Sound completely cuts out if the string touches the pole piece....

[MarkG3]

Hello,

I randomly came across this earlier with my Highway One with the Delano pups that there is absolutely zero buzz from the pups! Excellent then I touched the pole piece and it buzzed a little but nothing excessive. Then as I had the strings loose the string was magnetised to the pup and if the string was in contact with the pole piece there would be no sound......

Is this normal or some weird wiring problem, I fitted the pups myself and follwed the instructions for which wire goes where etc

It doesn't really effect when I play as I have the pups low just I thought this was weird!

Thanks!

Edited April 3, 2012 by S9_S12_Bass

[KiOgon]

Active pick ups? If so I'd think there's a problem, sound like the poles are 'live' then shorting out to the string - which should be earthed. Passive - can't see how that would happen

[MarkG3]

Yea passive pickups! Should of said, Everything is connected well so it's not like some wires are hanging by a thread.......

[KiOgon]

Could it be the coil windings are in contact 'electrically' with the pole/s? In other words a short in the windings?

[MarkG3]

No idea, I mean it sounds excellent otherwise and the strings aren't touching the pups when I play so that's the main thing I guess

[StraightSix]

[quote name='S9_S12_Bass' timestamp='1333471457' post='1602247']
Hello,

I randomly came across this earlier with my Highway One with the Delano pups that there is absolutely zero buzz from the pups! Excellent then I touched the pole piece and it buzzed a little but nothing excessive. Then as I had the strings loose the string was magnetised to the pup and if the string was in contact with the pole piece there would be no sound......
[/quote]

I'm assuming you mean that when you touch the pole pieces with your finger you get a slight buzz but if you let the loose string rest on the pole piece, you get no buzz...?

If my explanation of your situation (across the nation) is correct, I would say it's correct...!

Hope that makes sense...oh. and by the way, you won't get these anomolies if you get yourself a proper bass

[MarkG3]

Lol and what is a 'proper' bass then

If I don't touch anything there is no buzz.
If I touch a pole piece with my finger there's a slight buzz.
If the string touches a pole piece and is held there, then there is no sound if I hit any string - like someone has turned the amp off

I mean there won't be a situation where the string is constantly on the pickups anyway!

Edited April 3, 2012 by S9_S12_Bass

[StraightSix]

[quote name='S9_S12_Bass' timestamp='1333486535' post='1602523']
Lol and what is a 'proper' bass then
[/quote]

Hehe

It's probably creating a short when the string is resting on the pickup pole as the string is in contact with the bridge which is (normally) earthed. I should add that I'm no electrical engineer so i may be wrong.

[Ou7shined]

Yup sounds like a short. I have the exact same pups in a bass but I can't think why the poles should come into contact with any part of the circuit.
Many Delano's have solid copper bases, I can't remember if the PMVC 4FE/M2's do but it might be worth removing your pups to see if something is causing a non-earth wire to short to the base plate.

[MarkG3]

[IMG]http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r569/S9_S12_Bass/IMAG0925.jpg[/IMG]

Can't see anything that looks like it would cause any issue.....

[KiOgon]

Look under the pick up & do you have a multimeter?

[Beer of the Bass]

In the photo, it looks like the shield from your pickup wire is going to the end of the pot track (i.e output) and the central conductor is going to the pot shell (i.e. ground). Reverse those connections, and I reckon it'll be fine. On a Fender pickup, you wouldn't notice any difference as the poles aren't grounded, but the Delano must be made with the poles connected to the shield. So the poles which are normally grounded are now connected to the hot wire, causing a short when the string touches it.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Beer of the Bass

[Ou7shined]

Bingo ^

[MarkG3]

Thanks for the replies, do you mean swap these two around - there's two wires that come from the main wire from the pups (hopefully you can see the arrows)

[IMG]http://i1172.photobucket.com/albums/r569/S9_S12_Bass/delanowiring.jpg[/IMG]

[Ou7shined]

Yep.

[KiOgon]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1333537255' post='1603017']
In the photo, it looks like the shield from your pickup wire is going to the end of the pot track (i.e output) and the central conductor is going to the pot shell (i.e. ground). Reverse those connections, and I reckon it'll be fine. On a Fender pickup, you wouldn't notice any difference as the poles aren't grounded, but the Delano must be made with the poles connected to the shield. So the poles which are normally grounded are now connected to the hot wire, causing a short when the string touches it.
[/quote]

Well spotted Sir Beer of the Bass

[MarkG3]

Excellent thanks! All sorted

My soldering skills made what seems an easy job very frustrating

[thepurpleblob]

Without wishing to be too cheeky (!) I would go and check out some soldering videos. It doesn't look like the solder has flowed properly which could be more trouble in the future. Soldering to a pot casing is actually tricky as it acts as a heat-sink so no shame there

[MarkG3]

Thanks I have been! Not cheeky at all, I managed to get it a bit better than the pics but I'm sure in the future I'll be soldering something again