Conductive Paint or Copper Tape for Shielding?

[fair.child]

Hi Folks,

I just recently joined and ordered neck and body through Warmoth. It's exciting and it's going to be my new journey building my first guitar. I was wondering with the experience for shielding the guitar.

Would you recommend to do conductive paint or copper tape for shielding the body? Or no grounding shield at all?

I have done a little research on the forum that some say you might not need the shielding. I really want to know what is the deal with/without putting shielding on the body. My build will include HSS configuration with DiMarzio rails (Fast Track, Tone Zone S, and CrunchLab).

I am really looking toward some answers/ build experience whether the body cavity needs to be shielded/not. If yes, what's your preference? (Cooper/Conductive Paint) If no, is there any specific reason?

 

[stratamania]

Its unlikely you are going to get a definitive answer. I have used both copper and conductive paint. Both achieve a similar thing.

Shielding won't stop all types of interference and pickups have to be exposed at the top, so it is not possible to create a Faraday cage with shielding.

There certainly is no harm in doing any type of shielding and it can be made to look quite aesthetic and it can be enjoyable to do.

The good news is that the pickups you will use are all humbucking so as long as you are using shielded cable any benefits from shielding may be minimal.

I would say if you want to try it then its a choice. Some will say it is not needed and some will swear by it. I am not precious either way, but noise from single coils I do dislike.

 

[fair.child]

Its unlikely you are going to get a definitive answer. I have used both copper and conductive paint. Both achieve a similar thing.

Shielding won't stop all types of interference and pickups have to be exposed at the top, so it is not possible to create a Faraday cage with shielding.

There certainly is no harm in doing any type of shielding and it can be made to look quite aesthetic and it can be enjoyable to do.

The good news is that the pickups you will use are all humbucking so as long as you are using shielded cable any benefits from shielding may be minimal.

I would say if you want to try it then its a choice. Some will say it is not needed and some will swear by it. I am not precious either way, but noise from single coils I do dislike.

Thanks, stratamania. I called Warmoth the other day and one of the sales explained to me it is not necessary if you are not playing near your phone/ TV or any EFI/EMI area. I agree with you on the choice.

I have ordered the StewMac Conductive Paint though I included the Copper tape as well from my Warmoth order.

I'm still waiting for the body and the paint. It's a good time for me to do more research on how to do it.

Also, I'm planning to do parallel on the Tone Zone S. I know they are all humbuckers and hum-canceling pickup. I am just being Faraday Cage oriented for eliminating the noises.

I'm thinking to paint the pickup cavities and rear rout. For the claw/ tremolo area, I might not paint it. I've done research some of the folks paint it and apply copper tape which they seem redundant.

My plan is just to apply the paint and mounts solder lug with a screw for grounding purposes.

Any thoughts?

 

[stratamania]

Shielding a trem cavity is a waste of time in my opinion.

If you use grounding paint in the body cavities and a lug as a ground point with some shielding on the pickguard you will have achieved as much as can be from it.

 

[fair.child]

Shielding a trem cavity is a waste of time in my opinion.

If you use grounding paint in the body cavities and a lug as a ground point with some shielding on the pickguard you will have achieved as much as can be from it.

Noted! I won't use pickup instead I followed your recommendation on the previous thread with wood mount screw insert 4-40 for humbucker and 6-32 for single/rail pickups. Those HSS configuration cavities will be painted and the pots, 5-way switches / rear rout for wiring will be painted as well.

As you recommended the trem cavity won't be shielded. Finger crossed!

I'll post the build pictures when everything comes. Still waiting from Warmoth.

 

[Cagey]

Or, you could just skip all the expense and rigmarole of conductive paint and copper foil and shield the wires themselves, which is much more effective. Something like this will result in a very quiet guitar, and is a lot easier to do...

 

[rgand]

Or, you could just skip all the expense and rigmarole of conductive paint and copper foil and shield the wires themselves, which is much more effective. Something like this will result in a very quiet guitar, and is a lot easier to do...

Now, is that slip-on shielding or shielded wire and where do you get it? I bought a couple rolls of shielded wire to do my JM but the shielding was so flimsy I couldn't strip down to it. It would simply tear off. There was no way to solder or otherwise connect to it. I finally tossed the stuff and went with regular wire and copper tape.

 

[Cagey]

I buy it from StewMac in 50' reels. They sell shorter lengths (16") as well, if you don't think you'll use that much of it. Stripped back, it looks like this...

