Fender precision bass 1976 no sound

[Mikel07]

I haven’t picked up my bass for about 20 years lol. No I’m retired I want to get back to playing. But there is no sound coming from my bass. Completely dead. It’s not the lead or amp because I’ve changed those. I’ve metered the lead all the connection inside the bass and all looks ok. Taking a resistance reading across the output Jack there is no short, nor is it open, and if I rotate the volume knob the resistance changes at the Jack. Is it possible to get a good reading from the pickups but they are faulty? I’ve though about connecting the pickups to the output directly but didn’t want to meddle that much unless I had to. Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated..

mike

[Dad3353]

There's a few simple tricks to try to see where the problem lies that you may already know...

With the amp switched on and the lead plugged in, but not the bass, touching the tip of the lead jack plug should produce a buzz from the amp (assuming the volume is turned up a little...). This eliminated both amp and lead; if there's no buzz, leave the bass alone.

With the lead plugged into the bass, and the amp switched on, (and a little volume...), open the control cavity. With a screwdriver blade, touch the lugs of the volume pot. The earthed end will remain silent, but there would normally be a buzz from the other two lugs, if the pot is set to max. If there no buzz at all, check the wiring between the pot and the jack socket.
If you can identify the wire from the pick-up to the circuit, touching a screwdriver blade to each p/u connection should provoke a buzz. If there's nothing, check the control wiring. If there is a buzz, the p/u may be faulty.

There's the simple, non-tech way of seeing where to look. If you're a solderer, it's also easy enough to undo the p/u wires and take them straight to the output jack; just make a note of where they were before changing anything. Good luck with the hunt; keep us posted as to progress, please..? 

[Burns-bass]

4 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

There's a few simple tricks to try to see where the problem lies that you may already know...

With the amp switched on and the lead plugged in, but not the bass, touching the tip of the lead jack plug should produce a buzz from the amp (assuming the volume is turned up a little...). This eliminated both amp and lead; if there's no buzz, leave the bass alone.

With the lead plugged into the bass, and the amp switched on, (and a little volume...), open the control cavity. With a screwdriver blade, touch the lugs of the volume pot. The earthed end will remain silent, but there would normally be a buzz from the other two lugs, if the pot is set to max. If there no buzz at all, check the wiring between the pot and the jack socket.
If you can identify the wire from the pick-up to the circuit, touching a screwdriver blade to each p/u connection should provoke a buzz. If there's nothing, check the control wiring. If there is a buzz, the p/u may be faulty.

There's the simple, non-tech way of seeing where to look. If you're a solderer, it's also easy enough to undo the p/u wires and take them straight to the output jack; just make a note of where they were before changing anything. Good luck with the hunt; keep us posted as to progress, please..? 

Excellent advice. Annoyingly, the Precision requires taking off the whole scratch plate and strings to do this.

 

In 20 years your ordinary bass has become a collectible and, if in good original condition, is now worth approximately £2000.

 

However, if you start playing with the electrics and de-soldering and re-soldering things you’ll effect this, so I’d personally take it a to a tech and do all I could to retain its originality.

[Bassfinger]

I'd take the plate off and have a look. An open circuit will be obvious to spot should there be one. You never know...

 

Techs put their trousers on one leg at a time, same as you, and a passive circuit is just about the simplest one out there. Use multimeter to test each component - most of the tests will be simple continuity or resistance, but Google will tell you how to test the capacitors.

[Steve Browning]

5 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

Excellent advice. Annoyingly, the Precision requires taking off the whole scratch plate and strings to do this.

 

In 20 years your ordinary bass has become a collectible and, if in good original condition, is now worth approximately £2000.

 

However, if you start playing with the electrics and de-soldering and re-soldering things you’ll effect this, so I’d personally take it a to a tech and do all I could to retain its originality.

You can undo the screws on the scratchplate and feed it between the strings and the neck usually.

[Grimalkin]

Output jack oxidisation? Try plugging in and unplugging a few times see if clears anything.

[PaulThePlug]

Location, Location, Location...

Where are you bassed(?)...

Fellow basschatter may look over ya shoulder when you take a look.

 

Oh... and i think we need some pic of said bass don't you?

