The pickup polepieces of the neck pickup on this 2004 American Deluxe Precision Bass V had, over time, begun to produce awful buzzy popping noise whenever someone accidentally touched them with his/her fingers; and it was getting to be too annoying to ignore. I believe this is quite a common problem, as it's been mentioned on various forums on the web. Relatedly, Audere Audio Engineering has come up with a very helpful and informative FAQ on this subject. Do take the time to read it as it answers many questions and offers a solution.
Upon disassembling both halves of the split P-style neck pickup, I discovered that the coils were completely unshielded; which might be a contributing factor to the problem. And, as the popping noise did not occur if you touched the polepieces while touching the strings or bridge; I was certain that the polepieces needed to be grounded.
To begin with, the pickup height foam strips were carefully pried off the underside of the pickups, exposing the bottom of the polepieces. As the strips had been attached with double-sided tape; there was some goo and gunk to be cleaned off with Zippo Lighter Fluid (naphtha).
Now that the pickup bottoms were clean, a strip of conductive self-adhesive copper tape was attached. A connection was established via a short jumper wire to the negative lug of the lower pickup; which was already connected to system ground. Yes, now the polepieces were well and truly grounded.
Next, the pickup coils themselves were wrapped with black pickup-coil tape; so that the windings would not come into contact with what was coming next. Following this was the next wrap of conductive self-adhesive copper tape. Another copper tape tab was soldered to the coil wrap, and this tab was soldered to the tape grounding the bottoms of the polepieces. In this way, any rogue interference would now be blocked and shunted to ground.
After thoroughly checking for continuity with a multimeter, the pickups were reunited with their plastic casings and reinstalled. Oh yes, I did also dab a thin layer of lacquer on the tops of the polepieces. Overkill? Well, maybe :)
Soon it was time to plug her in and let it rip. Guess what? The infamously noisy polepieces were now as quiet as mice when touched. Whew ... what a relief! So, guys and girls, you might want to try the steps I've outlined here if your polepieces ever start misbehaving. Last but not least, be excellent to each other and eat your veggies :)
Upon disassembling both halves of the split P-style neck pickup, I discovered that the coils were completely unshielded; which might be a contributing factor to the problem. And, as the popping noise did not occur if you touched the polepieces while touching the strings or bridge; I was certain that the polepieces needed to be grounded.
To begin with, the pickup height foam strips were carefully pried off the underside of the pickups, exposing the bottom of the polepieces. As the strips had been attached with double-sided tape; there was some goo and gunk to be cleaned off with Zippo Lighter Fluid (naphtha).
Now that the pickup bottoms were clean, a strip of conductive self-adhesive copper tape was attached. A connection was established via a short jumper wire to the negative lug of the lower pickup; which was already connected to system ground. Yes, now the polepieces were well and truly grounded.
Next, the pickup coils themselves were wrapped with black pickup-coil tape; so that the windings would not come into contact with what was coming next. Following this was the next wrap of conductive self-adhesive copper tape. Another copper tape tab was soldered to the coil wrap, and this tab was soldered to the tape grounding the bottoms of the polepieces. In this way, any rogue interference would now be blocked and shunted to ground.
After thoroughly checking for continuity with a multimeter, the pickups were reunited with their plastic casings and reinstalled. Oh yes, I did also dab a thin layer of lacquer on the tops of the polepieces. Overkill? Well, maybe :)
Soon it was time to plug her in and let it rip. Guess what? The infamously noisy polepieces were now as quiet as mice when touched. Whew ... what a relief! So, guys and girls, you might want to try the steps I've outlined here if your polepieces ever start misbehaving. Last but not least, be excellent to each other and eat your veggies :)
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