Rexel Matador Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 So I took my newly build bass to a gig last night, plugged it in and... nothing. Had to use the £90 beater that we happened to have in the van - rather crushing I'm sure you can imagine. Anyway, I opened it up and all my solder connections seem fine and it made noise when I plugged it in and touched the pickups. Then I put it back together and it stopped working again. I think that the volume pot had twisted round in such a way that one of the lugs was touching the foil shielding on the wall of the control cavity. Is that the likely culprit or could there be something else I'm missing? It was working fine before. I've moved the pot back into place and tightened it up, but would it be ok to maybe put some electrical tape around it to stop it coming into contact with the shielding? Or is there a reason that that is not advisable? Sorry for rambling - TL;DR - bass stopped making noise. Lug on volume pot touching cavity shielding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted June 30, 2019 Share Posted June 30, 2019 (edited) Once the lug touches the shielding then your bass signal gets sent to ground, and you get silence. Electrical tape around the long part of the socket (on the outside) is a quick and easy fix. You could also try putting a locking washer or a spring washer (check your local hardware shop) around the jack to stop it moving in the future. Edited June 30, 2019 by paul_5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted June 30, 2019 Author Share Posted June 30, 2019 Thanks! It's a pot though, not the jack - but presumably the principle is the same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 On 30/06/2019 at 17:51, Rexel Matador said: Thanks! It's a pot though, not the jack - but presumably the principle is the same Yes - anything that is carrying a signal that touches ground inadvertently will lose that signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cribbin Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 Perfect example of why heat shrink tubing was invented ... ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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