Double Bass Underwood Bass picking giving an annoying buzzing

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Daniel Panus

Oct 17, 2018
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#1
I got an Underwood bass pickup for my upright bass recently, and it's been giving off a super annoying buzz sound that you can only hear when playing the e string. I've included an audio clip of me playing it so that you can hear what I'm talking about. As you'll hear, it only affects the e string for some reason, and it does not affect the other strings at all.



For what its worth, I played my bass unplugged and listened for the buzzing sound, and couldn't hear anything. So it's probably not a bass issue. I also tried multiple amps and multiple cables and it made no difference. This leads me to believe it's probably an issue with the pickup.

Has anyone else dealt with this problem before? Are there any good remedies? Or did I just get a faulty pickup?

Thanks in advance
 
#2
It could be a one of several things. Sometimes the leads come out of the piezo crystals, I don’t think there’s a repair for that. Occasionally, the cable down to the 1/4” jack will move and lay against the strings or tailpiece. The jack will start buzzing around it’s attachment. Their could also be a short or crimp anywhere along the cable. Best of luck.
 
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#3
Just one more:
The ceramic might be damaged and this might only be audible with the E string as it has more vibrational energy and is closer to the pickup.

If you want to check if the connections are loose, play an open string and wiggle the cable close to the piezo a bit. If you hear loud noise when wiggling, a connection has been broken.
If it is the shield, you might be able to resolder it carefully to the brass (not too long, the piezo ceramic can loose the piezo effect permanently if it gets too hot).
Also wiggle the cable at the TS jack. If you get noise there, the connection is broken at the jack which is easy to repair by resoldering.

A damaged piezo ceramic cannot be repaired.
I once got a double bridge wing pickup that had a damaged piezo element. Luckily it was the one at the end, so I cut the cable between the piezos, made sure the is no contact between core wire and shield and sealed it. That saved it as a single element pickup.
I found the defect element by applying just a little bit of finger pressure to the brass areas and it crackled wildly, the other one didn’t.
 
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#5
You guys gave good answers but I think I’m just gonna try for a refund or replacement for Underwood Pickups, since it sounds like it’s unlikely this can be repaired easily anyway
 
#6
First check where the problem lies.
AFAIK the times of a free replacement of a defect Underwood are over. Unless it‘s quite new of course.

Wiggling at several parts of the cable and tapping/softly pressing at the pickup elements amplified is a task that could be done by everyone and only takes five minutes.

If the pickup is OK and you go for a replacement you will have the same problem again, so check first.
 
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