My NS Starfire wood seems to have opened up?! Roars now!

fronobulax

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OK, thanks.

I will have to research what is the best wiring and pots/cap for my needs. Not sure about another pup. Unless the novak is split coil or humbucking, which I think it isn't since it is a repro of the Bisonic. But I could email him to find out. Maybe he can tell me whch harness parts would help me the best.
At least the tone sounds great now. Just gotta get rid of the hum/buzz.
My Pbasses and Ric bass have nice CTS volume and tone pots that are full sweep. Wierd that SF not that way. Either bad pots or purposely designed that way. But I think bad pots. Still can be used to one's advantage like frono has done. Very creative.
If I can figure out a way to solve the noise issue, I am sure I will be excited enough to pot a thread about it.

I thought you had seen mellow's post here. http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?196875-Novak-EB-BSx2-(bisonic-humbucker). If I understand Novak's description of a wiring option "Humbucking parallel for a Starfire/Bisonic tone but humcanceled." that would be a humbucking bisonic. But there is room for clarification since it is not clear to me whether he is talking about options for one PU or for a pair of PUs.

I disagree with you on "bad pots". I think your pots are working just as well as every other pot used in a Starfire through the decades. I think I'd describe it as a design decision you would make differently. Semantics since either way you are going to try different pots.

WiFi, cell phones, dimmer switches, microwave ovens, wireless telephones, wireless mics "on stage" and even a washing machine on another floor are all things that have caused hum on one or more of my Bisonics at full volume. Dialing back to 7 has eliminated most of the hum, if not all. Someone described a quick and dirty way to shield a guitar so that they could decide whether the hum was environmental or internal (i.e. wiring). Alas I can't recall much more than wrapping the instrument in tin foil. ;-)
 

Minnesota Flats

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"Alas I can't recall much more than wrapping the instrument in tin foil. ;-) "

Like a baked potato?

I would worry that the sour cream and chives might muddy up the tone...
 

fronobulax

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It's actually the cheese that is the problem because when it solidifies it sticks to everything. Curiously if you use salsa on a NS SF I it hides pretty well in the cherry finish.
 

lungimsam

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I think it is good enough to play live at this point. I may try it next time and see how it sounds at church.
Gonna take some research to figure out how to silence it.
Took some doing with the Ric but now sounds fantastic.
 

fronobulax

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lungimsam

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Yes. I remember that thread. And thanks to all so much for the help, which hasn’t been tried yet as I have been busy with the Ric/moving/bass coaching, preparing bass workshop, home construction contractors etc, and don’t want to disable the Starfire yet for who knows how long until I get it silent. Must research working thru f-hole thoroughly first and Ric doing so well I haven’t needed to dive into huge Starfire silencing project yet as it is fine for playing at home. But need to start getting around to it. It is too much fin to play to not play out!! But I tend to research and put off, and then spontaneously dive in until project done.
So I will report back with results. If it had a regular cavity it would have been done ling ago as I learned how to do that when silencing the Ric bass. But gonna have to be a different attack with the f-hole and semi-holla. Though the cabling ideas are interesting but I hesitate without researching safety first before playing with grounds outside of a bass body. Leads to/from amp can get scary fast. Perhaps a discussion with the audio engineers at church auditorium would be a good way to start to avoid electrocuting myself.😀
 

Nuuska

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... Though the cabling ideas are interesting but I hesitate without researching safety first before playing with grounds outside of a bass body. Leads to/from amp can get scary fast. Perhaps a discussion with the audio engineers at church auditorium would be a good way to start to avoid electrocuting myself...

Hello

I do not remember anybody suggesting THAT wild grounding schemes.

The basic grounding rule in any sound system - be it recording studio complex or single mic/guitar w amp - is quite simple.
Everything must have one - and ONLY one - connection to ground.
Think of tree leaves - they all have a path to ground - no loops.

So with guitar - amp is plugged into grounded outlet - guitar is connected to amp. If we put a DI-box between a bass and amp to get signal to pa, the XLR-output has x-former and there is a ground-lift-switch to cut the loop. Notice, that it cuts the ground between house-pa and the amp - so both remain connected to mains ground. The switch will connect the ground i.e. in case there is only a bass without an amp.

And while we come to a church or auditorium or pub or any scene with smaller or bigger sound system, it is vital to make sure all instruments and house pa are connected to same ground. Often there is temptation to use nearest wall outlet. But when I go to gig, I always have my own cables and provide backline electricity from same source as my main pa. This way I can be assured, that everything is safely grounded - and no hum.
 

lungimsam

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Hello

I do not remember anybody suggesting THAT wild grounding schemes.

No nothing wild. Just doubting my own abilities. They have me straight to direct box and then straight to board. So should be simple.
 

fronobulax

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I can't find it but there was a thread with pics a few years ago that showed someone working on a Starfire guitar's wiring. They had clear tubing and fishing line and everything was arranged so that it was easy to put back together. The tubing was sized so the interior diameter was snug on the pot shaft and the exterior fit through the hole in the body. You put the tube on, do what you need to pull the pot out of the f hole, the tubing comes along for the ride. But when you are done you pull on the tubing, the pot works its way to the right place and because you did everything right with the tubing the shaft of the pot is threaded back into the hole. (I'm thinking the fishing line was for backup. If the tube comes off, there is still something that can get the pot close to the hole).

I understand you are comfortable with what you did with the Ric and are willing to extrapolate to the Starfire, but if this were my project I would invest the time to identify the probable hum source since the solutions are not the same. On the other hand if you are dead set on replacing the pots with a taper that is more to your liking then hum reduction is a nice side benefit but does not define success or failure.
 
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