Faulty Bass Output

My bass is pretty screwed.But we're not going to pronounce it "dead" yet. :wink:
The pickups are loose and I think they need resoldering - the bridge pickup has low output, and the P pickup under the D and G strings isn't giving any real output.Lots of things can get messed up with pickups, not just the wiring, but "mechanical stuff" like height screws, etc., too. Those adjustments might be the cause of your low output on certain strings.
The tone pot doesn't work. I turn it and I get crackles; I'm not even sure if I get that now.That could be dirt in the pot. (No, not like you were using your bass to dig in the yard; just enough little particles of "something" to make it noisy.) Sometimes some spray cleaner made for electronics will clear it out, but it might have to be replaced. A good cleaner is DeoxIT® from CAIG Laboratories, Inc. http://www.caig.com (They even make something called "AxeWipes," for cleaning strings.)
The input jack, something is wrong with it; I'm actually not sure what it is. It works; it crackles a lot sometimes, but it works well enough. But it's still problematic.That suggests a loose wire. If you've ever tightened the outside nut on the jack, the jack body (the unseen part inside the guitar) may have twisted a little before the nut snugged down. If you do end up resoldering any connections on the jack, make sure it doesn't twist as you secure it back in place after the repairs.
Anyone have any sites about fixing up a bass? Google isn't retruning much, and I've never done this before, so idea/opinions/resources are much appreciated.It's not specific to basses, but the GuitarNutsâ„¢ site is called "The Internet Home for Wayward Guitars." http://www.guitarnuts.com/index.php The guys on the forum (often referred to as "GN2") can give you lots of advice on wiring and other specialized knowledge. You can find a link to that from the URL above.
Good luck with it.

Excellent post, Doug! Very helpful.

I think I may have solved the problem with the pickups (maybe; I can't actually be sure because my amp is faulty as well); I took the strings off, and unscrewed the P pickups to see if any of the wires were loose or cut. None seemed to be, but if there was a short, I wouldn't know; I screwed everything back in, tightly, and realized that the P pickups were a lot lower than they used to be! Now they're snug and secure...so I believed it was the pickup height that was the problem. They were too high. I don't think I'm getting faulty output anymore, but again, I can't be sure.

The tone pot still has issues, and I realized tht the bass is actually pissing the nut for the input jack; it's pretty snug, though so I don't think it's a major problem, but It's just something I'd noticed. None of the wires to the pots seem to be out of place (as far as I can tell) but I don't think the tone pot is actually changing the sound, per se. I will probably have to replace the pot. (If I'm gonna replace one, I might as well do the others - it was a used bass, y'never know what's up with it.)

Thanks for the links! I'll check them out and see what I can do.

(it was a used bass, y'never know what's up with it.)Not quite like a used car, but could still be "buying somebody else's troubles." ("And we'll guarantee it for thirty seconds or thirty feet outside our lot, whichever comes first!") :wink:
Thanks for the links! I'll check them out and see what I can do.Good luck, and have fun with it, too. 8)