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Post subject: Fender Jazz FSR help.
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 9:39 pm
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Hobbyist
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Hello all, I just purchased a Fender Jazz FSR in the natural ashwood body. When I got it home I and plugged it in to my Fender Rumble 75 Watt I noticed it has a constant buzzing until I touch the strings or another metal portion. And sometimes even then the buzzing persists. I am new to Fenders but a Jazz bass has been on my wants list for as long as I have played bass.

I have heard this could be a grounding issue?


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Post subject: Re: Fender Jazz FSR help.
Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 12:30 am
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Aspiring Musician
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You might just be standing too close to the amp.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Jazz FSR help.
Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 2:19 am
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Rock Star
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Location: Albemarle, NC
Yes you could be too close to the amp or it could be a grounding issue. If you bought it new have the dealer check it out to make sure you don't void the warranty. If you bought it used you'll want to check the grounding yourself or have a tech check it for you. Usually the ground wire to the bridge not making good contact with the bridge can cause exactly what you describe. Especially in this case where sometimes touching the strings helps and sometimes it doesn't.

I don't know what sort of bass you had previously, but Jazz Bass pickups are usually single coil pickups. Single coil pickups are very sensitive to RFI and will pickup hum from CRT computer monitors, old style TV's, neon lights, llight dimmers, florescent lighting ballasts, electric motors or other RFI sources such as nearby high powered radio transmitters especially if the transmitter is overmodulating and the signal is chewing up a huge frequency bandwidth. There was this one highway patrol car that I could hear talking if he was within a mile of my Telecaster Bass. They are also more sensitive to humming when the amp is powered by an electrical source that has a ground fault. Try a different outlet for your amp. Try the same instrument and amp it in another building. It could be an electrical wiring fault in your building!

The basic design of the Jazz Bass has the single coil pickups wired out of phase so that when both volume controls are wide open they function in a humbucking fashion of sorts and this should be the most noise free control setting. If having both pickups full on does not reduce the hum or buzz, then something else is going on.

Regarding everything that follows, if your instrument was bought new have an authorized tech do it or you'll void the warranty!

In cases like this I would always suspect the bridge ground wire might not be making good contact. I'd suggest loosening the strings, unscrewing the bridge screws and then wrapping the bare wire (which is usually just lying loose under the bridge) around one of the bridge screws and then tighten that screw down first and then tighten the rest. Re-tune to pitch. See if that helped.

Also if you bought this used it is possible that someone put in different pickups and wired them in phase instead of out of phase. Or it could be a factory wiring error, but that is very doubtful. Either way if the pickups are wired in phase it will eliminate the humbucking effect of having both pickups turned up to full volume. That would explain it. Check the wiring compared to the stock diagram available on the site here:
http://support.fender.com/service_diagrams/bass_guitars/013-6200A_SISD.pdf

I'd have the ground wire to the bridge checked out first. On a single coil Jazz I'd also give very serious consideration to doing a copper tape shielding to ground job and include the back of the pickguard with a copper sheet. I'd also consider adding the chrome bridge and pickup covers too. They do help a tad at reducing hum when soloing one pickup but they also restrict your ability to play right over the pickups which is where some pretty interesting tones live....so putting on the metal covers and living with their restriction is your call. They help a little bit but most players leave them off because they like to be able to pluck or pick right over the pickups.

You can read about copper shielding a single coil bass and find some links on how to do it by going to this page and scrolling about halfway down the page to the section titled "Shield Your Bass." http://brotherdave.com/add_maint.htm

Many online parts sellers offer the copper tape and copper sheeting such as Guitar Parts Resource. Their copper tape is easier to work with than another source I've tried. You'd think it would all be the same but it isn't. It takes hours to do a good shielding job so take your time.


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