Them are the rules.

Edited December 11, 2022 by PaulThePlug

[DGBass]

The good thing about a P-Bass is that there isn't actually a lot that can go wrong electrically. If your bass had been stored away for a long time, and was working before it was stored, i'd go for the simplest culprit of corrosion/oxidisation on the jack plug and/or dirty/dusty wipers on either the volume or tone pots. Switchcraft type jacks are for the most part bomb proof, the only thing they can suffer from is as user @Grimalkin mentioned, a build up of oxsidisation especially in the barrel part. I would work a jack in/out quite a few times, give it a wiggle for good measure. And, give the tone and volume pots a good massage back and forth for a good few minutes each to see if that works anything into life. A sparing amout of switch cleaner in the jack barrel and to the pots is also a good strategy assuming you have some. I wouldn't start cutting wires or desoldering until you are sure the basics are covered. I had a similar issue after storing my p-bass for a few years and a dirty tone pot was the culprit.

[Burns-bass]

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

You can undo the screws on the scratchplate and feed it between the strings and the neck usually.

Always easier to do it properly in my experience! 

[Mikel07]

Thx guys for all the helpful comments. I’ve attached a pic of the poor base laid bare!
I’ve metered the circuitry and can’t find anything obvious still. But I connected it to the amp and touched the various points as suggested. Buzz from socket tip ok. Present on both side of volume pot and one side of tone pot not the other which I think is earth anyhow. Interesting fact rearmost pick-up buzz when touched not frontmost. No noise from there. Have resistance reading across pickups but that’s when in circuit and it varies with volume pot movement. 
im leaning towards issue with pickup. Not sure tone pot would cause this. Definitely not a short there.

mike

[Mikel07]

Guitar needs a polish but in very good condition except for tarnishing on bridge and pitting on machine heads.

[miles'tone]

12 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

There's a few simple tricks to try to see where the problem lies that you may already know...

With the amp switched on and the lead plugged in, but not the bass, touching the tip of the lead jack plug should produce a buzz from the amp (assuming the volume is turned up a little...). This eliminated both amp and lead; if there's no buzz, leave the bass alone.

With the lead plugged into the bass, and the amp switched on, (and a little volume...), open the control cavity. With a screwdriver blade, touch the lugs of the volume pot. The earthed end will remain silent, but there would normally be a buzz from the other two lugs, if the pot is set to max. If there no buzz at all, check the wiring between the pot and the jack socket.
If you can identify the wire from the pick-up to the circuit, touching a screwdriver blade to each p/u connection should provoke a buzz. If there's nothing, check the control wiring. If there is a buzz, the p/u may be faulty.

There's the simple, non-tech way of seeing where to look. If you're a solderer, it's also easy enough to undo the p/u wires and take them straight to the output jack; just make a note of where they were before changing anything. Good luck with the hunt; keep us posted as to progress, please..? 

Not too shabby advice there dad, especially coming from a drummer... 😄😉

[Dad3353]

1 minute ago, miles'tone said:

Not too shabby advice there dad, especially coming from a drummer... 😄😉

 

A drummer with well over half a century of technical electronic experience, though..! 

[Dad3353]

14 minutes ago, Mikel07 said:

... Interesting fact rearmost pick-up buzz when touched not frontmost. No noise from there....

 

 

This does not compute. There are only two wires from that p/u, no..? One goes to earth (so no buzz, naturally...), the other (the white one...) gives a buzz..? If that's the case, but no sound from the p/u itself, the p/u is dead. Is there a sound if you tap the p/u with something metal, such as a screwdriver blade..? When plugged in, volume turned up a bit, you should hear a harsh metallic tapping when you tap the pole pieces. If not, either change the p/u or get it re-wound.
The ultimate test, if the p/u is to be removed anyway for exchange, is to connect the p/u wires directly to the jack socket. If there's still nowt, it's definitely dead. It's looking more and more likely, I'm afraid.

