Electronics Cavity

[Dingus420]

hey im ready to finish my custom strat, but before i paint it i was taking apart another guitar that i have, and realized that theres this thick, black almost rubber like paint on the inside of the electronics and pickup cavities.

is this some kind of special paint to reduce the chance of fire or something?

i just dont wanna finish my guitar then suddenly have an electric malfunction or it suddenly burst into flames (that would be cool but would be a waste of 6 months of work)

Edited September 14, 2008 by Dingus420

[Rick500]

It's probably electrical shielding paint. You can buy it from Stew-Mac, or you can just use conductive copper tape instead.

It's for shielding the electronics from RF noise.

No chance of flames, regardless.

[Dingus420]

so if i were to just leave it the way it is and dont put anything, wuts the worst that could happen?

does it just improve the quality of sound?

[psw]

Nothing bad will happen. Most guitar's are not shielded. It is to help stop noise from electromagnetic signals getting into your guitar signal. If you have HB pickups, a lot of this noise is canceled out. If noise is a problem you can address it later by shielding, but I wouldn't be concerned too much. Make your wiring short and neat and it should all work out pretty good...carry on!