Shielding methods?

Pwrmac7600

Power User
What are the thoughts on the better way to shield your guitar?
I will soon be building a warmoth guitar, and I am going to shield it. It's a Tele Deluxe with humbuckers. So I am shielding the pickguard with self adhesive conductive shielding paper, and I was thinking about doing the cavities with shielding paint.
I did my Les Pauls a while back with self adhesive conductive foil tape, and while it works just fine it was a touch a a pain in the ass to put in.

Any thoughts or preferences out there?
 
Hi Pwrmac7600,

Get some of that 2" copper tape... Cover all the internal cavities of the guitar including the channels for wires and jacks. Make sure it's earthed same as the bridge.

Thanks
Pauly

What are the thoughts on the better way to shield your guitar?
I will soon be building a warmoth guitar, and I am going to shield it. It's a Tele Deluxe with humbuckers. So I am shielding the pickguard with self adhesive conductive shielding paper, and I was thinking about doing the cavities with shielding paint.
I did my Les Pauls a while back with self adhesive conductive foil tape, and while it works just fine it was a touch a a pain in the ass to put in.

Any thoughts or preferences out there?
 
Hi Pwrmac7600,

Get some of that 2" copper tape... Cover all the internal cavities of the guitar including the channels for wires and jacks. Make sure it's earthed same as the bridge.

Thanks
Pauly
yeah that is how i did my les pauls, but it was a pain in the ass. lol Not that it was incredibly difficult, but.... So I was thinking about painting it on this time.
 
Hi again,
The paint can be higher resistance meaning it's not as effective as a shield. Both methods have some 'fiddly' component. In your position, I'd use the tape as it's way better, and - you've got the guitar apart so may as well do the best job possible. It wont take much longer.
Thanks
Pauly



how is that?
 
Hi again,
The paint can be higher resistance meaning it's not as effective as a shield. Both methods have some 'fiddly' component. In your position, I'd use the tape as it's way better, and - you've got the guitar apart so may as well do the best job possible. It wont take much longer.
Thanks
Pauly
I ended up using aluminum conductive tape on my Les Pauls. and it worked well. it was just a tedious processing getting all the strips cut and formed to not only function correctly but look nice as well. But I do already have enough on hand to do the guitar with. so this is an option.
 
So I have to ask the question. Is it really necessary to run a ground wire from the cavity to a pot in order to ground the shielding (understanding that yes I have a ground wiring running from my bridge to the pots for ground, and the pickups and input hack are all grounded against the pots)?
On my Les Paul's I didn't do this because my logic was that the pots are directly in contact with the tape in the cavity, which are then grounded through the input jack. a meter verified continuity of all components.

But on the guitar I am building all electronics are mounted to the pickguard, BUT, wouldn't the same logic apply?
Pots are grounded to the input jack and pots are directly in contact with the shielding on the pickguard.
Pickguard connects to overhang shielding from the cavity completing the circuit.
I keep seeing all these people running a separate ground wire from the cavity to a pot, but it just seems like over kill and not necessary. Am I missing something?
 
Hi Again Pwrmac7600
Your logic is good - The main issue most may have with that is that a soldered connection is solid (in theory) while pot to copper or pot to aluminium etc may lead to corrosion eventually becoming an issue between the two metals. I'd suggest that is maybe a 'cork-sniffer's' approach and your mechanical connection between the post and the grounding foil should be fine as long as the pots are grounded and don't have plastic cases etc.

Thanks
Pauly


So I have to ask the question. Is it really necessary to run a ground wire from the cavity to a pot in order to ground the shielding (understanding that yes I have a ground wiring running from my bridge to the pots for ground, and the pickups and input hack are all grounded against the pots)?
On my Les Paul's I didn't do this because my logic was that the pots are directly in contact with the tape in the cavity, which are then grounded through the input jack. a meter verified continuity of all components.

But on the guitar I am building all electronics are mounted to the pickguard, BUT, wouldn't the same logic apply?
Pots are grounded to the input jack and pots are directly in contact with the shielding on the pickguard.
Pickguard connects to overhang shielding from the cavity completing the circuit.
I keep seeing all these people running a separate ground wire from the cavity to a pot, but it just seems like over kill and not necessary. Am I missing something?
 
I've tried conductive paint but never achieved zero resistance no matter how many coats I applied. Copper (tape or sheet) in my experience is the best product for shielding. However, even if the tape is conductive, it is advisable to solder pieces together (just a "tack weld") to ensure conductivity.

As far as pot grounding, I use a thicker copper sheet (don't remember specs) and sand star washers on both sides as well as the top of the potentiometer bodies. The star washer creates several points of contact with the copper making for a stable connection. All ground wires are soldered to the back of only one pot eliminating ground loops.

It's good to check the other pots and bridge/trem with a multimeter for complete, zero resistance ground. Sanding each solder point as well as using solder flux ensures a good ground.
 
Do not do this ,it changes the tone in a negative way and if you are using quality parts and a screened cable to the jack it is not needed .There is a reason that EVH and many others do NOT screen the cavities.
 
it changes the tone in a negative way
If by negative you mean that it changes the guitar's "intended" tone, then I suppose that could be one way to describe it. Any guitar I've treated the control cavity with copper tape and created a single point of contact for the ground has done nothing but improve output and clarity.
 
Depends what you play through, the simpler your signal the more you hear it. If you plug a strat in to a one channel tube amp it is night and day. Single coils in general have more to loose. Copper tape in a strat is terrible, it can make your hand wound pickups sound like ones from a Squire.
 
On the Les Paul front; I don't see too many people with R6~0 historic models moaning about screening and killing them with copper tape.
As a repair tech of 30+ years NOBODY ever asked me to do that.
 
On the Les Paul front; I don't see too many people with R6~0 historic models moaning about screening and killing them with copper tape.
As a repair tech of 30+ years NOBODY ever asked me to do that.
WEll all my Les Pauls are regular ole standards that were gigged pretty regularly. Going in and out of clubs you always got some type of interference in your rig, so i shielded them and that pretty much stopped happening.
And my Gigging rig was as straight forward as it gets. Les Paul into a volume pedal, into a wah pedal into a mesa boogie dc10 into a 4X12.
 
It's like the difference in tone between a cover and wax potting PAF and a hand wound no cover no wax PAF clearly audible.
Dave Gilmour stopped using the black strat for this reason and went on to EMGs to solve this using the SPC and the EXG active tones but at a cost.
Ultimately as PA got better he was able to go back to single coils without having to find the one spot on stage that he could stand. I get why you want it but keep the tone and work around.
 
I have over 20 years of experience assembling, modding and repairing guitars. Almost everyone who asks for new pickups will allow me to shield their guitar first. Most are surprised by the results and no longer feel the need for new pickups.

"Proper" shielding is more than simply lining the cavity (and pickguard if equipped) with a conductive product to reduce the potential for noise. When done as described in most methods, it moves all ground wires to a single point creating a solid, zero resistance ground. To say that this in any way negatively affects the tone of a guitar is not logical.

A properly grounded guitar will have little issues with extraneous noise but without shielding is still susceptible to noise from sources like lighting etc.... If you only play at home this may never be an issue.
 
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