Fixing My squier pbass electronics

[ChefSlap]

So about six months ago i bought a squier classic vibe, seafoam green, on craigslist. It's my very first instrument and it worked like a charm, until two days ago. It worked fine Friday night. Saturday morning i strapped it on and clicked on the amp like i usually do and nothing came out. So went through some usual troubleshooting - I pulled the cable out of the guitar and touched the tip. Yep, the amp buzzes loudly so it's not that. i started slapping the e string pretty good and it bounced off the pick up. That's when i got some sound going - but it was crackly static mixed with e string. after a couple minutes like that, it cleared up and i could play like usual. I came home that night after work and it worked just fine still, but after about 20 minutes of playing the e string made contact with the pick up and i heard a loud pop. Then it was completely dead again.

I've purchased a new bass, so I'm not terrible worried about it. But I would love to diagnose this problem and replace whatever's broken myself as a project.


any help would be great!

[Bizman62]

Hi and welcome!

To me your issue sounds like a loose joint somewhere in the signal chain. Another option is a short, meaning that the "hot" touches the ground somewhere.

Start by unmounting the scratchplate and look for any loose wire ends. Also check if any of the lugs of the pots or the jack touch the shielding tape or paint on the cover or in the cavity.

A couple of photos showing the wiring might also help.