IB-5 Electric Bass - Second Build

[wazkelly]

Elegantly understated natural finish. Well done, looks great.

[pharms]

Thanks Gents!

[pharms]

Hey Simon; So, I do have one question: I am having a grounding issue with the tone pots only. When I plug in the guitar, there are no grounding issues when I turn up the volume pots...nothing, works awesome! However, when I turn on the tone pots there is excessive ground static that comes through the amp. This static does not disappear when I touch the strings or tuning pegs. However, when touch the jack plug, the static disappears. I have checked, re checked the wiring (checking for continuity) , re soldered where I think I made errors. I even changed out the tone pots with new pots. This has not eliminated the issue. Any ideas?

[Airwick]

How thick is the neck on that thing? i played a 5 string the other day and it had a CHUNKY neck.

[Simon Barden]

It's probably not a ground issue with the tone pots. The tone pots when turned down are simply passing all the noise signal, which has mainly higher frequency content, down to ground.

What you probably have omitted is a ground wire for the bridge as the noise doesn't disappear when you touch the strings as it should do. You should have fitted a wire through this hole I've marked-up on your photo, with the other end connected to the back of a pot, and the end that should sit under and in contact with the bridge, having a reasonable length of bare wire, splayed out at the end, in contact with the bridge. I don't know how conductive the paint is on those black bridges, so you might be best scraping or filing off some of the finish so you get good metal-to-metal contact.

If that doesn't fix things, then a photo or two of the wiring in the control cavity may help us.



Also note that for the shielding in the pickup cavities to have any effect, then they need to be connected to ground. You can solder direct to the copper tape or use a small screw and washer to hold a ground wire in place in a position where it's not affecting the fit of the pickups.

[pharms]

Greetings Airwick. The neck thickness is not that much different from a 4 string. My guess it has to do with the type of wood selected that has an effect on the design. Some weaker types of wood would need to be thicker while other times can be thinner. My thoughts.

[pharms]

Greetings Simon. Thanks for the notes. The bridge wire was going to be my next focus. I did install this, but perhaps I did not do a sufficient job in installing. As I recall, I don't believe I stripped enough of the wire away to make proper contact. Also, I will take your advice and remove some of the black paint. Thanks again for the other points. Stay tuned...I will give this a shot this afternoon.

[pharms]

Greetings Simon. Your advice worked! 0 grounding issues. Thanks again. I will post a photo next week playing this one on stage. Have a great week!

[Simon Barden]

Great news. It had to be something relatively simple.