Shielding question

[Octavian B]

I was wondering if I could get your guys opinion on something. I finished shielding the pickup cavity on my up and coming Jazzmaster and I've ran out of tape for the pickguard - originally I was going to use a Rothstein pickguard shield, but it turns out not to fit the Warmoth pickguard without some serious modification - to the point that it's not worth it. (on the side if anyone needs a shield for a regular fender Jazzmaster pickguard let me know, if I don't decide to modify it and use it I see no reason not to part with it). So, I've done the following on the pickguard as can be seen in the picture bellow (basically just connected the al. warmoth shielding with copper tape and placed a large piece in the center to overlap with the cavity shielding to ground it). Will this be enough shielding - or should I get more tape and do the whole thing?

Octavian

 

[Octavian B]

So I decided to modify the rothstein shield after all - it turned out quite nicely so I thought I'd share some pictures. It was my first time using vintage cloth wire - it was indeed a great pleasure to work with, though it is significantly more expensive - especially if one needs all the available colours for a jazzmaster! Also, it was the first time in a very long time that I've used a soldering gun instead of a soldering iron - I'd highly recommend it. Don't mind the long ground wire that's up in the air, it will eventually be connected to the tremolo to ground the strings - meanwhile I'll have to wait for the pick-up mounting screws to put everything together. (As a note I used the CTS pots from guitarpartsresource, and they solder on without any sanding etc, I noticed that quite a few folk on here are having trouble soldering on some pots, so I guess it may be a good idea to keep track of the ones that don't need any extra work?)

 

[RLW]

Nice work, I wish I was that tidy with my electronics.

 

[neilium]

Nice job.  ccasion14:

 

[bpmorton777]

in the past ive used 3M spay-on glue and aluminum foil on the underside of my pickguards for shielding. works well and is cheap. Doesnt look as nise as your though....good job with the wiring dude!  :hello2:

Brian

 

[Octavian B]

Thanks everyone - I really do think that the wire is more or less responsible for the neatness, you can really cut it down to the exact size you need and do so after soldering one end.

Brian, the rothstein shields are basically just thicker copper foil laser cut and then I also used 3m spray - the aluminium foil was my next option! But using them does indeed make things much neater. I always thought it may be a good idea to have pickguard material with a medium thick copper shield glued to the bottom and then have the pickguard cut - would make things easier most likely.

 

[confederatewk]

my dad has a old strat, when we put hot rails in it, we shielded the cavity and then the pickguard

then we had a marvelous idea use a small peice of painters tape, and tape down the wiring...then reaply shielding tape over the tape and solder it on a couple sides

for some reason even with strat pickguards the fact that the wires are soo close to the shielding and the top of the guitar near the strings, it seems to make a difference...the wires still were pikcup up some noises

we reshielded over the wiring and it was like double the shielding, made a difference most def

 

[Rick]

Me too ... I use the 3M type spray-on glue and aluminum foil for my sheilding.  Works good for me.

And as to how yours turned out  .... it looks good enough to me ...

And let me add ... very nice soldering,  kudos.

 

[dbw]

Yeah that looks great... my control cavity is a mess, I shielded and soldered it when I was a little drunk.  I decided it would be a good idea to solder all the ground connections to a random spot on the copper tape, so there's a giant craggy pile of solder in the corner with all sorts of wires sticking out of it... going to be a nightmare if I ever want to change a pickup. 

 

[Zionplayer]

I am building a Strat style guitar (my 1st. btw..) and I am installing new Emg  DG 20 pups in it.

The question is, do these active pick ups benefit from the cavity (copper) shielding that passive pups do?

Actually, everthing is waiting delivery ( 12 day delivery )...of copper sheilding tape.

Callaham tremolo is in, Shaller locking straps, The Warmoth showcase neck with Schaller locking tuners are in.
The pickguard with the Emgs are itching to get installed and one solder (3,actually) of the jack,  and I'll be ready to set it up.

Should I wait for the shielding tape??

Thanks

 

[jimh]

Nah.  Stick the guard in and try it.  If it hums, take it out and wait. If not then just  :rock-on:

 

[Xplorervoodoo]

I also have the DG20 in my warmoth strat.  EMG's require no shielding, because the pickups are already internally shielded.  Should be stated right in the installation manual for any EMG product.