Shielding definitely works to eliminate fuzzy noise. Many guitars will come from the factory with conductive paint covering the control and pickup cavities but this is not always the most effective way to shield a guitar. This now means that the control circuit is grounded. If you want to try painting cover plates with shielding paint, you should mask-off the face side of plates, clean the rear side of the cover plate, apply a light primer coat and then apply the shielding paint. After laying down the first two to three strips, take your multimeter and test for conductivity. If it’s dirty the foil won’t stick very well. To do this, connect your main ground coming from the tremolo claw/bridge to the volume pot casing as normal. An example is that when it is reinstalled the shielding on the back of a pickguard must be in direct contact with body cavity shielding. Note that it is relatively difficult to mask off the edges which means you will probably get paint on the edges – which is very unattractive on those 3-ply covers. Has anybody ever done shielding on an acoustic-electric? Relative to electric guitars and bass guitars, conductive shielding for a guitar is a process to block electromagnetic interference which can affect tone. Next, apply wide pieces to cover the areas. There you have it – how to shield a guitar. There are a few techniques you can use to add additional Shielding and better Ground your guitar. Is there any way to shield a guitar and not have to remove electronic parts? Source of interference that shielding paint and tape can block are stage lighting, fluorescent lights, neon signs, and even your own equipment such as amps. Repeat this process until the whole cavity is covered. Your scissors will become useful to cut strips to desired lengths and smaller widths to fit copper into all the little nooks and cranny’s. For this guide, we will discuss the process using shielding paint. These covers are not meant to be removed! #A290-4oz) guitar shielding paint. Your article is both interesting and useful. Completely mask off all of your guitar’s body except where you are going to apply the shielding paint. Buying from a reputable vendor is your only way to know you’re not wasting your time and money. might sound like a weird question….can you paint OVER the copper tape. To do this, solder a ground wire (we'll use black cloth wire) to the copper tape on the side of the cavity. It is also probably the easiest thing to do. It’s not just shielding that helps to combat this feedback – insulated wire and superior quality components all help. Conductive copper tape is available from several sources. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Use cut strips of copper tape lengthways running up the sides and use the full width (50mm) to do the floor of the cavity. It may take a couple of hours to do but it’s a worthwhile upgrade. I will be repainting a guitar that already has the tape in it. As mentioned previously, take photos and notes on placement, orientation, and wiring of all items. In particular, buying the Stewart McDonald shielding products. By removing the switch, pots, and pickups it took me about 45 minutes to do it. Great information. I used to think shielding work was just a trick for a shop to make money. Use an awl or ice pick to make small holes where there are existing screw-holes. After I installed the foil I used a razor blade to carefully cut around screw holes and openings for the electronics. Bend it around the corner and solder each end to the copper tape. We are not responsible for any problems which may occur when attempting to do this work and directly or indirectly using the information provided herein. If you have a humbucker without a cover you should at least consider installing covers on them. Do the difficult areas first and finish by doing the open areas. I mean, does everything have to be covered or is it okay to just do most of the surfaces of the cavities? Thanks for writing an article with interesting and useful information. If you want to get rid of hum in single coil guitars, you might have to switch to stacked single-coil sized humbuckers.”. Once this is done, test for continuity between the copper shielding and the casing of the volume pot (ground). I like the idea of using both conductive shielding paint and copper foil. To test this out, place the pickguard back on top of the body. The shielding paint I bought online, which was a good product, was purchased directly from an American manufacturer with great reviews. This includes but is not limited to pickups, pots, switches, input jack, and wiring. You will probably need this information to help you with reinstalling the components. Good info, thanks. Refer to the below photos. Conductive shielding is done in body cavities which house electronic components (pickups, pots, etc.). Thanks! you won’t have a true Faraday Cage, but in shielding a guitar you won’t notice the difference). I used your info to buy the materials listed and do the work on my guitars. The idea of shielding is to create a grounded “Faraday cage” around the electronic components (basically a grounded conductive enclosure) inside your guitar - pots, switches, wiring and pickups etc… The electronics inside your guitar act as antennae for nearby electrical equipment and so unshielded guitars are vulnerable to the inevitable feedback. If you create a ground loop, it will act as an RF antenna which will be counterproductive to the work we are doing. Sealing the cavity is done when you extend the outside edges of the shielding in a manner where it will have solid, direct contact with the shielding on the pickguard and any cover plates. Do a Google search for guitar repair near me and you will find someone in your area who can do this work for you. Finally, we need to connect the cavity shielding to the main circuit. Let’s start with applying the shielding material and wrap up with how to ground your shielding system. Shielding is effective when all areas shielded are in contact with one another and they are grounded. Unfortunately, RF (radio frequencies) and EMI (electro-magnetic interference) are inevitable with electronic equipment. If you want to compare shielding paint prices for a similar product you can visit LessEMF.com and compare their YShield Liquid (Cat. Once you have fully covered the main cavity and jack cavity, ensuring no holes or gaps (other than the hole for the bridge ground and hole from the main cavity to the jack socket cavity) you need to connect the two cavities together. If your pickups have covers that seem to be fixed-in-place DO NOT try to open them. Conductive copper tape is sold in rolls of various widths. Conductive shielding paint or Copper/Aluminium Tape? And I have enough tape to do maybe two more. I totally agree with everything in this article. If you’re going to do a really complete job, how do you get shielding paint inside of wiring tunnels like going to a jack? The commonly overlooked but critical aspect of shielding is correctly grounding the tape or paint. Use the same principle when shielding the inside of the body – carefully lay cut to size strips which overlap each other. The exact process for any particular guitar brand or model may vary from this guide. Use conductive copper shileding tape to cover the entire back of every plate. I found the best prices for a lot of these items was on eBay and Sweetwater. To do this, take a jumper wire (we are using tinned copper in this instance) and thread it through the hole where the jack socket wires go. Do I need to mask off the cavities to avoid getting the paint on the copper? Interference from other electrical devices such as amplifiers and lights can cause unwanted electronic feedback (especially when playing on a stage with lots of gear and stage lights). Bottom line is that if you use good products this is a worthwhile project for every guitar (or bass). Here is a list of the things you will need: If you rely on sources like eBay and Amazon you really have no assurance that you are getting copper tape that is truly made for shielding.

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