BeAR Posted March 14, 2003 Report Share Posted March 14, 2003 I followed the instructions on the guitarnuts site for sheilding single coil guitars and all I can say is wow!! The difference is amazing. Sitting infront of my monitor used to drive me nuts and forced me to use a noisegate for recording which was a pain in the ass. Now the buzzing has gone. I can really crank the gain now and not worry about the extra hum. http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding...ng/shield3.html Follow these instructions to the letter and you cant go wrong. On a side note, I deleted the .33uf 400V cap and used a straight wire instead. Works just fine. Ive also found a place close to my home that sells the copper foil with the adhesive backing VERY cheap. One square is enough to do a Strat and costs me $10 AU. About $6 US. For the result I got, its the cheapest most effective mod I have EVER done. Period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 14, 2003 Report Share Posted March 14, 2003 It is also one of the basic differences between a low end model and a high end model Worth it every time unless of course your style of playing is based on feedback and RF noise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeAR Posted March 14, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2003 I still find that it is only the boutique manufacturers that shield their hi end guitars properly tho. $3500 AU for a custom shop Strat that only has a piece of tin foil in the back of the scratchplate, and more ground loops than I care to mention. I had this done in the space of 2 hours from start to finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted March 14, 2003 Report Share Posted March 14, 2003 I also like the copper foil better than the paint. I think even aluminum foil is better than the paint. You have to put that paint on pretty thick to get a good shield with it and I hate paint anyway, so I sure as hell don't want to have to paint the INSIDE of my guitar (watch out for the hollow-bodies where they POURED shielding paint into the F-holes and moved the guitar around to get the inside of the body covered with the paint !!! Your other best friend in guitar wiring : Star ground I'm wondering how cheap it would be to buy copper foil without adhesive on it and just buy a can of spray adhesive. When mine runs out, I'll look into that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeAR Posted March 14, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2003 Star ground rocks!!!! But at $6 US to do a whole guitar and scratchplate why would you bother with the spray adhesive? A tin of the glue would cost as much as the copper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted March 14, 2003 Report Share Posted March 14, 2003 I buy can's of spray adhesive anyway for sandpaper. (Bought a ton of bulk German sandpaper). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted March 21, 2003 Report Share Posted March 21, 2003 I alwasy thought the hum was part of the charm of a strat. Kinda what makes a strat sound stratty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted March 21, 2003 Report Share Posted March 21, 2003 ya'll are probably sick of hearing me say this but emg single coils have no hum.none,zilch,nada.evenwith super high gain.and the sound awesome.ever hear"play that funky music white boy"the s single coils sound like that.funky,bluesy,and sharp.and by the way no ground is necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talman_Hawk Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 Glad to hear that you're another happy user of the "Quieting the Beast" mod. [quote name='BeAR' post='5059' date='Mar 13 2003, 07:18 PM'] On a side note, I deleted the .33uf 400V cap and used a straight wire instead. Works just fine.[/quote]While it may "work" without the 0.33 µF cap on the string ground, remember, that cap is suggested to help protect you from a shock. Getting zapped by our equipment is one of those low incidence/high consequence events. In other words, it may not happen often, but it can be pretty nasty when it does happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
possum1284 Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 cheap pickups are also bothersom. shielding is a great improvement but the pickups play a larger role i think. lace sensor are fantastic, beautfully quiet. Adam [quote name='soapbarstrat' post='5090' date='Mar 14 2003, 03:44 AM'] I also like the copper foil better than the paint. I think even aluminum foil is better than the paint. You have to put that paint on pretty thick to get a good shield with it and I hate paint anyway, so I sure as hell don't want to have to paint the INSIDE of my guitar (watch out for the hollow-bodies where they POURED shielding paint into the F-holes and moved the guitar around to get the inside of the body covered with the paint !!! Your other best friend in guitar wiring : Star ground I'm wondering how cheap it would be to buy copper foil without adhesive on it and just buy a can of spray adhesive. When mine runs out, I'll look into that. [/quote] i found stuff at home depot. its an aluminium tape used for heating and ac ducts. its self adhesive and like $4 for 500 feet or so. i used that to shield a guitar seem to work pretty well and was very easyto use. