tso Posted March 1, 2019 Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 Hi all, I kind of completed my 1st electric bass but it needs some work. I ordered the pots prewired but I seem to have messed something up. It does output sound but there is a lot of noise (which can be eliminated by touching the bridge and 1/4 output plug at the same time). Im guessing a grounding issue? Also I believe one pot is for volume and the other two are for tone but I only have volume control right now as the other two pots don't seem to affect the sound. I will post photos that show how it is currently wired. I know the wires going to the jack appear to be swapped but I believe I swapped them back at the jack (don't ask me why). Thanks all in advance. If anyone is interested in the build... The body is pallet wood, the neck is leftover cabinet wood (red oak I believe) and I used my chainsaw mill and table saw to make a Live Oak fret board (wood sourced from my property). Knock off music man pickup and bridge and Wilkinson Tuners. The strap is scrap leather from an old couch. It was a lot of fun to build and can't wait for it to sound as good as it looks. 20190301_105040_Film1.pdf 20190301_105045_Film1.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 1, 2019 Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 15 minutes ago, tso said: Hi all, I kind of completed my 1st electric bass but it needs some work. I ordered the pots prewired but I seem to have messed something up. It does output sound but there is a lot of noise (which can be eliminated by touching the bridge and 1/4 output plug at the same time). Im guessing a grounding issue? Also I believe one pot is for volume and the other two are for tone but I only have volume control right now as the other two pots don't seem to affect the sound. I will post photos that show how it is currently wired. I know the wires going to the jack appear to be swapped but I believe I swapped them back at the jack (don't ask me why). Thanks all in advance. If anyone is interested in the build... The body is pallet wood, the neck is leftover cabinet wood (red oak I believe) and I used my chainsaw mill and table saw to make a Live Oak fret board (wood sourced from my property). Knock off music man pickup and bridge and Wilkinson Tuners. The strap is scrap leather from an old couch. It was a lot of fun to build and can't wait for it to sound as good as it looks. 20190301_105040_Film1.pdf 20190301_105045_Film1.pdf sounds like you didn't install a ground on the bridge itself? there is supposed to be a wire from ground (all backs of pots wired together) to underneath the bridge. otherwise it could be that you wired the jack backwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tso Posted March 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 Thanks Mr Mike. You were right on both accounts. I think I had read somewhere that grounding the bridge was optional and potentially hazardous. But I followed your advise and ran a ground to the bridge, but still had noise. My jack was also wired backwards. Now there is no noise and it sounds pretty decent. I'm still not sure if the pots are working though, they don't seem to affect the sound much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 1, 2019 Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 grounding the bridge IS hazardous if you are standing in water while playing... not as many guitar players doing that these days (hehe). It IS optional on an emg, but will cause all sorts of noise with typical passive pickups. Glad you got it sorted! afa the pots... are all the backs of the pots grounded together and then tied to the output jack ground? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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