[Reggaebass]

I know nothing about the technical things but I’m really curious to find out what the problem is, might be a silly question but when it’s plugged in and you tap the pickups is there any noise coming through 

[Ricky 4000]

4 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

I know nothing about the technical things but I’m really curious to find out what the problem is, might be a silly question but when it’s plugged in and you tap the pickups is there any noise coming through 

 

I had a similar problem to this. It turned out I still had my ear muffs on after being outside in the snow. 😄

[Reggaebass]

Just now, Ricky 4000 said:

 

I had a similar problem to this. It turned out I still had my ear muffs on after being outside in the snow. 😄

[Bigguy2017]

21 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

This does not compute. There are only two wires from that p/u, no..? One goes to earth (so no buzz, naturally...), the other (the white one...) gives a buzz..? If that's the case, but no sound from the p/u itself, the p/u is dead. Is there a sound if you tap the p/u with something metal, such as a screwdriver blade..? When plugged in, volume turned up a bit, you should hear a harsh metallic tapping when you tap the pole pieces. If not, either change the p/u or get it re-wound.
The ultimate test, if the p/u is to be removed anyway for exchange, is to connect the p/u wires directly to the jack socket. If there's still nowt, it's definitely dead. It's looking more and more likely, I'm afraid.

Yes, looks like there is an open circuit in the pickup - as the two halves are in series it could be in either one.

Unsolder / clip the black + white pickup wires and check for continuity - you should see around 8.5K to 10K Ohms.

If open circuit unscrew the pickups and have a good visual - check the fine coil wires where they are soldered to the output wires. Check each half for contunuity - expect around 4K to 5K per coil.

Carefully reflowing the solder joints on the pickup wires may fix things...

Edited December 11, 2022 by Bigguy2017

[Mikel07]

Brilliant guys thanks for the help and advice. Open circuit pickup was the problem. Once I disconnected them I can read resistance to the first pickup second one open circuit. Tried resoldering joints no luck. If I order up two new pickups is it difficult to setup the pickup height again?

Any advice on which pickups would suit?

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Mikel07

[PaulThePlug]

Did the coils come out the covers?

Can you see where the super-thin winding wires join the black and white wires on the fiber board af the bottom of the pickup.

 

Where are you based?

 

One pickup... the two bits are 'Halfs' of the same pickup...

Yep... easy to install and adjust.

What sort of budget and what sort if tone?

 

To throw you in the middle...

Tone Rider Alnico @ £40ish posted

https://tonerider.com/product/precision-plus/

Edited December 11, 2022 by PaulThePlug

[Grimalkin]

2 minutes ago, Mikel07 said:

Brilliant guys thanks for the help and advice. Open circuit pickup was the problem. Once I disconnected them I can read resistance to the first pickup second one open circuit. Tried resoldering joints no luck. If I order up two new pickups is it difficult to setup the pickup height again?

 

 

 

I use pickups as ramps quite a bit so they are set about a millimetre lower than the action at the last fret, the gap between the underside of my G string and top surface of the last fret is around 2.5mm. The gap between the face of the pickup and underside of the string would be around 3.5mm, more if you play hard. Follow the radius of the neck with the pickups, the centres raised more due to the fretboard radius curvature.

 

That's about as low as I can go without the wolf tones (strings too close to the pickups) becoming a problem.

[Reggaebass]

Can they be rewound to keep them original 

[Lozz196]

20 minutes ago, Mikel07 said:

Brilliant guys thanks for the help and advice. Open circuit pickup was the problem. Once I disconnected them I can read resistance to the first pickup second one open circuit. Tried resoldering joints no luck. If I order up two new pickups is it difficult to setup the pickup height again?

Any advice on which pickups would suit?

 

Might be worth contacting Creamery Pickups, see if they can do anything with the originals. If not then I’m sure they’ll be able to put something together for you that is similar to them.

[Grimalkin]

Make sure the new pickup comes with some support foam if you can, if it doesn't I'd get some in. 

[Eric.C.Lapton]

25 minutes ago, Mikel07 said:

Brilliant guys thanks for the help and advice. Open circuit pickup was the problem. Once I disconnected them I can read resistance to the first pickup second one open circuit. Tried resoldering joints no luck. If I order up two new pickups is it difficult to setup the pickup height again?

Any advice on which pickups would suit?

 

The little guitar shop in Birmingham can rewind the pickups. 
Not sure of prices but I’ve heard good things about their work 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Eric.C.Lapton