Post by huck on Nov 10, 2021 2:17:29 GMT -5
I recently bought a new Gretsch G2220 Junior Jet bass with two humbuckers. I tried it out in the store at a volume that I could still talk to the salesguy over. It played and sounded just great. I got it home and noticed a clank behind a couple of the strings when I fretted a note. I filled the nut slots with nut dust and CA and refiled them. I changed the strings and gave it a quick setup, adjusting the truss rod and the bridge. I'm just stating this so you'll know everything I did to the bass.
A few days ago, I convinced my son to play at an open mic with me. He's a drummer, so I turned up my Rumble 500c to gig level for the first time. I heard a lot of hum. From a bass with humbuckers. I turned off the lights, made sure my computer was off, etc. The hum stuck around. It sounded almost like the cable was unplugged, but I was sending plenty of signal to the amp. I unplugged the Gretsch and plugged my p bass in. No hum. We went to the open mic. I plugged my Gretsch in, and the sound guy ran up on stage and said, "Lemme take care of that hum." He messed with the amp that was there (Rumble 200c), and there was no change. He shrugged.
I got the bass home and plugged it in. The hum was still there. Leaving it plugged in and turned on, I took the back cover off. There was no shielding at all in the cavity. I figured that could be the problem. Then, in the course of poking around, I touched one of the wires going from the output jack to the volume pot. It made a lot of noise, very similar to the hum. If I moved the wire, it made noise. Touching the wires coming from the pickups to the controls didn't make any noise.
My first thought is there's a short in the wire, but I know next to nothing about this stuff. I do know (at least I think I know) that this isn't normal. The wires are all coated in plastic -- shouldn't I be able to touch them and not make any noise?
So that's where I am now. I'll probably take it back to the shop and have them look at it, but I'd love to know if any of you have run across such a thing before, and if so, what the cause was.
Thx!
A few days ago, I convinced my son to play at an open mic with me. He's a drummer, so I turned up my Rumble 500c to gig level for the first time. I heard a lot of hum. From a bass with humbuckers. I turned off the lights, made sure my computer was off, etc. The hum stuck around. It sounded almost like the cable was unplugged, but I was sending plenty of signal to the amp. I unplugged the Gretsch and plugged my p bass in. No hum. We went to the open mic. I plugged my Gretsch in, and the sound guy ran up on stage and said, "Lemme take care of that hum." He messed with the amp that was there (Rumble 200c), and there was no change. He shrugged.
I got the bass home and plugged it in. The hum was still there. Leaving it plugged in and turned on, I took the back cover off. There was no shielding at all in the cavity. I figured that could be the problem. Then, in the course of poking around, I touched one of the wires going from the output jack to the volume pot. It made a lot of noise, very similar to the hum. If I moved the wire, it made noise. Touching the wires coming from the pickups to the controls didn't make any noise.
My first thought is there's a short in the wire, but I know next to nothing about this stuff. I do know (at least I think I know) that this isn't normal. The wires are all coated in plastic -- shouldn't I be able to touch them and not make any noise?
So that's where I am now. I'll probably take it back to the shop and have them look at it, but I'd love to know if any of you have run across such a thing before, and if so, what the cause was.
Thx!
