Chasing noise on "noiseless" PUP systems.

That's a lot of plug in connectors. I'd plug it in and dial it in to maximum noise and start poking and prodding to see if you can make it do anything. Sometimes those aren't tensioned all that well and it could be any number of things. If that is the case, they can be splayed out for a tighter fit. Visually inspecting the various solder joints wouldn't be a bad idea either.

On the Tele, the most common culprit for a noisy bridge pickup is something having to do with the bridge grounding. Sometimes the hardware gets grounded via the backplate on the pickup and when you swap pickups you lose that and need to add a wire. In other times it gets wired such that the ground ends up going to the lead, which makes a crazy amount of noise. You said you've checked it already so maybe that is just old news. A back up guess would be double checking the wiring, as the color schemes on DiMarzio are unique to them and very few other companies. Sometimes that little solder joint connecting the two coils (black and white) can wander around and touch things they shouldn't, too.

Thanks funkykikuchiyo. I'll do that on the bass ... see if I can make it act up by "poking round a bit".

On the Tele, it's been a while since I tried messing with it. The bridge ground had been brought up before, I'll check it all out again. I'll post a PIC or two as well when I crack it open. It's not a guitar I get out to play hardly at all. It's cased up and I have six others either on stands or hanging on the wall.