Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I had a noisy HiGain that I replaced with an HB1. The HiGain had typical single coil noise.

HB1 was great and sounded richer, but it sorta sounded darker, like the tone was covered with a sweater.
But it was great because, coupled with my shielded cavity and pickguard it rendered the bass silent of ant RF/AC noise. And it did sound richer than the HIGain.

Anyway, I copper taped the whole back of the old HiGain and put it back on the bass and it is now also silent like the HB1 but I get all the incredible brighteness and openness of tone of the single coil back. Yay!

I highly recommend it. Now I gotta get another HiGan and do same for the bridge, since I sold my old one.

Just cover the back of the pup with adhesive copper tape and done. No need to ground the tape to something as the pup is already grounded to the back plate of the pup, which the copper tape makes contact with. Use copper tape with conductive adhesive on the back. I think this will only work in tandem with a completely copper taped pickguard and cavity as mine has though to render the bass noiseless

Awesome, I'll take copper foil over painted shielding any day.

I'm however not sure how covering the back of the pickup helps, the cavity is already lined right?
You just made a little faraday cage underneath the pickup protecting the empty cavity?

Do you solder the foil all together or are they separate?

Bottom line is, it's quiet and you like the tone, it's a complete win for you in my books.

Put the copper tape on the back. cover the back completely. Since the copper tape touches the frame of the pup, it is grounded along with the ground wire.
Control cavity needs to be completely covered also, and a lip of copper tape over the edge. Coppertape as well the underside of pickguard.
When the pguard is installed, it makes a copper box around the controls, so no more noise.
Use a roll of wide copper shielding tape like stewmac sells that has the conductive adhesive on the back side so you don't have to solder tape edges together. All the overplapping pieces will have continuity.

You got it, I just never thought to actually cover the pickup itself, that's a new one for me.

Enjoy the quiet.

I didn't either, so I bought the humbuckers to silence it all.

But a guy on another forum was kind enough to fix a Bisonic single coil pup for me and he shielded the back this way and I was pleasantly surprised when I installed it into my Starfire Bass and ...silence!
So I figured why not try it on the HiGain...

I'm used to playing in bands so loud that it's common practice to just mute with a tuner pedal times when I'm not playing.

The problem with my stock 4003 was that the noise was just as loud as the signal.
That's why I switched to HB1 pups.
Then I shielded the cavity and the HiGain and ...silencio.

lumgimfong wrote:The problem with my stock 4003 was that the noise was just as loud as the signal.

What's going on in your environment that that was the case?

Environment doesn’t matter. All the shielding fixed it.

But yes, auditorium lights and dimmers, house built in 1986, etc.