tape wound flats on a mustang bass !!!

[dansamp]

question for anybody that can help

I just strung my wife's reissue Fender Mustang Bass with
Rotosound black nylon flatwound strings and it sounds and feels great!!
but as the guy in the shop said I may have a problem with buzzing and grounding
sure enough I do
I have to roll all the treble off or put my hand on the bridge to prevent any buzzing since the strings no longer ground the bridge
any ideas on how to stop the noise ??
I don't remember having this problem on an old Guild M85 bass I once had
would a humbucking pick up solve the problem ???

Dan.......

[Tim Armstrong]

That's a tough one, and off the top of my head I don't have an answer, other than perhaps you might try some regular flatwounds instead. Mustang pickups are humbucking (they're split, and each half is reverse-wound to the other, like a P-Bass pickup).

But considering that there are folks who play electric bass with tapewounds, I'm sure there must be a proper fix!

Cheers, Tim

[Telenator]

If you want to get crazy, you could simply take a piece of wire with an alligator clip on it and clip it to the bass. Loop the other end around your wrist and you're grounded!

[dansamp]

"That's a tough one, and off the top of my head I don't have an answer, other than perhaps you might try some regular flatwounds instead. Mustang pickups are humbucking (they're split, and each half is reverse-wound to the other, like a P-Bass pickup).'

I would rather not switch them out they sound great !!!
and look even better !!!
I will probably just roll the tone knob down anyway
it sounds best with the tone knob off anyway

thanks
Dan.......

"If you want to get crazy, you could simply take a piece of wire with an alligator clip on it and clip it to the bass. Loop the other end around your wrist and you're grounded"

I clipped a wire from the bridge and ran it around to the string eyelet
didn't make a difference
then I ran it to the control plate
still no difference

oh well

Dan......

thanks guys

[tim3finger]

I am going to make a few assumptions here;

If the little metal hollow thingie the solid metal core of the string wraps around isn't covered with nylon tape, and it touches the bridge plate, your strings are grounded to the bridge and your bass shouldn't buzz anymore than it did before. I assume it didn't buzz before, and now it does.

If the strings are plastic coated on the hollow thingie , scrape the plastic off enough to make contact with the bridge. Buzz will go away

If it buzzed before and does so now at about the same level, or worse, remake (solder) your wiring connections, especially at the input jack. It's not real time consuming to remake your connections and you just might find a connection hanging together by just a strand or two of the wire.

Tim

[dansamp]

that won't work cause the reissues are string through body
it did not buzz prior to the strings being changed
I did get a jumper wire with alligator clips and connected one end to the
bridge and one to the string eyelet thingy
that didn't change it either

[tim3finger]

It didn't buzz before and now it does. Bridge has been grounded to a string. Okay!

Put your old strings back on and see if it still buzzes. If it does, you will need to check/resolder your wiring connections( or have it done ). A lot the time the input jack connections are the culprit, since it gets the most physical use.

If it quits buzzing, you will need to find a way to ground all the strings to the bridge. You could make a small plate for the back of your bass, drill holes appropriate to string size, run the strings through it, ground that plate with a wire through a string hole to your bridge.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else to try. Good luck!

Tim

[0le FUZZY]

...Metal watch band (on yer wrist) with aligator clip jumper from it tew the control panel.


0.F.