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Post subject: Routine Maintenance for the 'handyman' bassist
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:49 am
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Aspiring Musician
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There are a couple older threads discussing 'bridge hum' getting back into the amp. We have come up with a fairly easy method to remove that hum on the Precision Basses. This should be attempted ONLY by those persons who are familiar with bridge disassembly and electrical soldering techniques.
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Securing the P-Bass BRIDGE GROUNDING SYSTEM:

Some P-Basses have a maintenance issue with bridge grounding, so this procedure will eliminate any future 'hum' getting into the amp from a poor bridge ground:

Relax the tension on the strings by approximately 6 full tuner turns. Remove the 5 screws that are holding the bridge to the body in this order... outermost on each side first. Then the next two inboard from those and finally the center. Place a clean cloth on the pick guard and rest the bridge on the cloth so it does not scratch the finish.

You will see a small stub of bare wire coming out of the elongated opening under the bridge. Carefully scrape any corrosion off that wire stub with the point of a small knife so it is shiny. Take a 4 inch piece of 28 gauge ( thin ) BARE solid copper wire and also scrape any coating or corrosion off 3/4 inch at each end. Using medium heat with the soldering gun and electrical resin core solder, 'tin' the original factory wire stub as well as one end of the thin solid copper wire. Solder the copper wire to the stub using a SMALL amount of solder. Allow to cool and make certain that there is a good bond.

Snake the new solid copper wire around under where the bridge is mounted and place a small loop in the end of the wire at any of the screw holes where the bridge screws go. Take a 2 inch square piece of 400 grit sandpaper and lightly go over the UNDERSIDE of the bridge to remove any film or corrosion. Wipe that surface with a clean, DRY cloth. Place the bridge back in place and start the center screw down into the body threads about half way. Do the next two outboard of the center also about half way and then the outermost screws next. Using needle nose pliers, loop the end of the bare copper wire around one of the screw bodies under the bridge and make certain that the wire itself is completely under the profile of the bridge. Tighten the center bridge screw, the next two outboard of the center and the outermost screws last. DO NOT over-tighten... just snug them down. Re-tension and tune the strings making sure that they are riding in the string guides on the bridge and at the top of the neck.

This will almost totally eliminate the poor BRIDGE grounding issue with some P-Basses.

Some persons who have hum issues have also reported that the bridge grounding wire that is connected to the metal body of the volume and tone controls may not be properly soldered, and that can be inspected and dealt with by removing the pick guard and inspecting the solder points which network the grounding system all together.

Disclaimer: AGAIN, do not attempt any of this if you are not comfortable with partial disassembly of your bass or have no soldering experience.


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Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 11:35 pm
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Rock Star
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Excellent repost! Good info.


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Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 3:20 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Thanks, Dave...


We have also inspected and upgraded the bridge grounding system on a 1987 Power Jazz Bass Special and the procedure listed in post # 1 above seems to apply to ANY Fender guitar that has stub-wire grounding compressed under the bridge plate.


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