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Swapped pickups and now my bass buzzes


lobematt
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Hey guys, back with more electrical problems, I'll get the hang of these wires one day!

I recently swapped an SBP3 in my P bass for a Wizard Trad P (which sounds amazing by the way!)

My bass used to be totally silent all the time and now I have a small buzz that appears when I'm not touching the strings. I'm pretty sure I've missed something simple in the change over but not sure what!

Thanks

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Are the quarter pounder pickups humbuckers?

I think you probably have the bridge ground wire connected already as the buzzing is only when you're not touching the strings, therefore the strings are connected to ground through the bridge..

The Wizards are deffo single coil. Most single coil pickups buzz a bit unfortunately.
You could try reverse wiring one of the two sides of the pickup ( I think this is how a P-bass should be wired anyway) to make it into a giant humbucker (basically swap the two wires on just one of the two pickups). You should not get any phasing issue because the two pickup sides are on different strings.

You can also minimize the interference buzz by [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/setups/how-to-shield-a-guitar/"]shielding[/url] the pickup cavity

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The two halves of any conventional P-bass pickup are RWRP so that when wired together they make a humbucker. It should not matter whether it is the SD or the Wizard. I would review to make sure the Wizard leads are wired correctly and more importantly, that the solder joints are clean and neat, with enough flux to make sure metal to metal contact is not oxidized. Then check to make sure the bridge wire is soldered correctly. Especially under flourescent lights, electric instrument strings act like antennae for all sorts of noise, buzz and hum. It may just be that the SD pickup is a better shielded pickup.

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[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1406292191' post='2510244']
The two halves of any conventional P-bass pickup are RWRP so that when wired together they make a humbucker.
[/quote]

Tru dat - it's Leo's improved 'noiseless' design replacing the single coil pup of the 51-56 basses.

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