rmorris

Basically - in a hand waving sort of way - a shield reflects most of the rfi and a small amount is absorbed depending on the Surface Transfer Impedance (STI) of the shield material, the frequency of the interference and the thickness of the shield. A small finite amount 'gets through' the shield. Basically the better a material is as an electrical conductor the better it is at screening eg Copper is better than Aluminium. The important thing about implementing a shield is that it is held at a fixed potential with respect to the electronics. This almost always means a good solid connection to 'ground' or 0V. This may, or may not, be connected to the actual 'Earth'. (The 'Earth' connection is essentially for electrical safety - think about a car or aeroplane where there is no galvanic connection to earth but screening considerations still apply) Bear in mind that different considerations apply where the interference has a large magnetic field component (as opposed to electrical field) component. In practice this means mains hum caused by transformers etc.

Might be the relative output levels I guess but also the wax or resin potting on the J might be suspect ? Hopefully some pickup experts might chime in...

All things being equal Copper is a more effective shielding material.

To clarify - Do you definitely wish to go fretless or is it (as I read it) just a 'side thought' ?

The pickups are (Alan) Entwistle. Not Entwhistle. I'm not trying to be pedantic but it reminds me that there was an 'amusing' debate on TalkBass about whether (John) Entwhistle had really in some way 'authorised' these pickups. I think someone put them right in the end but...you know...Americans 🙃

No. Copper is non ferrous ie not ferric. Metals with Ferric properties contain Iron (Fe in periodic table) so basically irons and steels. Aluminium is also non ferrous.

Sounds like that cable may not be proper "High Impedance Instrument Cable". It should have a semiconducting layer between the core and the screen to attenuate noise due to cable movement.

Beyond contamination of the windings a metal string is liable to loss of tension over time.

It sounds like it's survived. wooden floors are generally fairly 'bouncy' in contrast to concrete etc.

Yes - it's misleading. 'Isolated' has a specific and generally accepted meaning wrt electronics and power sources. They should be described as having individual short circuit protection.

Or you could use foam instead. Might be easier to handle ?

Both 'TR' and 'Q' have been commonly used for transistor component references. Similarly an integrated circuit may commonly be 'U' or 'IC' etc...

Just to mention that I bought one of these and when I looked at Studiospares yesterday there was just one left in stock. Only used with bass and on phantom power as of yet. Does what it says - haven't investigated noise levels etc. Treble control doesn't really touch the bass guitar range for me (maybe if I had played with newer strings) but it seems all good.

Well it's the same as the cable but hardwired to make the same connections.

Sounds about right to me. 'Ski Jump' condition near where neck meets body ?