lungimsam
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2011
- Messages
- 2,754
- Reaction score
- 1,838
- Guild Total
- 2
Backstory:
I have had a noisy NS Starfire since I first got it in 2011. RF and AC hum. The bass was great but sounded so noisy that I wouldn't play it at church and the noise annoyed me at home.
Recently, the pots went bad so I wanted to replace them and had to file out the factory hole in the center block to get the harness out as the harness would not fit thru f-holes. Cordoba, since 2014 has made the f-holes wider, So now you can get the harnesses out. They speculated mine was designed differently by pre-Cordoba NS Guild.
Anyway, when I got the the electronics out they looked so cheap so I decided to install a whole new harness. I figured now was a good time to brighten up the bass and try to get the clarity and punch out of it I wanted. So CTS volume pot and ToneStyler tone knob, push back wiring. No cap needed with a ToneStyler.
Still had RF and ac hum. But of course, without anything shielded and a single coil pup in there...
I figured that it would be impossible to shield this bass because no access to the cavity with a semi-hollow bass. I didn't want to cut an access panel in the back. There was no way to reach inside to copper tape the cavity. What to do?
How I did it:
It dawned on me that maybe I could pull out the assembled harness thru that widened center block hole I made, and then wrap the whole harness in one long "sausage"-like casing of copper tape from the pup wiring all the way to the output jack. But then I thought that the copper tape would be touching metal parts and that would not work. So I needed to find a way to put a protective, non-conductive, enclosure around the harness and then wrap the shielding tape around the whole thing from pup wires to output jack and then a grounding jumper from the shielding to the output jack ground lug - and then get it back into the cavity to reinstall.
So I cut off and slit, longwise, a butyl bicycle tube, and laid the whole harness from pup wires to output jack in it in one line and then scotch taped it shut. Then copper taped over it, shielded the pup cavity, ran a slim piece of copper tape to bridge base plate. It is a short run but you could do it from pup cavity to "sausage copper casing" to keep it concealed. But I like the one strip of tape on the outside. I think it looks sporty. Then I put put a jumper wire from the sausage shielding to the output jack ground lug. The bicycle tube keeps the copper tape from touching any metal wiring and parts of the harness. With a Starfire I, because there is only one pickup, the whole harness runs in a straight line from pup to controls to output jack. So a bike tube is perfect for that, and flexible enough to allow me to reinsert the whole assembled and shielded harness back into the cavity thru the widened hole I made in the center block. I used aquarium airline tubing to get the jack and pots back in place. I checked for continuity and everything is great. Continuity from strings to output jack and all shielded parts to same are continuous. I strung it up and no more noise. Maybe a touch of A/C hum but only if you try to listen for it real hard. There is some very low level RF when you take your hands off the strings but pretty silent once your hands are on the strings. My wife says she cannot hear any noise anymore.
So I am so thankful and thank the Lord that it worked and the noise is gone, and the bass sounds better than ever now. Very powerful and clear and punchy.
About the Tone Styler:
I love it. You can get so many interesting tones out of your bass with it and get it as bright and clear, or as dark and muddy as you want. It is like switching thru all those caps, all with one knob with detents. Much more fun than just a plain tone knob.
I also flipped the pickup so the pole pieces are closer to the bridge. That has brightened up the clarity of the bass alot, and actually made the "clank" I would sometimes get from strings slapping the frets less annoying. That was an unexpected benefit. So improved the tone overall to my ears.
Anyway, I thought I would post it here for anyone else who was interested in doing this type of thing to their bass, and may be worthwhile to do the next time you go in there to change out a part of the harness-as long as you can get the harness out thru that factory centerblock hole.
Now I am excited to start playing it at church!! Can't wait!
I will post a pic of the copper-sausage-shielded harness tomorrow so you can see it.
I have had a noisy NS Starfire since I first got it in 2011. RF and AC hum. The bass was great but sounded so noisy that I wouldn't play it at church and the noise annoyed me at home.
Recently, the pots went bad so I wanted to replace them and had to file out the factory hole in the center block to get the harness out as the harness would not fit thru f-holes. Cordoba, since 2014 has made the f-holes wider, So now you can get the harnesses out. They speculated mine was designed differently by pre-Cordoba NS Guild.
Anyway, when I got the the electronics out they looked so cheap so I decided to install a whole new harness. I figured now was a good time to brighten up the bass and try to get the clarity and punch out of it I wanted. So CTS volume pot and ToneStyler tone knob, push back wiring. No cap needed with a ToneStyler.
Still had RF and ac hum. But of course, without anything shielded and a single coil pup in there...
I figured that it would be impossible to shield this bass because no access to the cavity with a semi-hollow bass. I didn't want to cut an access panel in the back. There was no way to reach inside to copper tape the cavity. What to do?
How I did it:
It dawned on me that maybe I could pull out the assembled harness thru that widened center block hole I made, and then wrap the whole harness in one long "sausage"-like casing of copper tape from the pup wiring all the way to the output jack. But then I thought that the copper tape would be touching metal parts and that would not work. So I needed to find a way to put a protective, non-conductive, enclosure around the harness and then wrap the shielding tape around the whole thing from pup wires to output jack and then a grounding jumper from the shielding to the output jack ground lug - and then get it back into the cavity to reinstall.
So I cut off and slit, longwise, a butyl bicycle tube, and laid the whole harness from pup wires to output jack in it in one line and then scotch taped it shut. Then copper taped over it, shielded the pup cavity, ran a slim piece of copper tape to bridge base plate. It is a short run but you could do it from pup cavity to "sausage copper casing" to keep it concealed. But I like the one strip of tape on the outside. I think it looks sporty. Then I put put a jumper wire from the sausage shielding to the output jack ground lug. The bicycle tube keeps the copper tape from touching any metal wiring and parts of the harness. With a Starfire I, because there is only one pickup, the whole harness runs in a straight line from pup to controls to output jack. So a bike tube is perfect for that, and flexible enough to allow me to reinsert the whole assembled and shielded harness back into the cavity thru the widened hole I made in the center block. I used aquarium airline tubing to get the jack and pots back in place. I checked for continuity and everything is great. Continuity from strings to output jack and all shielded parts to same are continuous. I strung it up and no more noise. Maybe a touch of A/C hum but only if you try to listen for it real hard. There is some very low level RF when you take your hands off the strings but pretty silent once your hands are on the strings. My wife says she cannot hear any noise anymore.
So I am so thankful and thank the Lord that it worked and the noise is gone, and the bass sounds better than ever now. Very powerful and clear and punchy.
About the Tone Styler:
I love it. You can get so many interesting tones out of your bass with it and get it as bright and clear, or as dark and muddy as you want. It is like switching thru all those caps, all with one knob with detents. Much more fun than just a plain tone knob.
I also flipped the pickup so the pole pieces are closer to the bridge. That has brightened up the clarity of the bass alot, and actually made the "clank" I would sometimes get from strings slapping the frets less annoying. That was an unexpected benefit. So improved the tone overall to my ears.
Anyway, I thought I would post it here for anyone else who was interested in doing this type of thing to their bass, and may be worthwhile to do the next time you go in there to change out a part of the harness-as long as you can get the harness out thru that factory centerblock hole.
Now I am excited to start playing it at church!! Can't wait!
I will post a pic of the copper-sausage-shielded harness tomorrow so you can see it.
Last edited: