Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I know this has been touched on before. Just thought maybe someone came up with some new ideas. I just pulled the Bartolini bridge pickup out of my 79 rick and replaced with a brand new 2006 Ric bridge pickup. A friend of mine who is good with Electronics wired her up. And also bypassed the 0047 cap. I now notice there is a really Loud hum no matter what pickup is selected. If I touch the strings it still hums. I lifted the pickguard off the body (with everything still plugged up) and flip to view the control pots etc... the hum goes away! When I flip it upright, the hum comes back. Just thought that was weird.

Check the ground wire, and check for loose or shorting wires.

Did your friend ground the strings to one of the pots via the mute? That's important.

The "flip" that kills the hum probably also kills any response from the pickups right?--therefore it's a short.

He did ground the bridge ground wire to one of the pots. And then bypassed the 0047 cap with a jumper wire. the jumper looks clean. When I flip the pickguard, the pickups are still active. He's stopping back over tonight to have a look. I just wanted to be proactive and have some expierenced solutions for him. I also plugged in my cheapy bass and there was no hum at all. Took the Ric to the basement and plugged it into my old Peavey Mark III head and the Hum was very loud.

So flipping the pickguard isn't causing a short... I dunno. This one's above me. Sorry.

It may be that your old aftermarket humbucker was filtering some hum that has always been around thanks to a light source or something.

My 08 4003 does the same hum. Face a different direction and it gets quiet. Single coil hum = great tone !

Is the ground going to the bridge pickup connected well? as well as the tailpiece?

I slid the ground for the bridge pickup onto the pickup surround screw and then put the spring on the screw which pushes the ground up against the surround plate. is that correct? tail piece is grounded well.

Somewhere in the wiring there is either a bad grounding solder connection or grounding wire. Recheck all the ground connections and also check the continuity of all the ground wires with an ohmmeter.

wings012345 wrote:I slid the ground for the bridge pickup onto the pickup surround screw and then put the spring on the screw which pushes the ground up against the surround plate. is that correct? tail piece is grounded well.

Yes.

Well, my buddy came over last night with his meter. all grounds were intacked. everything looked right. As I said, I replaced the bridge pickup (had a bartolini) with a 2006 Ric pickup. Maybe it's the pickup or the way the old is working with the new. Or just the fact that they are single coil.

Stupid question....

Do you have a fluorescent light on in the house?

When we switched to those OLDER GREEN fluorescent light bulbs (great price at Home Debit)....the buzzing they created when they were on was amazing.

I have a few basses, RICS & Non RICs that have been shielded but were dead quiet. My 4004Cii with Humbuckers was quiet as well.
Just the single coil pickups would BUZZ. Lightbulbs turned off, buzz went away. It was also VERY directional....If I
aimed the headstock at the lightbulb.....BIGGER BUZZ!

just a thought. I'm not sure what the Bart is, but if it was a Humbucker.....just tossing it out there.

My house only has lamp lighting. Tonight I went to a rehersal place with flourecent lights and it was so annoying. Very loud. If i stood in ONE spot in the room and turnd my bass a certain way.. quiet. if i moved an inch, very loud hummimg. Almost like you took your cable out of your giutar and held it with your fingers while plugged into the amp. Never had this with any bass. I might have to go back to te Bartolini pickup. Unless this new bridge pickup i got is just bad.

wings012345 wrote:My house only has lamp lighting. Tonight I went to a rehersal place with flourecent lights and it was so annoying. Very loud. If i stood in ONE spot in the room and turnd my bass a certain way.. quiet. if i moved an inch, very loud hummimg. Almost like you took your cable out of your giutar and held it with your fingers while plugged into the amp. Never had this with any bass. I might have to go back to te Bartolini pickup. Unless this new bridge pickup i got is just bad.

Jeff, something isn't right. Single coils have a hum problem, but not as bad as you are having.

When you take it downstairs (in the basement I believe you said) did you use the same cable or a new one? Try a different bass (if you have one) on that cable or take the cable from upstairs and see if it still does it.

Is your amp downstairs grounded correctly? Are you using one of those 3 prong to 2 prong converters?