Click & Pop from touching metal on NS Starfire bass?

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Hey all,

I recently got an as-new Chris Hillman Starfire and have been loving it so far. Only issue I've had is consistent clicking or popping when I touch metal parts on the instrument (or the input jack on the amp).

After lots of research and testing it's clear that this is not particularly unusual, and I can reproduce this behavior on my other instruments and both amps. However, to do so I need to really crank the volume above what I would ever play here at home. Whereas on the Starfire if the tone is above half way or so the popping is pretty apparent even at low volume. Hum is not really any different than the J pickup on my P/J bass.

I'm just curious if this could be a quirk of the new Bi-Sonic or a result of limited shielding compared to my other instruments, or if this bass might have a (non-warranty) trip to a tech in its future.

It's a great bass but a bit of a stretch for my budget, so I'd like to have as much info in hand as possible when I decide if this one's a keeper. Thanks for any thoughts!
 

fronobulax

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Welcome. Note that your first few posts will be moderated so if you reply and don't see it be assured that it will appear soon.

I've got three different Bisonic family PUs in three different basses and a practice room with a dimmer switch. I have gotten hum from the lights, from the cell phone in my pocket, from the microwave, the WiFI and what I think is the washing machine. So some hum comes with the product.

That said, my NS is not significantly better or worse and I have not found a correlation between hum and touching metal. I don't get anything I would describe as popping.

Since you have tried multiple basses and amps, have you tried multiple cables between a bass and the amp?

Since you say as-new, is the popping perhaps why there is a previous owner? If you got it from a shop I would ask them to check grounding and shielding.
 
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Thanks for the prompt reply and the info. Getting another instrument cable is on my list to rule that out, but foolishly enough I only have one right now.

To clarify my previous post, hum is actually very minimal... I'm not getting what seems to be the classic bad grounding symptom of hum or noise that stops when I touch something metal.

My other goal this weekend is to take it outside my house to confirm that it's not an issue with my wiring, as some people online have determined that to be the cause of similar behavior. However because the behavior is present in all my instruments but louder in the guild, I wondered if the Bi-Sonic design might just "pick up" more of those high frequency pops or something...

I'll get that cable after work and report back.
 

mellowgerman

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Sounds like a standard grounding or shielding issue. Should not be a big deal. Is there any noticeable hiss/hum/buzz/etc when you're either touching (or not touching) metal parts of the bass, but that goes away when you do the opposite?
For example, if there is some noise that goes away when you touch a metal part, this means it's a grounding issue. On the flipside, if there is noise that only happens when you touch a metal part, that means you have a shielding issue. Pretty sure either scenario could cause little pops or crackles when you come in contact with metal on the bass.
 
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Thanks for all advice (here and on TB). Turns out to be a false alarm - I thought I'd ruled out a grounding issue in my home, but when I got my rig plugged into a well grounded outlet everything was quiet. So I was just getting a little pop when everything grounded through me into the floor - how comforting. I guess a call to my electrician is going on the top of my to-do list...

I'm not sure why this went unnoticed for the last several months and only came to light when I got the Starfire. Perhaps something about the electronics in the instrument made the sound more noticeable, but my hunch is that the volume and tone settings were different from how I play my other instruments, and that let the clicking sound through.

I notice I'm playing the Starfire with the tone and sometimes volume set higher than usual for me. There is something unique about this bass and pickup - the detail and texture that comes out in even simple exercises is really cool to hear. After only a week it is already changing how I approach using tone knob, amp EQ, and finger technique to shape the sound I'm getting, which I think is a cool accomplishment for an instrument.

Moral of the story: I should really own a ground tester and check my outlets.
 

fronobulax

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Glad things were resolved. FWIW I tend to have volume full on and tone at one extreme or the other. Anything other than that and I am trying to react to something in the environment.
 
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