Buzz in bass guitar

[monsteranus]

Im trying to figure out how to decrease or remove a buzz. I checked resistance in the grounding circuit, had various readinds of 5 ohms or more. I re-soldered all ground connections on the pot casings and was able to get the resistance to under 1 ohm but I still have the buzz.

I can tightly pinch a single string to have the buzz go away or lightly touch all the strings for it to go away. It has a precision style pickup configuration. One thing I notice is I can touch the coil post on one pickup with no change. I do that to the second pickup to get an increase in the buzz. I get less than 1 ohm from the bridge to the ground of the signal jack.

[big_teee]

Im trying to figure out how to decrease or remove a buzz. I checked resistance in the grounding circuit, had various readinds of 5 ohms or more. I re-soldered all ground connections on the pot casings and was able to get the resistance to under 1 ohm but I still have the buzz.

I can tightly pinch a single string to have the buzz go away or lightly touch all the strings for it to go away. It has a precision style pickup configuration. One thing I notice is I can touch the coil post on one pickup with no change. I do that to the second pickup to get an increase in the buzz. I get less than 1 ohm from the bridge to the ground of the signal jack.

Don't know if I can help, but question about your setup?
Your using a P-Bass with regular Split P-Bass Pickup configuration.
The Regular Split P/Us are 2 Single coils wired in a humbucker layout.
The originals had a Brass Plate under the Pickups as a ground plate.
Have the pickups been changed out, or are they original?
Terry

[monsteranus]

Its a P-bass copy so it does not have the plates you speak of. There is some type of metal bar on the bottom of the pickup case then a chunk of dense foam of some sort glued to the bar.

I lifted the bridge off a bit ago and the bridge ground was connected by just having about a half inch of bare conductor just folded back at the opening with the connection being a compression fit with the bridge screwed down. I soldered a new wire to the underside of the bridge. I dont know what the normal method of attatchment is for this.

It may just be a case of overall terminal cheapness.

Thanks for the reply!

[big_teee]

Its a P-bass copy so it does not have the plates you speak of. There is some type of metal bar on the bottom of the pickup case then a chunk of dense foam of some sort glued to the bar.

I lifted the bridge off a bit ago and the bridge ground was connected by just having about a half inch of bare conductor just folded back at the opening with the connection being a compression fit with the bridge screwed down. I soldered a new wire to the underside of the bridge. I dont know what the normal method of attatchment is for this.

It may just be a case of overall terminal cheapness.

Thanks for the reply!

It's possible that the 2 pickups are not wired correctly together.
One coil should be wound clockwise south up, the other should be wound Counter Clockwise, and north up.
Here's a couple of 71 P-Bass Pickups I rewound a while back.
I put it back like original, original type wire, and color codes.
Compare to these. Here's the link to my rewind Thread.
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t21850/
The pictures at the beginning are not vintage.
My pictures at the end are the vintage layout for a 71.
The Earlier models use cloth wire, and a different color code.
Good Luck,
Terry

[monsteranus]

I found one ground conductor going between the volume and tone pot cases that looked to be broken inside the insulation. I removed all the connections and just re-wired it and now the buzz is gone. The way the cluster of conductors were configured at the tone pot obstructed the sopt in the ground wire that looked to be broken internally.

All the conductors seemed to me to be too short in the first place and this break may have very well been caused with a loose rotating pot at some point in time. The solder looked funny to me as well. Solder left on the de-soldering braid was very dull and kind of cakey looking, not shiney as most solder looks on the braid after removal.

So for anyone else who may be having simular problems save yourself some time and unsolder all groung conductors and check them individually to know for sure. If a conductor looks to be tight lacking any slack be sure to inspect those closely.

[monsteranus]

I see the plates you had mentioned and those are not in this one.

Thanks for the help big teee!