need advice about shielding

[bigstewright]

hi

i have installed emg tw pickups in my bass which are internally shielded. as i know nothing about electrics i was wondering whether the cavities needed to be shielded also? if so how do i go about doing this? ( i know as far as using copper tape and soldering the joins or using conductive paint, does a grounding wire have to be connected to this?)

thanks

ste

 

[Alfang]

Yes,
Typically, all your parts should be grounded.  Your Ground shielding needs to be grounded as well.  Ultimatly, everything thats a shield around a wire, or a cavity shield, along with bridge, case of pots, needs to be connected. and returned to your amp by way of the braided shield of the Guitar cord.

As Far as EMG's  I have the david gilmore setup in a guitar, and there is no shielding paint, nor is the bridge grounded, and the guitar is very noise free.

Follow your mfg instructions, but if you're gonna use copper or paint, might as well ground it , it will never hurt to ground (Shield) more than you need.

 

[Reeps]

Not to hijack this thread, but, since I'm new at this and I want to learn as much as possible (read: this may be a stupid question) but do you ground a stop tail bridge?  I've seen tele bridges grounded, but I'm not sure I see how a stop-tail bridge could be grounded, if it needs to be...

 

[nathan a]

Not to hijack this thread, but, since I'm new at this and I want to learn as much as possible (read: this may be a stupid question) but do you ground a stop tail bridge?  I've seen tele bridges grounded, but I'm not sure I see how a stop-tail bridge could be grounded, if it needs to be...

You can definitely ground a tunomatic/stoptail bridge setup. Whether or not you should is another question (which I truly can't help with).

BUT, when my warmoth body came, set up for a stop tail, a little wire stuck into the control cavity. They had provided a bridge ground lead for me, and I assume they always do this.

 

[allium_sativum]

From EMGs data sheet:

"When installing EMG Active Pickups, DO NOT connect the bridge ground wire. This wire is usually soldered
to a volume or tone control casing and goes to the bridge. This wire grounds the strings and uses them
and your body as a shield against hum and buzz. It also creates a shock hazard. EMG Pickups are
shielded internally and DO NOT require string grounding. This greatly reduces the possibility of
reverse polarity shock from microphones and other equipment."

This is true with other active pickups as well.

For non active pickups, a wire usually connect from a pot or other ground point to the bridge.  This make the strings, and you part of the ground circuit.  For most TOM type bridges there is a wire from the control cavity the connects to the mounting studs for the bridge.