My Squi3r PJ bass has developed an electrical buzz only when touching the strings. (Also tuners and bridge) I understand this can be from the strings not being grounded. I used my multimeter to check for continuity. With the alligator clip on the bridge, there is continuity to all the ground wires inside the pick guard where they attach to the pots and the jack and the body. Everything checks out. I probably have a faulty component somewhere. The buzz is present when the volume pots are turned down, but louder when they’re up.
Any ideas?
The Affinity PJ is a cheap instrument for sure, but it plays pretty well. I’m not opposed to spending a little money to fix it up, but I don’t want to be too heavily invested in it
Have your bass developed the electrical buzz in a different place then when it was OK? Maybe this question sounds crazy, but it isn’t. I am an American living in Vietnam, and the power grid here has only two wires (no ground). Worse, both of the wires are floating (no hot and neutral), so I occasionally get a shock when touching a metal part of my amp. Several other counties don’t have grounds (not sure about floating wires). My guess is that you haven’t suddenly changed countries but maybe you changed locations. I’ve seen older buildings in America that have improper (or just plain bad) grounds.
@EBXEBX, I have changed locations. I moved my amplifier to a different room in the house. I should try different outlets and see if that’s the issue. Hadn’t even thought of that. I also changed strings from nickel round wound strings to stainless flats. I thought maybe the silk ends could be preventing the strings from being grounded so I trimmed the silk where it goes into the machine heads, but it did not make a difference.
Yes, grounding is often a cause for electrical buzz, but, in my experience, in such cases, the buzz stops when you touch the strings (or any metal part on the bass). Here, it seems to be the other way round, which might indicate that it is NOT a grounding problem!?!
Still, worth a try! In some countries, for example, proper grounding is often only in the kitchen areas, where the appliances really need to be grounded, whereas the living room and other rooms in the house have outlets that don’t have a ground.
I tried several different outlets in the house. Same issue. I plugged my U-Bass into the amp and there’s no issue, so I can eliminate the cable and the amp, I believe.
if you want to check your amp. Turn it on with nothing plugged into it and turn it up. It should be quite. What you have described could be a grounding loop or just grounding in your bass. Also, make sure you don’t have your Phone on you when your playing. And that your not touching anything else that’s connected to a power source. Long time ago I had lights on my music stand. And when I practiced at times I would get a hum/hiss. It took me for ever to figure out that I was touching my foot to the base of the music stand and causing the hum. Good luck
Have you tried touching the magnets in the pickups to see if you get the same noise?
It sounds like you have already eliminated the amp and cord since your other bass doesn’t make the noise when it’s plugged in…
You’ve also changed strings so that pretty much eliminates that component… besides, if it were a grounding issue to the bridge, you’d likely have the opposite effect.
If the problem kind of developed as you mentioned, you might want to check the plug where your cord plugs into your bass. I’ve had a couple old Fenders that the nut that tightens down on the plug in loosened up and wobbled around enough to break the ground from the guitar to the amp.
Not sure this is what you’ve got, but it might be worth checking out…
@Lanny, this is very likely it. Have had it open and did need to tighten the nut. I suspect the conductive paint isn’t doing it’s job well enough. Maybe I can just run a ground wire to the jack for now and pull it all apart when I have something else to take lessons with.
I have this exactly (opposite to OP). Buzz with both my '82 Ibanez Blazer and my new Yamaha TRBX174EW until I touch anything metal on the instrument. It also decreases when I turn and face away from the amp.
So, then it is most likely a grounding problem for you! You need to see whether your outlets are grounded, or whether only some are… For example, my bass amp is on a grounded outlet, but when I then touch my laptop (which is not on a grounded outlet), I get a lot of buzz through me and the bass to the amp.
In any case, properly grounding the outlet that powers your amp is a must!