Bass hum

Gear
1

I had an issue Sunday, all if a sudden my bass started a low hum and just kept getting louder and louder so i touched the strings and it stopped. Only did it one time but was getting extrememy out until i stopped it.

Any ideas ?

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2

That could be caused by a few issues, most common would be a problem with the grounding of the electronics in your bass (grounding wire or soldering joint loose, or bare wires touching metal, etc). It could also be your amp, or the electric socket your amp is plugged into, or it could be your electronics are picking up interference with something in the area. You can rule out your amp and electric socket by testing it in a different area, but would have to have a look inside your control cavity on your bass if it is a wiring or ground issue. Hope this helps.

Edit: Wasn’t thinking, it could also be your instrument cable. If you have a spare, I would try that too.

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Does it hum before Sunday? Check your tone knobs(both amp and bass), if you have it all the way up(bright) it happens.

Starting low and getting louder was a good thing, to me it means some wiring issues. Open it up, you should see a wire coming loose, usually at the jack the black wire as most time if the white came loose there’s no sound. I just don’t like the part where when you touch the string it stops, because that’s kinda 2 different problems.

This one is grounding issues and most common and the last place to look is the under side of bridge. They usually just install the bridge (chrome) without prepping the metal for grounding. Just sand small patch bare of bridge grounding wire contact. This solves 80% of the humming I encountered.

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4

I did open the cavity but the only thing I did was remove all the electronics, (still hooked together), then line the cavity with copper tape and replace the electronics for now.
This was the first time i played this brand new guitar at church and it just did that elevating hum once.
My plan is to replace all the pots with better ones along with the jack and a new high mass bridge.

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