rmorris

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9203176

What flats did you put on there. I'm thinking of giving flats another go on one of my basses but wary as didn't get on with previous go. Happy New Year.

You need to 'ground' those screws. Sounds like they are floating and helping you become a radio transmitter 😳

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9203176

Argos. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9203176 It's a bit "Boy Racer" but actually rather good without spending £100s. Lots seem to be "mesh" material but I don't think they would survive our cat 😳

Bit tangential. But needing a new desk chair - got one for Christmas that has flip up armrests so I can play bass/guitar seated in front of mixer without awkward manoeuvring.

How would you characterise the differences Fender Vs Squier ?

Wrt One: you just have to try it basically. Speaker load impedances are complex as it's a reactive load and actual power delivery will depend on the details. In particular any Zobel network in the amp or can. Then add on the acoustic efficiency of the cab across the frequency range. And fwiw a basic doubling of power into a speaker results in only a minor increase in loudness as heard due to the quasi logarithmic nature if hearing response.

If you like the bass then get it along with the amp for that money. Those Encore basses are usually good quality even though budget end kit. Not sure why so intent on pickup change at this stage. Get it checked over and setup to your preference eg string height / neck relief / nut slotting etc. That will be of more benefit for a new player. Include new strings. Good Luck.

Overthinking it tbh. The dimensions involved make grain orientation insignificant. Really you just need enough added material for the screws to properly bite enough esp wrt the, as you say high tension. I do like the idea of the threaded inserts/ machine screws though. I can see arguments against wrt thread / fit tolerance etc. But I say that is taken care of by the aforementioned high tension from the strings.

I'll stick my neck out (see what I did there 😊) and suggest that in reality it makes no significant sonic difference. Just wood glue a cocktail stick or two in there, leave it to dry for some days regardless of what it says on the tube etc. Finish it flush, and rescrew. Although if planning to remove / refit neck often then inserts may be a good choice. Note that machine screws/threads come in loose / medium / tight grades wrt thread fit. The default is medium. I suggest just giving the screwba tiny extra bit of force into the thread. Recommend hex or torx screw heads. North American people may wish to look at those "square" bit drivers. In general they seem not to be a thing in Europe ? And, of course, we should all be sticking to metric units now 🙂

Well you can clearly get back to whatever was the original situation. It seems clear that the wear and tear aspect of removing / refitting the pickguard etc. has weakened the connection - foil is thin and easily broken / torn etc. Advice has also been offered for simple ways to improve beyond that. I don't see what the problem is tbh.

It seems the noise goes away when the OP touches grounded parts so the Ground connection seems fine. It is proper screening that seems critical here. And keeping in mind that a P type pickup is always susceptible to noise to some degree. And even with good screening a passive bass has little immunity to H field noise (eg from a mains transformer).

The fact that the noise disappears when you touch the grounded metal parts - bridge etc - shows that it's properly connected in that sense so that's good. What's left is screening. Is the screening shown well connected to ground (often this is via pot bodies but these can get loose, And is the rest of the control cavity screened ? and the pickup cavity - maybe a screening plate / foil underneath the pickup ? Also a different pickup might be less susceptible to noise.

I think that's what Paul means too ? But if screws don't fit then a friendly engineering workshop or machine shop might be able to use a threadfinder device to determine thread. If it's a non standard thread for some reason then you could consider retapping the holes to take a standard size.

Do you have a photo to confirm the amp ? IIRC there were several models that were designated "Bass Baby" or similar name.

Good ideas. But be aware that the 100K resistors will increase the broadband "hiss" noise. It may not be an issue in the context of an electric bass but it might be noticed in studio etc.

From your description I think a buffered / active summing system might suit you better. Suggestion - fit 'stereo' TRS output jack Buffer / DI each pickup separately and then sum in a small analogue mixer. Eg Soundcraft Spirit Folio. Old but often at a bargain price on eBay.

Along the lines of the suggestions above (although I think pliers may still have clearance problems) - there is a tool used in camera repair/maintenance for taking lens assemblies apart that would likely be useful. eg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126035815280?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=126035815280&targetid=1404115579373&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9045824&poi=&campaignid=17218284410&mkgroupid=142217514411&rlsatarget=pla-1404115579373&abcId=9300867&merchantid=644159465&gclid=CjwKCAjwloynBhBbEiwAGY25dD4tB0wx2A8ogGjlH4_1UA--xtEWAm2JW6ZQ3AKZ1-XVeqNE7ddZ5BoC3JcQAvD_BwE

Haven't you heard ? So called "Hove" has been upgraded and is now officially "Brighton West" 🤣

Hi Plankton. Another greeting from Brighton (actually 🙂)

The 300 Ohm measurement is too high. So check for a good connection pressure and any corrosion etc. Remove any tarnishing etc. But also check that when using the meter the tips of the probes are making good solid contact and breaking through any surface finish or oxidisation. Bizarrely some cheap probes don't have a great surface to the tips themselves so check that and touch them to themselves to check how near to Zero Ohm you get. As for the OP question. Your grounding is fine. You are NOT "earthing" the bass when you touch strings, bridge etc. The bass is already earthed through the cable screen and amp. YOU are not "earthed" until you touch the bass. Ie it is the bass that is grounding you. When you are not grounded your body / hands act as an antennae transmitting noise that is picked up by the bass. When you touch the bass your body is held at the same potential as the bass so no noise is transmitted. You can illustrate this by not touching the bass but by touching some other piece of earthed conductor eg chassis of grounded equipment. Shielding / Screening will help reduce the amount of noise picked up on this situation.

This is not unusual although it may be counter intuitive. At either end of the pot' travel the source impedance "seen" by the following stage (eg amp / DI input) is at a minimum. At mid point* of the resistance it is at the maximum. Noise" pickup" increases with effective source impedance. * assuming a log' type taper for volume pot' then this will not be the mid point of the physical travel,

Copper or aluminium shielding won't really help with 50 Hz mains interference. But can help with harmonics resulting from its rectification - 100 Hz, 200Hz etc. And that is a lot of the mains hum you hear.

yeah - this stuff isn't easy if it's not your thing. And the sort of "half-information" eg in the Epiphan piece (I found it on their website) really doesn't help. There's a lot to unpack with Hi-Z / Lo-Z / Balanced / Unbalanced etc. I'm not going to do a full treatment here 🙂 But if you want technically excellent info I'd suggest looking up the work of Bill Whitlock (associated with Jensen transformers and THAT semiconductors). But a few quick points: Balanced audio can be any level. Obvs if going into a mic pre it needs to be fairly low level (or padded down at the input) to avoid clipping. Higher Impedance connections are more susceptible to external interference - so it is often worth trading level for a lower impedance (as with a DI transformer that presents a high Z to the source and a low Z to the mixing desk input etc). Contrary to what the article says - it is not necessary for a balanced connection to drive the two legs in anti-phase. Impedance matching on each leg is what matters wrt noise rejection (CMRR)