Shielding a hollowed L5S

[jmav]

Hi guys,

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I'm putting together my first build, its an L5S with a chambered body and one F-hole (will be posting pics in the other boards when I get the chance to take good ones).

My question is this:

I have used copper shielding tape (the DiMarzio one) and pretty much shielded the entire back cavity. I've done some research and I can't get a straight answer off the web about whether it would be better to
1) Close off the rest of the chamber (up into the horn of the guitar) with a curved piece of shielding, to seal off the cavity and have the tape be closed all the way round, or
2) Leave the rest of the chamber open, and have an opening in the shielding.

I would normally do one to have a full seal but I am apprehensive that it will harm the tone of the guitar by not letting the air reverberate fully throughout the chamber.

Anyhow sorry if this is hard to understand, its a bit difficult to explain and I'll get some pics up here if you guys don't get what I'm saying  :icon_smile:
I'd appreciate any advice. Cheers!

ps. oh, also, would you guys shield the humbucker cavities? its routed for 2 normal sized buckers and i have a SD JB & Jazz matched set going into it.

 

[Alfang]

Many many of us here don't use any shielding beyond what comes on a pickguard, and the general concenses is that if wired correctly and using good pups, the guitar will work fine

 

[Jusatele]

Many many of us here don't use any shielding beyond what comes on a pickguard, and the general concenses is that if wired correctly and using good pups, the guitar will work fine

I do not see a reason to shield the entire body, But like all things guys will go all out.
it seems we have a problem with the pickups, because of what they are. that is the area we need to shield.

I could be wrong,

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I kind of view it as an all or nothing thing.  If one end isn't shielded, that's a wide open gate for intereference to get in.  Shielding has always been a catch 22 for me though.  No amount shielding will make a single coil not hum, and no lack of it will make a humbucker hum.  What's left is the components that pickup intererence like innards of pots (though the pot chasis should be grounded), switches, and wiring.  For 100% coverage and piece of mind, somehow create a shielded barricade from the control cavity to the rest of the chamber.

 

[jmav]

Yep, I was leaning toward closing it up, so I think I'll be doing that.

Thanks for the advice guys

 

[OzziePete]

From my small amount of experience with builds, a good solder joint is more important than shielding a cavity. As someone who is prone to stuffing up the solder joints and causing all sorts of interferrence to the circuit in the process, I have found that the good small solder joints that I DO manage to occassionally make are the ones that give me least grief. But that said, I have used that Stew Mac conductive paint to help with RFI on single coils, but I can't assess how that has helped in that guitar yet- but I feel that the paint is good insurance if you want to pay for it.

 

[Alfang]

Yeh really I gotta agree with Ozzie Pete, if you can afford it and have the time, shield it, it's certainly not gonna hurt,

weather it helps or not could be a long discussion, but I'm certain that NO One would argue that it hurts to shield

 

[Cagey]

It doesn't hurt to do the heroic cavity shielding some guys do, but it does little, if any, good.

The problem is the pickups act as antennae, and there's no way to shield those without making them inoperative. You can wire them in such a way as to reject common-mode noise induced from nearby power lines and other low-frequency radiators, and that's how humbuckers and other "noiseless" solutions work, but if you want the distinctive tone of single-coil pickups, that solution isn't readily available.

Best you can do is to shield all the internal wiring directly by using shielded cable. Another solution is available from Suhr, called the Backplate Silent Single Coil (BPSSC) system, but it's unreasonably expensive and not as effective as they'd have you believe. Basically, all they do is add the second coil to do the CMNR "noiseless" pickups provide, but they do it in such a way as to keep it physically far away from the strings so it can't sense their vibrations. Unfortunately, there's not really a good way to balance the thing for multi-coil setups, so while it works, it's not really silent. It's better than nothing, but even better still are some of the newer design noiseless pickups, such as the "Area" series from DiMarzio, Fender's "Lace" sensors, GFS's "NeoVins", Seymour Duncan's "Vintage Noiseless", etc.

 

[leejord]

Are you are you saying , cagey, to change wires on pickups to shielded ones?

 

[Cagey]

Absolutely. You'll notice all the better units use shielded cable, unless they're marketing to a group who's stuck in the '50s that doesn't feel good unless they see obsolete WWII braided cloth insulated appliance wire on their pickups. Although, in the case of standard single coils, it scarcely matters anyway. There's not much you can do to quiet those babies down.

 

[leejord]

Pick-ups I'm wiring are p-rails, SD SSL-6 and quarter-pound for tele.would you rewire thes with shielded wire?

 

[Cagey]

The P-rails is already shielded. The other two won't be helped.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I would caution against replacing the existing leads with shielded leads just because of the integrity of the new joint that is made.  There is often not much room for the new, no doubt bulky, transition.  If in the wire channel that might be a 1/4" drill bit made channel through the body, that's no place for a joint.  If it's top routed, shield everywhere the unshielded leads are traveling.  If it's possible, slip or fabricate a cable shield around the existing wire.  Besides, shielded leads usually terminate to the metal chassis of what the pickup is mounted on.  Trying to make that connection is tricky at best.

This is one of those instances where it's best to shield what you can and just hope for the best with what you can't, IMO.