Question about conductive shield paint by Stewmac

[Surtur]

Hi all,
I have purchased a conductive paint by Stewmac.
Do I need to ground the paint itself or simply paint the control cavity and let it go.
If I have to ground it, how to do that?

 

[line6man]

Shielding absolutely MUST be grounded! That is the very nature of how it works.

With shielding paint, there are two ways to ground. One way is to screw a metal tab down and paint over part of it, then solder a ground lead to it, and the other is to place down a piece of conductive adhesive copper tape, and solder the ground lead to it.

 

[SkuttleFunk]

+1 to the above

o, and don't forget to connect your shielded pickup cavities to the control cavity with a ground lead

all the best,

R

 

[Surtur]

Okay, thanks for the info.

I have few more questions, when you say the ground lead, what do you mean? Is that a string ground from a bridge post??
Or should I solder the ground from paint to one of the pots?

I have another guitar with EMG's is that crucial to ground it somehow or not?

 

[reinhold]

EMG's are internally grounded, so they do not need to be and should not be grounded to your bridge somehow.

 

[Cagey]

I don't really have any experience with EMG pickups, but I find it difficult to believe they don't need a reference or to have their internal shielding tied to ground. Sounds like an invitation to noise of all sorts.

Oh, and conductive shielding paint? Worthless, other than looking good in pictures. Ground it or don't, you won't notice. But, as long as you're in there, you may as well. Gives the next tech something to laugh at if he's any good.

 

[Ace Flibble]

As far as EMGs go, their quick connect (older) and solderless (newer) systems handle all of the grounding and shielding you need. Shielding the cavity won't do anything for EMGs and you shouldn't ground the bridge either. EMGs are almost utterly hum-less by themselves and additional shielding/grounding only invites problems (plus the new solderless system is a pain to do any additional soldering with anyway). Much older EMG designs, or EMGs installed in MIK/MIC guitars, tend to be soldered in. These pickups tend to use vintage braid wire, with the outer braid being the ground for the pickups of course. These pickups still do not require the bridge to be grounded although shielding can help a little.

As for whether shielding makes any difference or not, I'll repeat what I said in the other thread the last time this came up; the guitars I have that are shielded don't hum, despite having pickups prone to hum. The guitars I have that aren't shielded do produce audible 50-cycle hum, despite having more efficient pickups. Maybe it's blind luck, but I highly doubt it. For what it's worth my one and only guitar that isn't shielded and doesn't hum is also the one with EMGs (using the solderless system).

So yes, shield and ground the guitar and yes, shielding paint needs to be grounded.

 

[jackthehack]

Waste of time/money, unless you want your cavities black...

 

[llmtelecaster]

EMG's are internally grounded, so they do not need to be and should not be grounded to your bridge somehow.

Does this also apply to the DiMarzio Area series pickups? They are single-coil humbuckers, but are they grounded the same way the EMG's are?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

EMG's are internally grounded, so they do not need to be and should not be grounded to your bridge somehow.

Does this also apply to the DiMarzio Area series pickups? They are single-coil humbuckers, but are they grounded the same way the EMG's are?

Just think of the DiMarzio Area series as a humbucking pickup, because that's what they are.  The DiMarzios are passive, and have the same grounding criteria as any passive pickup; single or double coil. 

And EMG just about about has to be thrown into a separate category altogether.  It's the internal preamp that makes them behave the way they do and have the different grounding criteria.