ground hum from victor bailey jazz

[Smythe]

Recently, a friend and I decided to temporarily trade basses with the possibility of a part exchange, my Lakland 4402 for his Fender Jazz Victor Bailey. I really like the VB, it has a very warm and woody tone and the preamp just gives you little frequency boosts that sounds good in pretty much every setting. The only thing that I'm hestitant on where a permanent trade is concerned is the ground/60Hz hum that eminates from it. I know they say single coil instruments are prone to this but my other jazz is quiet as anything. I originally thought the problem was the elixir coated strings I'd put on it, interfering with the bridge ground with the nanoweb not being conductive. I Changed over to some Fender 7250's and it didn't change anything. A quick peak in the cavity showed all grounds are secure and in a star grounded arrangement. One thing I did notice was the inner face of the back cavity has no shielding on it. I've ordered some copper tape to cover it up, but failing that , I don't know what it could be and I'll probably not go ahead with the trade . I was wondering if Any of you guys have ideas to solve this or have experience on this?

Edited February 2, 2014 by Smythe

[Smythe]

Ok, quick update on this one Basschatters,

After researching the whole subject of grounding and shielding in depth on forums/YouTube I found the shielding job to be totally under par on this special edition bass (shame on Fender). I ended up doing an overkill shielding job, two layers of conductive paint followed by a layer of copper tape in all cavities including the cavity backplate. I even ran pipe cleaners covered in conductive paint through all holes between cavities and ran copper shielding over all hot wires where they pass through cavities. I joined up the all cavities by running old, used strings through all the holes and soldering them down to keep ground continuity integrity.

The results were very positive, I'd say 95% of the hum/interference has now disappeared. At a venue i know has a notoriously bad earthing loop I could hear a very faint crackle/hum once I put the bass through the PA system, but it wasn't something i was particularly bothered about. Even my Lakland gives off an equal amount of hum there.

I've laid a very generous offer down on the table to my friend regarding this bass; my beloved Lakland Skyline 44-02 + £600 (equates to about £1400 in value all together), the ball is in his court now. Im hoping he accepts!! Its one of the best basses I've ever played. I play with very minimal EQ tweaks (if any at all!) on the preamp and its currently strung with D'Addario ProSteels which gives it a very authoritative Warwick-esque growl with Fender playability, what more can you ask for?!

[sblueplanet]

It's all about playability. If the bass makes you want to pick it up you're on to a winner. At least till the next episode of GAS comes along!