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sulzer Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 [quote name='Talman_Hawk' post='261171' date='Mar 29 2006, 08:42 AM'] Glad to hear that you're another happy user of the "Quieting the Beast" mod. [quote name='BeAR' post='5059' date='Mar 13 2003, 07:18 PM'] On a side note, I deleted the .33uf 400V cap and used a straight wire instead. Works just fine.[/quote]While it may "work" without the 0.33 µF cap on the string ground, remember, that cap is suggested to help protect you from a shock. Getting zapped by our equipment is one of those low incidence/high consequence events. In other words, it may not happen often, but it can be pretty nasty when it does happen. [/quote] .33uf is too large to protect you most of the time; if you make it a lot smaller, you will get hum. Note that guitar nuts tells you this now. I think you are better off not using the cap, in order to avoid a false sense of safety. It is better to check the wiring and eqipment carefully. Shielding is a marvelous thing, but your strat can still pickup hum from from your power transformer if you get very close and are in a single pickup mode. This is from the magnetic field; getting rid of it is a different matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 [quote name='Talman_Hawk' post='261171' date='Mar 29 2006, 07:42 AM'] While it may "work" without the 0.33 µF cap on the string ground, remember, that cap is suggested to help [/quote] Whoa, I think this one gets the prize for oldest dug-up thread. And to pick a fight about it, no less Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert_the_damned Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 I'll have to add my two cents now its here! I read somewhere (somewhere reliable) that it takes far longer for a capacitor to burn out than it does to fry a person...and thefore putting one in your string ground circuit is a little pointless...it'll break the circuit sure enough...after you've taken the hundreds of volts at whatever ampage the dodgy equipment feels like giving you! Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 [quote name='Mickguard' post='261253' date='Mar 29 2006, 03:38 PM'] Whoa, I think this one gets the prize for oldest dug-up thread. And to pick a fight about it, no less [/quote] I was wondering about this with some of the "newbie guidelines" (shudder) around here lately. I mean, one is encouraged to search stuff out and not post new threads on topics already posted...but then not resuscitate them I am so confused... I think I'll just stick to my monster 80+ page threads... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert_the_damned Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 I'd not noticed that that real is contraditing now I have a loop of bad logic in my head gonna go listen to some Sabbath that'll fix everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitefly SA Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 BER NER BER NER NER BER NER BER NER BER NER BER NER BRAU BRAU -iron man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 [quote]i found stuff at home depot. its an aluminium tape used for heating and ac ducts. its self adhesive and like $4 for 500 feet or so. i used that to shield a guitar seem to work pretty well and was very easyto use. [/quote] That's the exact same stuff that I have been using to shield all sorts of things with for years now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sulzer Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 [quote name='Robert_the_damned' post='261262' date='Mar 29 2006, 05:25 PM'] I'll have to add my two cents now its here! I read somewhere (somewhere reliable) that it takes far longer for a capacitor to burn out than it does to fry a person...and thefore putting one in your string ground circuit is a little pointless...it'll break the circuit sure enough...after you've taken the hundreds of volts at whatever ampage the dodgy equipment feels like giving you! Robert [/quote] The capacitor should not burn out; that is why it has a pretty high voltage rating. It is suposed to limit the current to a non-lethal value. That is hard to do with 110 or 220 volt AC and still have a low enough impedance to keep the hum low. The real purpose of the capacitor, according to guitar nuts now, is to protect you in the rare case when the high voltage dc from your tube amp gets onto the cable from the amp to the guitar. It will certainly help with that, but only if it does not short out. But I think this kind of fault where you get the plate voltage on your guitar is very rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeAArthur Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 [quote name='Mike Sulzer' post='261313' date='Mar 29 2006, 05:43 PM'] The capacitor should not burn out; that is why it has a pretty high voltage rating. It is suposed to limit the current to a non-lethal value. That is hard to do with 110 or 220 volt AC and still have a low enough impedance to keep the hum low. The real purpose of the capacitor, according to guitar nuts now, is to protect you in the rare case when the high voltage dc from your tube amp gets onto the cable from the amp to the guitar. It will certainly help with that, but only if it does not short out. But I think this kind of fault where you get the plate voltage on your guitar is very rare. [/quote] Since it takes much less AC to fry me, I will certainly incorporate this modification to my guitar just in case the B+ DC of my amp makes it to the grid of the first tube in my amp. (I'm agreeing that the situation in which this could even be slightly considered an