Shielding methods?

Tell that to EVH and most name players using single coils. I can hear it night and day if the guitar has copper tape in it.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Tell that to EVH and most name players using single coils. I can hear it night and day if the guitar has copper tape in it.
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I’m an electronics engineer and I‘ve been playing guitar for over 50 years now and doing complete setups and repairs for the better part of 40 years now, not to mention prototyping tube-amps. EVH was by no means an electronics genius, on the contrary, everything he did was based on trial and error and I’ve followed his career from day one.
Back to the subject of shielding, a properly shielded single ground-point guitar will always be superior in EMI suppression to a non-shielded guitar (note the underscored). The cooper-shielding of the cavities will be tonally indiscernible by all means, accept for the increase in silence between playing and not playing; the shielded wiring that’s used is another story and should be of high quality and low capacitance (thicker insulation between core and shield). I just recently did a complete overhaul of a friend’s Les Paul (cavity shielding and all) and he’s so happy he’s still kissing my feet today; he’s never heard it so silent before.
 
All my Strats and Teles have everything shielded with the copper tape. Works perfectly here.......for decades!

***I need to clarify, by everything I mean the pickguard underside completely covered. Never did anything with the routed cavities.
Played many, many times restricted to in between positions for the most part.
 
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Andy Eagle said:
No. try it on a strat you are wrong.
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But just to clarify, I’ve done literally hundreds of guitars including strats, tele’s, SGs, Paulas, Wolfies, Ibies, you name it and the only time they ever lost anything is was EMI.

If you’re losing anything beyond EMI then check the routing of your ground and shield connections (single point of all components as near as possible to the jack) and quality of shielded wire used for interconnections between components. For hardcore EMI problems use dual-core shielded wire separating signal, ground and shield with the shield connected single-ended at the jack to avoid current flow in the shield when also used as ground. By single-coils, if necessary and possible do a layer of copper around the coil to further enhance EMI suppression.

Beyond that, as previously mentioned, I’m an electronics engineer and one of my specializations is shielding on largescale industrial applications.

If you’d like I can point you to some literature on the philosophies of shielding, one of the most misunderstood areas of electro physics.
 
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Hi Solarfire,

I'm never one to miss an opportunity :) - I don't want to see philosophies, but techniques would be like gold - particularly techniques around shielding a workplace or studio!

Thanks
Pauly

Solarfire said:
Sounds to me like you’re a habitual denier and you have a high resistance to being educated.

But just to clarify, I’ve done literally hundreds of guitars including strats, tele’s, SGs, Paulas, Wolfies, Ibies, you name it and the only time they ever lost anything is was EMI.

If you’re losing anything beyond EMI then check the routing of your ground and shield connections (single point of all components as near as possible to the jack) and quality of shielded wire used for interconnections between components. For hardcore EMI problems use dual-core shielded wire separating signal, ground and shield with the shield connected single-ended at the jack to avoid current flow in the shield when also used as ground. By single-coils, if necessary and possible do a layer of copper around the coil to further enhance EMI suppression.

Beyond that, as previously mentioned, I’m an electronics engineer and one of my specializations is shielding on largescale industrial applications.

If you’d like I can point you to some literature on the philosophies of shielding, one of the most misunderstood areas of electro physics.
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pauly said:
Hi Solarfire,

I'm never one to miss an opportunity :) - I don't want to see philosophies, but techniques would be like gold - particularly techniques around shielding a workplace or studio!

Thanks
Pauly
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That mainly depends on the problem at hand and to what extent you’re willing to go. Extreme example: missile calibration lab where all walls, floors and doors have a grounded very fine wire-mesh implemented (similar to screen-door) underneath wallpaper (wallpaper is just for optics), windows (if any) have a fine conductive coating or a practically invisible grid between the security-glass laminate-layers (all grounded of course). In this scenario the intent is for nothing to get in or out.
 
MODERATOR:

Posts moderated because of content. Let's keep it civil.
 
Hi Solarfire

Yeah I thought that would be the case - that fine mesh ain’t cheap either.
Anyway, I’m sure there’s lots of guys here that would like some tips on affordable shielding methods for their non mislead bunker.
Thanks
Pauly

Solarfire said:
That mainly depends on the problem at hand and to what extent you’re willing to go. Extreme example: missile calibration lab where all walls, floors and doors have a grounded very fine wire-mesh implemented (similar to screen-door) underneath wallpaper (wallpaper is just for optics), windows (if any) have a fine conductive coating or a practically invisible grid between the security-glass laminate-layers (all grounded of course). In this scenario the intent is for nothing to get in or out.
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Pwrmac7600 said:
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?
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So I didn't shield my Warmouth build. I asked the guy who put it together for me if he thought I should and his response was that most guitars have little if any. It made sense because I don't see any in my other guitars. BUT..... It's extremely noisy. It's definitely going back to the guy or maybe I'll do it myself after I digest this thread. It picks up my Iphone if it's my pocket!!
 
Bman said:
So I didn't shield my Warmouth build. I asked the guy who put it together for me if he thought I should and his response was that most guitars have little if any. It made sense because I don't see any in my other guitars. BUT..... It's extremely noisy. It's definitely going back to the guy or maybe I'll do it myself after I digest this thread. It picks up my Iphone if it's my pocket!!
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I would agree most guitars done come with any kind of shielding in them. My thought was, since all the electronics are going to be pick guard mounted I will try it without, and if it needs it it will be easy enough to do since I won't have to remove any electronics to add it.
 
Pwrmac7600 said:
I would agree most guitars done come with any kind of shielding in them. My thought was, since all the electronics are going to be pick guard mounted I will try it without, and if it needs it it will be easy enough to do since I won't have to remove any electronics to add it.
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I didn't build with a pickguard so you might be just fine. Come to think of it, my other two Strat types do have pickguards. Both are silent unless I'm on a single coil position or standing too close to a television/monitor. But this one is crazy, obscene, noisy. It's gotta be fixed. That being said, I play it every day....lol.
 
Bman said:
I didn't build with a pickguard so you might be just fine. Come to think of it, my other two Strat types do have pickguards. Both are silent unless I'm on a single coil position or standing too close to a television/monitor. But this one is crazy, obscene, noisy. It's gotta be fixed. That being said, I play it every day....lol.
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Yeah building a tele deluxe. A Friedman vintage t knock off at half the price.
 
Pwrmac7600 said:
Yeah building a tele deluxe. A Friedman vintage t knock off at half the price.
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Hey, a Friedman is just a knock off of everything else, right? The Warmoth will feel great. The necks are great and so are the bodies. I was a tad worried about getting a chambered body. I have a LP with a chambered body and it may have too much chamber in it. It almost sounds like a 335, which is great! But there is always a 'dead' frequency or a spot on the neck around the 7th to 9th fret positions that sound dead when playing unplugged. It's unnoticed when plugged in but bugs me. The Warmoth didn't have that. Plus they offer an exchange if you don't like the chambered body.
 
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