only the neck pickup on, it will be quiet. As son as you turn the bridge pickup on, it will (in a magnetic field) hum.

Your bass is almost certainly unshielded - one of the things they don't do on the cheapest basses. Shielding it will help with electrostatic hum/buzz, but won't do a thing for magnetic hum - to fox that, you would need to swap in a hum cancelling bridge pickup.
 
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#10
micguy said:
I'ts a PJ - the bridge pickup is a single coil, the neck pickup is a humbucker. With only the neck pickup on, it will be quiet. As son as you turn the bridge pickup on, it will (in a magnetic field) hum.

Your bass is almost certainly unshielded - one of the things they don't do on the cheapest basses. Shielding it will help with electrostatic hum/buzz, but won't do a thing for magnetic hum - to fox that, you would need to swap in a hum cancelling bridge pickup.
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My guitar is Quieter on the bridge pickup 😁 ridiculous but true

I'm thinking of quitting the hum and learning to live with it, it's a mix of audio engineering and EE engineering.

expertise required

My eq setting is in low bass low mid and more treble ,I should waive the tone
 
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#11
micguy said:
Radio interference is only going to happen if something in the system detects the RF signal, turning it into audible noise. Your bass is passive - it doesn't have any thing that can detect an RF signal.
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I did a test and got a signal that appeared and disappeared at high treble eq, beeeep....beeep...beeep

I think it's a radio wave
 
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#12
icarus88 said:
I did a test and got a signal that appeared and disappeared at high treble eq, beeeep....beeep...beeep

I think it's a radio wave
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What you are describing sounds like cell phone interference, which is RF. Your bass is not making that noise, but it is likely acting as an antenna. Shielding your bass can help reduce the amount of RF that gets passed on, but your bass is not the thing actually making that noise. Somewhere else in your system, some piece of electronics is detecting the RF and turning it to audio.

Try putting your cell phone right next to the control cavity on your bass - if you hear the signal there, move it away. My basses, if I put my cell phone in my left front pocket (not the right front) it goes from a minor noise to not there.
 
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#13
micguy said:
What you are describing sounds like cell phone interference, which is RF. Your bass is not making that noise, but it is likely acting as an antenna. Shielding your bass can help reduce the amount of RF that gets passed on, but your bass is not the thing actually making that noise. Somewhere else in your system, some piece of electronics is detecting the RF and turning it to audio.

Try putting your cell phone right next to the control cavity on your bass - if you hear the signal there, move it away. My basses, if I put my cell phone in my left front pocket (not the right front) it goes from a minor noise to not there.
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phone away, wifi on computer is off
 
#14
icarus88 said:
I did a test and got a signal that appeared and disappeared at middle high treble eq, beeeep....beeep...beeep

I think it's a radio wave
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Could be noise in you electrical system or something noisy sharing that circuit. Radio waves can be picked up by passive devices if close or powerful enough. Including near or on your amplifier. If you have a device close enough to your bass you can pickup noise there. Cell phone, power supplies, sven vetzer valves, unshielded flux capacitor.

I gave up and just shield and re-ground all my basses. If done properly, it really helps. In my experience many basses have little to no shielding and frequently have poorly connected grounds (looking at you bridge ground wire). For me, it just prevents a lot of headaches.

Confident you can sort it out.
 
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#15
aproud1 said:
Could be noise in you electrical system or something noisy sharing that circuit. Radio waves can be picked up by passive devices if close or powerful enough. Including near or on your amplifier. If you have a device close enough to your bass you can pickup noise there. Cell phone, power supplies, sven vetzer valves, unshielded flux capacitor.

I gave up and just shield and re-ground all my basses. If done properly, it really helps. In my experience many basses have little to no shielding and frequently have poorly connected grounds (looking at you bridge ground wire). For me, it just prevents a lot of headaches.

Confident you can sort it out.
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I do not use an amplifier, these tests were done with a headphone connected to the audio interface.


I ordered a device that could solve the root of the problem, a USB opto-isolator that grounds the system to a lamp

Cheap sound cards do not have ground lift
 
#16
I plugged in an XLR cable and pressed the ground lift button on the pedal, there was almost no difference. Would you believe it, I could hear the noise even from the refrigerator motor two rooms away, I realized that when I moved away
 
#17
I just got a squier affinity pj and it is noisy when i take my hands off the strings. I’m sure it has no shielding in the control cavity. It is crazy tho the bass plays and sounds very good for what I payed for it. It will be easy to do some shielding to quiet it up a bit. And worth it it is very fun to play.
 
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#18
+1 to if you touch the strings and it goes away, it needs shielding. I had a Squier p (non PJ) that did this. I shielded it and haven’t had a hum in 5 years. Another tell tale sign was it would hum in certain rooms (rehearsal, bars) and not others (home.)

Mine had paint, but it’s really only a half measure. You need to shield the pickguard too and connect shielding to ground to be fully effective (and I added copper tape to the whole body too.)
 
#19
CallMeAl said:
+1 to if you touch the strings and it goes away, it needs shielding. I had a Squier p (non PJ) that did this. I shielded it and haven’t had a hum in 5 years. Another tell tale sign was it would hum in certain rooms (rehearsal, bars) and not others (home.)

Mine had paint, but it’s really only a half measure. You need to shield the pickguard too and connect shielding to ground to be fully effective (and I added copper tape to the whole body too.)
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The guitar is a small antenna, I am a bigger antenna, it grounds me. I don't think paints will be as effective as copper, copper is a strong conductor.
 
#20
Took me all of a half hour to line the control and pickup cavities on mine with aluminum tape and apply the same to the back side of the pickguard.

Mostly what you're hearing is 60 cycle hum, which is everpresent in the world (Unless you live in Europe or Asia where it's 50 cycle hum...)
 
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