STARFIRE II intermittent static? issue--

[DEEPBASS]

In prep for a concert (400) a 5:00 sound check ok by sound man.
Ck again 15" before showtime and all I got was heavy static.
Bass was connected to a Rumble 500 which was XLR'ed to the main mixer.
Changed cable but no help.
Switched to another bass to continue, played well, so Fender amp is not the problem.
At home I set up again with the Guild and the above cable directly to the combo amp.
The bass played perfectly.
On stage I was seated with a monitor to my right, a house speaker and main mixer to my left, and a sax preamp/mixer in front.
Was my unpleasant event caused by electrical interference from any of the above, or some other type of static electricity buildup.?
Any help is appreciated.

 

[lungimsam]

If it was an NS SF II:
1. could be the output jack female clip needs tightening and not clipping in tight enough on the male cable end.
2. did you try flipping the selector toggle back and forth a couple times? Those NS toggles don’t always contact well and can cause wierd sounds sometimes. Others online have complained about the toggles.
Beyond that, I would guess you have to get more invasive and check the harness is grounded properly and all joints are solidly soldered.
The good news is, a whole new and properly grounded harness will fix the issue for sure, as long as the pickups are good.

 

[DEEPBASS]

Thanks for the reply.
Bass is a Starfire II semi-hollow 2019

 

[fronobulax]

An alternative approach would be to ask what changed between 4 and 4:45?

Perhaps the house lighting was different or some equipment was turned on?

My experience with a 2013 Starfire I and other bisonic variations has been that there is a directional component to interference and I can make it get better or worse by turning around or changing position. I have also found that dialing the tone back so that most of the treble is cut and backing off of the volume also make things manageable. Backing the volume back from full to about 7 seems to make a lot of difference without sacrificing too much tone.

If, as suspected, it is an environmental interference problem @lungimsam is the local expert in modding a Starfire so that it is clean and resistant to interference.

 

[mellowgerman]

Sounds to me like it may have just been an electronically noisy environment revealing that your bass could benefit from some proper shielding. This can be tricky in the case of a Starfire, since the controls are essentially floating in the hollow cavity around the F hole, but an easy place to start would be shielding your pickup cavities and seeing if that solves the problem. You can easily source copper shielding tape, cover the inside of the cavities with 1 layer, then run a wire from the shielding tape to ground. This should help quite a bit, since the pickups are typically the most sensitive component when it comes to electronic interference.

If that doesn't lessen the noise, there could be an actual grounding issue somewhere along the signal path inside the bass, a bad solder joint, or maybe even a failing potentiometer or switch. Are you experienced in soldering? If not, it may be something for a guitar tech to troubleshoot.

Like Frono mentioned though, @lungimsam has gone through extensive experimentation to get his reissue/import Starfire to be quieter, so he will also be a good source for pointers.

Best of luck!