to shield or not to shield

[TRG]

how many of you guys use the shielding tape when you build? i've done 3 tele's and haven't shielded any of them. All of them sound great no excesive noiese.PS none of my custom shop guitars appear to be shielded.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I did once and heard no difference.  Haven't since.  Never felt the need.  However, if doing a passive build in the future, I might.

 

[pabloman]

Shielding is for sissies. Wire it up right and you will be fine.

 

[AutoBat]

copper tape looks sexy. i use it.

 

[pabloman]

To me copper tape looks amateurish. Not sure why. If you do shield it go with the paint. I guess maybe it looks cleaner to me. I don't know.

 

[exaN]

I don't really hear a difference myself but it doesn't take long to do so why not ccasion14:

 

[mayfly]

I've done the copper tape.  Did not seem to make a difference in the cavity.

The only time that it made a difference was for eliminating static buildup under a pickguard.  My teles would crackle when I rubbed my finger on the pickguard while playing (something I do quite often apparently).  copper tape, properly grounded, under the pickguard eliminated that.

 

[line6man]

To me copper tape looks amateurish. Not sure why. If you do shield it go with the paint. I guess maybe it looks cleaner to me. I don't know.

Paint is more resistive than copper tape, and thus, an inferior way to shield.

I've noticed that a lot of super-high end custom basses are always done with copper tape, while production models are done with paint.

FWIW, shielding makes little difference, but personally, I think every guitar and bass should be shielded either way.
What possible excuse do you have not to shield?

It's not difficult, it's just a time consuming process. You do it once and it's permanently done though.

 

[TJD]

Just got my build back from a set-up with Mouradian who handles Aerosmith's guitars. He told me that he grounded the 5 way switch which I had forgotten but that I had done such a good job shielding that is woudnt have mattered (with the copper tape kit from StewMac). Made me feel good about shielding. Cheap to do, did'nt take long and is a good failsafe. I also like the look of the paint better but who looks inside the guitar unless they have to anyway? PS  the  StewMac kit was a good buy---easy to use tape and came with misc strips and grounding wire. Nice kit.

 

[cmalidore]

I was never able to find a good reason not to do it.  ALTHOUGH, that stuff is sharp as all hell.  Not a fan of that part of it.

 

[rapfohl09]

Im gonna do it on my next build, I dont really know what to expect haha. None of my guitars are noisy to begin with, but like line6man said, why the hell not?

 

[DesmoDog]

I was never able to find a good reason not to do it.  ALTHOUGH, that stuff is sharp as all hell.  Not a fan of that part of it.

I used teh Stew-mac kit too. A little later I discovered a bunch of small cuts on my fingers from the edges. Never felt it cutting while I was installing it.. but it sure as hell cut me up.

That said, my Strat has zero noise issues while a different guitar I has major sound issues. (But I didn' twire that one so who knows what is goign on with it). Anecdotal to be sure, but I see no reason NOT to shield either.

 

[TJD]

I was never able to find a good reason not to do it.  ALTHOUGH, that stuff is sharp as all hell.  Not a fan of that part of it.

I used teh Stew-mac kit too. A little later I discovered a bunch of small cuts on my fingers from the edges. Never felt it cutting while I was installing it.. but it sure as hell cut me up.

That said, my Strat has zero noise issues while a different guitar I has major sound issues. (But I didn' twire that one so who knows what is goign on with it). Anecdotal to be sure, but I see no reason NOT to shield either.

I didn't cut myself but got a couple nice burns from my superior soldering skills.

 

[cmalidore]

Solder burns are all the rage nowadays anyway, right?  I sure hope so.

 

[Cagey]

There's no good reason to do it; it has no effect. But, it doesn't hurt anything either, so if you like to make things nobody ever sees look good, and enjoy the extra work and expense for no reward, then you have to do it. Paint is less effective at doing nothing for you, but it's faster, easier, and cheaper, so the OEMs do it just to say they did. It matters to some people.

All that said, you do have to use shielded cable to wire things up, or you'll be sorry. Although, with single coil pickups you're gonna have noise problems no matter what you do, so get used to it.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

If shielding a humbucking guitar with hum mounted to metal plate (most are), with leads traveling through shielded cable (most are), with grounds soldered to chassis of pots (most are), the only unprotected areas are the small pickup hot leads were it emerges from the sheilded cable and terminates on the pot and the capacitor on the tone pot, which is grounded on one end.  So basically, shielding only protects the small area of un-shielded pickup lead and humbucker coils if uncovered.

On a single coil, no amount of sheilding will ever make them not hum.  It may keep them from humming more than normal, such as when near a Neon sign in a bar.

 

[Klark]

If you do it right, it does make a small difference.  The entire cavity has to be completely encapsulated.  Like this..

http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/electrics.html

I've seen guys that just do the cavity, and forget that the bottom of the pickguard needs to be done as well.  Duh!

If you don't shield the cavity, you should at least ground whatever else you can.

 

[bagman67]

http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/electrics.html

I've seen guys that just do the cavity, and forget that the bottom of the pickguard needs to be done as well.  Duh!

Without opining as to the validity of manchesterguitartech's statements, I note that he is in business selling guitar-doctoring services.

Further, he opens with this chestnut:

"You'd be amazed at how much the sound of your guitar is influenced by your pickups."

I thought this was so obvious as to not bear mentioning, but then I thought.  It turns out I am mildly amazed at how infrequently pickups are noted as the primary source of guitar tone, here in this realm of fancy-wood fetishists.

All that being said, I think a nicely shielded cavity looks nice, when you actually see it - but my own experience is that the benefit realized thereby is not so large.

I don't reckon I contributed anything useful here, but since when has that stopped anyone from posting to a thread?  :icon_tongue:

peace

Bagman

 

[elgravos]

I used to have a noisy guitar so as a matter of course I now shield all my guitars as I just don't want to deal with unwanted interference when recording.  I use copper tape on new builds and paint on retrofits.  Turns out that it was a bad wiring job all along - as I later discovered - but I still like the idea of playing it safe and shield where possible.

Just had my tele built last week - same guys as TJD - and I discussed this point.  Their view was that grounding the control cavity was a good idea, however tape in the pickup cavities of a rear routed HB loaded guitar was OTT and could take some of the life out of your sound - though some people might dig that as well (probably those same people who think EMG pickups are a good idea!).  In other words: could be detrimental to harmonic feedback.  My take on that is that pickup cavities are overkill, especially where covered humbuckers are concerned.  As for the control cavity, why not play it safe?  And it does look good...

 

[TJD]

If shielding a humbucking guitar with hum mounted to metal plate (most are), with leads traveling through shielded cable (most are), with grounds soldered to chassis of pots (most are), the only unprotected areas are the small pickup hot leads were it emerges from the sheilded cable and terminates on the pot and the capacitor on the tone pot, which is grounded on one end.  So basically, shielding only protects the small area of un-shielded pickup lead and humbucker coils if uncovered.

On a single coil, no amount of sheilding will ever make them not hum.  It may keep them from humming more than normal, such as when near a Neon sign in a bar.

MY single coils don't hum... :laughing7: