"Should I shield my Warmoth guitar?"

[dbw]

Every week or so someone asks, "Should I shield my Warmoth?"  What do you think?

 

[jmasin]

I vote yes for singles.  You know what they say about opinions though

 

[Fish Out of Water]

I vote "yes"...I mean it only takes a few minutes to do (relative to the time it takes to build the guitar) and can save you headaches down the road.  Figurativly and literally...

 

[dbw]

Seems the overwhelming majority thinks shielding is worth the extra effort, at least for single-coil pickups.

I voted yes but my unshielded strat has never given me any problems.  I think maybe the final word is, if you understand how to do it and don't know if you should, go ahead and do it.  It's cheap and easy.  If you don't know how to do it and you have humbuckers, you'll be fine.  If you don't know how to do it and you have single coils, it's worth looking into.  If you don't want to do it, don't!

 

[Ted]

DO THIS  :icon_thumright:

DONT DO THIS   :tard:

 

[GoDrex]

hahahahaha thanks man I needed a laugh :laughing7: :hello2:

 

[jmohil]

I don't see any reason not to shield.  I can't recall ever hearing that shielding would have a negative impact on your tone or guitar's performance (anyone with contradictory info, please speak up). 

On the upside, you never know what kind of interference situations you could run into while out gigging, and having the shielding will hopefully provide you with some protection.  Plus, as stated before, it's cheap & easy. 

 

[ironiguana]

Sheilding is cheap and easy to do. Why not?

 

[Keegan]

Passive pickups are going to buzz whether you shield them or not, unless you do an insane grounding job like this http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php or just get an aluminum pickguard.

Shielding also increases the chances of grounding something out somewhere and having a huge headache trying to find where. I shielded my strat, it made maybe 1dB of difference in the noise, but every time i moved the guitar it would "click" and i never found what was grounding out, so I just removed it all and now I have sticky shit all over the inside of my guitar.

If you can't manage the noise, you might consider switching to active pickups.

Or just use a chorus pedal all the time so your noise sounds like waves hitting the beach =P

 

[mayfly]

About 10 years ago I shielded the insides of my Rick 620.  I ended up taking it out because it was somehow cutting the top-end of the pickups and was not really reducing noise.  Yes, I know electrically this makes no sense.  My new builds don't use shielding and I'm happy with the outcome.

 

[DangerousR6]

I'd say don't bother, I have many store bought guitars that have and don't have shielding, and there is no difference in any of them. And I've not used any shielding in any of the pockets of the ones I've built and they are just as quiet as the store bought ones.. I think it more or less comes down to how well the parts are grounded...Just my .02

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

+1

In theory, yes.  In the real world, no.  In theory, Communism works.

 

[RLW]

I no longer play in bars, and I don't use "teh brewtal gainz!!!", so I can take it or leave it.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Well, I don't.  I don't like the paint and I am no good at sticking the foil.  I do however use shielded cable in my builds and I have yet to figure out why more folks do not do this.  Sure it is not all over the pick up route, but those things are there to pick up noise, so I let them.  As long as I am not making an antenna with the wiring then I don't bother. 

Now, active electronics and active preamps are a different story.  They should have the box shielded, like a stomp boxes shell is.  A lot of components in there pick up noise really easily.

If anyone is wondering where to get shielded wire, Hoffman Amps has it for 32 cents a foot.  Buy extra, make decorations, build a tube amp...  It is really easy to use, works well.  My 2 cents.
Patrick

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

No point in me doing it on my guitar. I didn't order any and there's none close to where I live.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

In theory, Communism works.

Can you cite one that works in practice? I mean, democracy is like standing in line for two hours and then getting to choose between the onion soup from the big red cauldron or the onion soup from the little blue pot.

 

[Rick]

The analogy to communism was irrelevant; it was only for illustrative purposes, it was not a comment on the democracy you believe in.

The point was that sheilding, while a good idea, may or may not work. As for me, it helps a little bit, and depends on various factors that may or may not be worth the effort.

 

[stubhead]

People who play in bars with neon beer lights are naturally going to develop different opinions than bedroom heroes... the most compelling argument for it for the bedroom guys is if you're planning on doing any recording while sitting in front of a cathode-ray computer monitor. LCD screens use fluorescent lamps behind them to show images, but I don't personally know if they excite pickups. Shielding is connected to the ground, so it will naturally affect the way your tone controls roll off signal. In a guitar I have to ground to use for bar work, I've taken to using lower-value capacitors.

An important part of the "telecaster tone" is the grounded, big, shielding bridge plate... there's been a (marketing?) push towards vintage-style pickups that aren't shielded or potted or seemingly designed to take advantage of any of the electronic advances of the last 50 years - "it was good enough for LEO...." They'd be a LOT of fun standing in front of a malfunctioning Budweiser sign. I have seen guitarists earnestly explaining to a bar owner why he has to turn off his lights because they're "bad for the guitars" - lay a poop pancake, there.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

A lot of effort is spent on shielding the instrument, but many times the signal is not shielded in the amp or amp head.  All of the circuitry is mounted to metal plate that is screwed to a wooden or plastic enclosure, which may or may not have foil on it.  Sure the metal chasis is shielded and grounded, but the non-conductive cabinet housing the head is mounted in isn't always.

 

[nofenderetele]

why not

go with conductive  copper paint, it is less work and i trust it more than the adhesive on the tape.