Sambrook Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Apologies if this has been done to death- in theory, I know how to fix an earth problem, but I can't seem to shift this one. My Letts bass has a wooden 2 piece bridge, and is earthed at the metal plate that holds the ball ends of the strings. The earthing inside the cavity looks like it should, but I get an intermittent scratchy sound when I touch the strings; it doesn't do it all the time, and didn't do it at all through a friend's rig, or in his hands. Is there something obvious I'm missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 This might sound completely ridiculous, but I had a similar problem with my bass once. Turns out my shoes were isolating me from the earth. Put my trusty Converse on and the noise disappeared!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 [quote name='Sambrook' timestamp='1406892520' post='2515643'] Apologies if this has been done to death- in theory, I know how to fix an earth problem, but I can't seem to shift this one. My Letts bass has a wooden 2 piece bridge, and is earthed at the metal plate that holds the ball ends of the strings. The earthing inside the cavity looks like it should, but I get an intermittent scratchy sound when I touch the strings; it doesn't do it all the time, and didn't do it at all through a friend's rig, or in his hands. Is there something obvious I'm missing? [/quote] I think this noise is caused by you grounding yourself through the bass. try touching some thing else to act as a ground (eg. metal table, tap, unused instrument cable connected to ground) and see if the noise goes away. There are special straps for it but there's a tip in this vid about putting a cable in your sock that could help: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/212625-recording-bass-guitar-free-lesson/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/212625-recording-bass-guitar-free-lesson/[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 [quote name='Sambrook' timestamp='1406892520' post='2515643'] Apologies if this has been done to death- in theory, I know how to fix an earth problem, but I can't seem to shift this one. My Letts bass has a wooden 2 piece bridge, and is earthed at the metal plate that holds the ball ends of the strings. The earthing inside the cavity looks like it should, but I get an intermittent scratchy sound when I touch the strings; it doesn't do it all the time, and didn't do it at all through a friend's rig, or in his hands. Is there something obvious I'm missing? [/quote]Have you tried a different known good 'instrument lead' to your amp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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