They call it "push back" wire, because rather than strip the outer shielding you can just push it back to expose the inner insulated conductor, but I've found that to be poor practice. It invariably wants to move forward again, and it'll touch your connection and ground it out.

So, I strip it, and then put a bit of heat shrink tubing on the end partly to keep it from unraveling and partly to make sure it never moves forward to where it can touch the joint the inner conductor is making.

 

[fair.child]

@Cagey thanks for the input. Your method is very interesting. So if you do the pushback cable, how did you protect your pickup cavities from grounding? Do you use a copper shield or just leave it bare wood?

 

[Cagey]

Pickup cavities, control cavities, vibrato spring chambers - nothing gets shielding except signal carrying wires unless they're single coil pickups, in which case you can shield your little heart out every which way but loose and it's still gonna be noisy. Of course, guys still do it anyway, because the power of suggestion is tremendous. Makes The Force look like a parlor trick  :laughing7:

 

[rgand]

Thanks, Kevin. I'll get some.

 

[fair.child]

Thanks, Kevin. I'll get some.

I just ordered this from Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NS73RVG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Seems pretty good deal on the Pushback 22awg Vintage-style Guitar Wire. @Cagey, does this look similar the one you have installed?

 

[rgand]

That doesn't look shielded. I have 5 feet on the way to see how it looks. Rather than get 50' to get free shipping, I found some on ebay from this vendor.

 

[Cagey]

I just ordered this from Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NS73RVG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Seems pretty good deal on the Pushback 22awg Vintage-style Guitar Wire. @Cagey, does this look similar the one you have installed?

No, that's just old WWII surplus cloth-insulated appliance wire. Leo used it in the original Fender guitars, and everybody since then thinks it's what you're supposed to use. Nothing wrong with it per se, but it's not shielded.

The stuff Rgand got from eBay is what you want.

 

[stratamania]

Some use this stuff inside guitars.

http://www.evidenceaudio.com/product/the-monorail

 

[fair.child]

I just ordered this from Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NS73RVG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Seems pretty good deal on the Pushback 22awg Vintage-style Guitar Wire. @Cagey, does this look similar the one you have installed?

No, that's just old WWII surplus cloth-insulated appliance wire. Leo used it in the original Fender guitars, and everybody since then thinks it's what you're supposed to use. Nothing wrong with it per se, but it's not shielded.

The stuff Rgand got from eBay is what you want.

Thanks, Rgand and Cagey, just ordered it on eBay. Still waiting for the neck though, next week will be 2nd week since I've ordered the neck. Patiently waiting. :guitarplayer2:

 

[rgand]

Waiting is the hardest part. But when you open that box... :cool01:

 

[fair.child]

Waiting is the hardest part. But when you open that box... :cool01:

That is an absolute truth. arty07: It just starts hitting the week 2 now. Hopefully, it will come in week 4. Crossing fingers though.

I've seen that people recommending to do the pushback shielded wire with conductive paint as well. I haven't canceled my StewMac conductive paint since I'm not 100% certain what it's going to happen.

As for note; I have ordered the conductive paint, pushback shielded wire, and copper tape. Plus I'm starting to dig more on the fret dressing/crowning/leveling. (Big thanks to KG(Cagey) for his insight)

It seems that it will be fun to work and have a lot of tons new experience building/assembling my first electric guitar.

 

[rgand]

I've seen that people recommending to do the pushback shielded wire with conductive paint as well. I haven't canceled my StewMac conductive paint since I'm not 100% certain what it's going to happen.

I will probably shield the cavities on my current build as well as running the shielded wire. I don't mind a bit of extra work if it helps some.

It seems that it will be fun to work and have a lot of tons new experience building/assembling my first electric guitar.

There's nothing more rewarding.

 

[fair.child]

I've seen that people recommending to do the pushback shielded wire with conductive paint as well. I haven't canceled my StewMac conductive paint since I'm not 100% certain what it's going to happen.

I will probably shield the cavities on my current build as well as running the shielded wire. I don't mind a bit of extra work if it helps some.

It seems that it will be fun to work and have a lot of tons new experience building/assembling my first electric guitar.

There's nothing more rewarding.

Just quick out of the topic question; What is Warmoth turnaround rate these days for a custom neck build (unfinished since the wood is very oily) and a finished in stock? Any guess?