sinner16 Posted April 19, 2004 Report Share Posted April 19, 2004 I've read about a half a dozen "How too's" about shielding pickup and vol/tone control cavities. All of these involved a pick guard of some type covering up the copper / aluminum foil shielding. What or how would you shield a guitar without a pick guard ? Like a Jackson... or an Ibanez RG1570 where a pick guard does not exist? Would I use the shielding paint that is available these days, or do I even need to worry about shielding ? I just don't want to plug this thing in and have it hum in my face!!!! Oh by the way ... I'm using a s/s/h set up .... a YJM, a HS2, and an Evolution F spaced pick up configuration in a Jackson body? Sorry if I'm not making sense ... I think the pain killer I took is kicking in !!!! Knee surgery sucks!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalefish Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Ok, if I'm wrong about this, someone please correct me.. Should be correct, though.. Firstly, the control cavity should be shielded as per most of the instructions out there.. Basically line the inside with the foil or copper tape or whatever and make sure that it's electrically continuous (ie any 2 points along the lining should conduct electricity between them..).. Cover the cavity cover with the foil etc too in such a way that when you close it all up, it'll touch the cavity's shielding.. I did that on an old Ibanez GRX70 of mine with pretty decent results.. I have been wondering, though, about using the foil beneath the pickups.. As in, take the pickups out and line the routing with the shielding stuff.. If you're worried about the silver showing through (cosmetically) you could paint it black (Rolling Stones!! ) or something.. I think it's been mentioned but I'm not sure.. Incidentally, your single coils should need shielding.. Lastly, I've never tried the shielding paint simply 'cause it's a hell of a lot more expensive than the aluminum foil.. Also, from what I've heard, the paint often doesn't work as well.. Hope that helps!! Oh, and get well soon, dude.. Had knee trouble myself a few years back.. Not fun.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Shielding the cavities will still help almost as much as a shielded pickguard with shielded cavities. The only concern would be cosmetics, as Stalefish mentioned. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 You're not going to pull this off with aluminum foil, it won't give you the connectivity you'll need between pkp holes. Either copper tape or black paint will work fine tho. Here's one of mine that has copper tape under all the pkps, then I put in that thin black spongey stuff that's adhesive on the back side over top of it...window and door insulation stuff, same stuff I put under the backside of my floyd to prevent hard bottoming out on a severe uppull. I connect all the holes with a thin strip of the copper tape that runs thru the wire holes. I run pre-amps in most of my guitars, so they need to be ultra-hum-free and quiet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 I've done it with tape, and I hope never to have to again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinner16 Posted April 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Drak, How did you ever get tape through the wire holes ???? Were your wire holes larger than on a "normal" body? When I say normal, I really mean a mass production model. I'm sure the guitar in the pic is a hand made guitar, and you were able to make things the way you want them to be. Should I try to run a fine copper wire from cavity to cavity and then to ground? I have not looked close to see if the wiring holes are big enough to be able to use tape like you did? It sounds like I need to re-think this wiring idea. Very nice work by the way Drak, Do you have any othe photos showing how you used the tape from cavity to cavity? Sorry for all the question.. but I'd rather try and get the majority of problems resolved before I start with the copper tape.... LOL Thanks for everyones help... Now all I need is for my knee to heal and I'll be back on track!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 My personal feeling is that if you're using copper foil instead of aluminum, you gain the ability to solder the material. Since you can use solder, why not just solder a length of wire between them instead of trying to get a piece of tape through? Super kick-ass looking guitar and shielding job, though!! When I looked at the pic, since the topic was shielding, I focused right on the cavity and thought, "What a pro looking job. Sweet!" THEN I looked at the guitar and thought, "Holy crap!" Greg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsl602000 Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 then I put in that thin black spongey stuff that's adhesive on the back side over top of it...window and door insulation stuff, great idea... I was wondering how I could get the pup cavities for my spalted strat black... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 you can run grounding loops from the common ground at the back of the volume pot to eack pickup cavity,and just screw it into your shielding material.it is how ibanez did it on my japanese sabre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalefish Posted April 22, 2004 Report Share Posted April 22, 2004 Hmm.. I've been doing fine with the aluminum foil but I think I'll go with Drak's experience.. Brilliant job on the cavity by the way!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 I wasn't 'downing' aluminum foil, it probably works fine on some applications, but when trying to shield several different smaller cavities as mentioned, I don't think it's the best idea is all. For a swimming pool strat, it's probably fine. I don't star ground either, I just make sure before sealing everything up that everything that should be making contact actually is, by going thru it with an ohmmeter and checking all grounds and all connections, it's worked fine for me. Sinner, yeah, maybe my inter-pkp-cavity holes are bigger than normal, I don't know what normal size is really, but I just cut slivers of the tape with a pair of scissors and stick 'em thru the holes and connect one cavity to the next one, they're all linked in 'series' like that. I really like the copper tape, don't know why really... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalefish Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 Well, foil is a bit of a pain in the arse to work with.. The tape seems a whole lot neater.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 Agreed. I've gotten satisfactory results from aluminum foil, and I'll likely use it on the pickguards of strat-style instruments again in the future (what's easier than aluminum foil and adhesive spray?); however I threw some copper tape into my StewMac order and I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl. Might even re-do my aluminum-shielded tele. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 Drak, That's one of the cleanest layouts I've seen in quite a while! And you are basically star-grounded, since all the ground conections (at least the ones I can see) terminate at the volume pot ground. That's sweet, dude! Are those homebrew pres, or are you buying 'em? Very clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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