Pickup pole pop

[happyripper]

Hi guys

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere on the forum...

I've recently bought a '78 Fender Precision, the bass is in great shape and the electronics are dead quiet even without string contact, the one problem I have though is that the pickup poles pop if my fingers come into contact with them.

There is even a static hum if my fingers hover over the poles.

Is this normal on Precisions of this age and something I should just learn to live with, or is there an easy fix?

I've checked inside and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong, ie grounding issues.

Any help much appreciated!

Cheers

[project_c]

This happens to me at my house because of light switch dimmers elsewhere in the house. When I turn the lights off, the hum stops. If you get hum everywhere and not just in certain rooms, check the ground wire in the bass.

[CamdenRob]

Is it not when the string touches the pole piece as opposed to your finger?

I had this on a jazz recently and it infuriated me to the point where I eventually replaced the pickup covers with ones that covered the pole pieces.

Edited July 4, 2016 by CamdenRob

[happyripper]

Its definitely when my finger comes into contact with the pole pieces, not the string.

I don't think its a grounding issue with the bass as such - the bass is dead quiet when plugged in and when playing there is no hum at all... just if my finger comes over the pole pieces (or in contact with it)

Edited July 4, 2016 by happyripper

[ikay]

This is an interesting article that may be relevant - [url="https://www.audereaudio.com/faq_pumag_gnd.htm"]https://www.audereaudio.com/faq_pumag_gnd.htm[/url]

[happyripper]

Great article and very interesting thanks!

I'll try the copper tape on the pickup poles and run a wire to ground to see if that solves the problem.

I've had about 6 P basses, but never encountered this before.

[mcnach]

I had that issue with a big MM type pickup in a Tanglewood Warrior. I used clear nail varnish over the pole pieces, the one that dries in 60 seconds. A couple of coats was enough. Eventually I fixed it with tape touching all polepieces from below and scratched the nail varnish away. But the nail varnish works, it's easy to apply and it's not really noticeable unless you know it's there.