Shielding wire bundles?

[kgk9000]

I'm wiring some EMG pickups, and they come with a modular system with wire bundles.  They didn't shield the wire bundles (wrap them in a conductor that's tied to ground).  So, I have four choices:

• Just wire everything with no shielding
• Put Cu tape inside the body
• Put conductive paint inside the body
• Wrap the EMG wire bundles with a shield (and ground it)

Is there anything that you would suggest regarding shielding bundles?  The good thing about EMG pickups is that they have a lot of voltage and are therefore not particularly sensitive to picking up noise, and that helps one to be lazy, but I might as well suck it up and do what's best.

Thoughts?  In particular, is there a way that you wrap wire bundles with some clever self-adhesive product?

 

[Cagey]

Are they active EMGs? If so, they're low impedance, and shielding won't be necessary. If not, then using shielded cabling on the longer runs (pickups to controls, controls to output jack) will get rid of a percentage of the noise, but you'll still be humming. Shielding cavities is an exercise in futility, so I'd suggest taking whatever money you were thinking about spending on that sort of thing and adding a few bucks to it so you can buy a noise gate. Modern versions work much better than they used to, so they're easier to live with.

 

[Cagey]

Speaking of noise gates, Electro-Harmonix offers a unit called the "Silencer" that works pretty good...

[youtube]n0vHLN0m2R0[/youtube]​

...and can be had from a number of sources for between $40 - $60. Similar units can be had from T.C.Electronics, Rocktron, MXR, etc.

 

[stratamania]

Also if they are active EMGs, do not ground the strings via the trem claw or other means. They do not need it.

 

[mayfly]

As Cagey said, if they are active, then they are low impedance and are not susceptible to picking up EMI, RF, or any other electromagnetic crap that might be floating around.  You don't need to shield them.

 

[kgk9000]

Yes, they're active (EMG 81TWX, the dual-mode "X" pickups)!  OK, if everybody says that there is no reason to shield them, I won't!  :headbanging:

The main reason that I use EMGs is that inside the pickup itself is an op-amp, and this takes the signal from the coils and gives it a huge boost (I'm not sure how many dB), so the output signal dwarfs the noise that the wires pick up elsewhere.  There are consequences, like my guitar wireless has to have its gain dropped way down so it doesn't saturate, but the implication is that noise is also diminished, so the guitar should be relatively quiet.

The best thing is to shield everything, of course, but building a guitar is a question of effort/reward, and I want to be sure not to waste any time with useless activities (like shielding, apparently).

Thanks again!  ccasion14:

 

[lightsoundgeometry]

Put Cu tape inside the body"

I like to copper the bodies fo sho

http://www.warmoth.com/Copper-Shielding-C214.aspx