Vintage Stingray hums

[sirchrisjaxon]

Hey there! I have an old Music Man Stingray (1976) and it sounds amazing, but it has a bit of what seems to be a 60 cycle hum. The pickups appears to act like a single coil, where the hum will lessen as I move my bass around. Is this normal? I know the pickup is wired in parallel, but I would think that it would still be humbucking. I guess I am not familiar enough with the electronics. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

Hey there! I have an old Music Man Stingray (1976) and it sounds amazing, but it has a bit of what seems to be a 60 cycle hum. The pickups appears to act like a single coil, where the hum will lessen as I move my bass around. Is this normal? I know the pickup is wired in parallel, but I would think that it would still be humbucking. I guess I am not familiar enough with the electronics. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

.
Welcome to the Forum.

My 79 Ray sometimes does the same. It's caused by the mains 120/240 volt power supply. Some venues are worse than others. Shielding the pup & preamp cavities may help but I don't normally find it a problem.

 

[uOpt]

Does the hum gets better when you touch the strings/bridge and worse when you do not?

 

[sirchrisjaxon]

.
Welcome to the Forum.

My 79 Ray sometimes does the same. It's caused by the mains 120/240 volt power supply. Some venues are worse than others. Shielding the pup & preamp cavities may help but I don't normally find it a problem.

Ok interesting. Yeah it's definitely not super annoying. Good to hear that it is at least not something unique to my bass. Thanks!

 

[sirchrisjaxon]

Does the hum gets better when you touch the strings/bridge and worse when you do not?

It stays the same, so I don't think it is related to any sort of grounding issue.

 

[uOpt]

It stays the same, so I don't think it is related to any sort of grounding issue.

No. If you get the same hum touching the strings or not then that means your bridge is not grounded, which it should.