advantage and assuming we are crossing the international date line in the correct time and direction... while being in the correct time zone that also considers the overall importance of daylight savings time). Of course... if your guitar is 100% shielded, regardless of the method or material used to accomplish that feat, a string ground of any type would be totally unnecessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sulzer Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 [quote name='JoeAArthur' post='261319' date='Mar 29 2006, 09:13 PM'] Since it takes much less AC to fry me, I will certainly incorporate this modification to my guitar just in case the B+ DC of my amp makes it to the grid of the first tube in my amp. [/quote] But guitarnuts web page says this capacitor is intended to save you when the high voltage dc gets on the ground connecton of the input jack of the amp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 [quote name='Paul Marossy' post='261271' date='Mar 29 2006, 10:58 PM'] [quote]i found stuff at home depot. its an aluminium tape used for heating and ac ducts. its self adhesive and like $4 for 500 feet or so. i used that to shield a guitar seem to work pretty well and was very easyto use. [/quote] That's the exact same stuff that I have been using to shield all sorts of things with for years now. [/quote] The only problem with this stuff is that the adhevise is not conductive - so you need to find a cunning way to ensure continuity in areas which need multiple bits of tape. With proper shileding tape you just overlap the pieces and you'll be golden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 [quote name='Setch' post='261587' date='Mar 31 2006, 06:29 AM'] [quote name='Paul Marossy' post='261271' date='Mar 29 2006, 10:58 PM'] [quote]i found stuff at home depot. its an aluminium tape used for heating and ac ducts. its self adhesive and like $4 for 500 feet or so. i used that to shield a guitar seem to work pretty well and was very easyto use. [/quote] That's the exact same stuff that I have been using to shield all sorts of things with for years now. [/quote] The only problem with this stuff is that the adhevise is not conductive - so you need to find a cunning way to ensure continuity in areas which need multiple bits of tape. With proper shileding tape you just overlap the pieces and you'll be golden. [/quote] actually you simply apply pressure to the area you are shielding just a little more than you would to make it stick and it will have continuity. I do this all the time reads true with a meter every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 [quote name='Mike Sulzer' post='261313' date='Mar 29 2006, 08:43 PM']It will certainly help with that, but only if it does not short out.[/quote] I coulda sworn the whole point was that the capacitor WOULD fry, thus breaking the connection between you and the current, which would be incorrectly travelling along the ground in the case of a reverse-wired outlet! Or the other reading I had, and I admit that the site wasn't clear, was that you were supposed to feel SOME current and take it as a warning to let go right away. It's just a few extra seconds saying, "Heya... you're about to get zapped!". It's definitely never described as a "bad current blocker". Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sulzer Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 [quote name='GregP' post='262034' date='Apr 3 2006, 02:46 AM'] [quote name='Mike Sulzer' post='261313' date='Mar 29 2006, 08:43 PM']It will certainly help with that, but only if it does not short out.[/quote] I coulda sworn the whole point was that the capacitor WOULD fry, thus breaking the connection between you and the current, which would be incorrectly travelling along the ground in the case of a reverse-wired outlet! Or the other reading I had, and I admit that the site wasn't clear, was that you were supposed to feel SOME current and take it as a warning to let go right away. It's just a few extra seconds saying, "Heya... you're about to get zapped!". It's definitely never described as a "bad current blocker". Greg [/quote] The capacitor is specced at 400 volts. It willnot easily burn out. The value is now .33 uf, less than the 1 uf it used to be to allow less current, and less likely to kill you. If it is to serve as a warning, the current must be big enough to feel, but small enough to be safe. Electrical things are generally not so predictable. Check your equipment at set up time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hi there... I can't remember where I read about it originally but I have a guitar with a small capacitor and parallel small resistor. I think it came from Adrian Legg's (yes that guys) early book on guitar wiring. I think the idea is that it will burn out...still give you a decent shock, but not enough to kill you. I wouldn't "trust it" enough to be careless, but I thought it wouldn't break the bank (5cents worth) to put it in there. Given that a resistor is rated at 1/4 watt that it would burn out before it would kill (hopefully not creating a straight short)...but it is an interesting thing for which I don't have the answer...other than don't mix music and electricity except to make electric music. [color="#009900"][b]pete[/b][/color] Oh...yeah, whether in the practice room or in the workshop...a saftey switch is always a good idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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