Shielding with copper tape

I have read in other forums that up the 80% of guitar shielding jobs are not done properly whether using tape or paint. I find this an interesting accusation, do you agree?

If this is true, what should I do to ensure proper shielding with copper tape and pickguard shielding foil.

Another random question, do capacitors make a big difference?

Cheers!

GoodSound

I have four Tele's of which one has the cavities shielded with aluminum shielding material, one has shielding paint, and the other two are not shielded and so far I haven't had any problems with any of them so either I'm not playing where it's a problem or others are.

I do shield the pickguards on all four because the dryness here causes static problems. I've used aluminum shielding material from Stew-Mac I cut to fit the pickguard with a copper tab connecting the back of the pickguard to the control plate to ground it. Some have said they've had better success with copper shielding but I haven't had a problem with aluminum and it's much less expensive.

Caps? Ah, that old chestnut again. You may want to do a search to see all of the various and sundry opinions on this topic. There are many. I'm of the opinion that while caps will make a difference in the tonality as you roll back on the tone knob the type you use will make little if any audible difference. There are those who will disagree and they'll probably be heard from.

Single coil pickups traditionally mate with .047 caps whereas humbuckers typically use .022. Some of us split that difference with .033's and other use something else. If you're in doubt as to what to use you should experiment with several until you find what you're looking for tonally.

Make sure that all the joints between the pieces of copper tape have a blob of solder connecting them. I've heard that even the conductive adhesive (not all of the copper tape has it) eventually loses its ability to conduct.

If there is a channel between cavities (like a tunnel) you need to run a wire that connects the shielding.

Basically, it just all has to be connected and then it needs to connect to the pickguard shielding. I just let it overlap on top of the cavity so that the aluminum on the pickguard touches the copper from the cavity.

I purchased a tele that the previous owner just put copper on the back of the pickguard and then ran a wire from the pickguard to the control plate. It didn't do much. Eventually I will shield all the cavities and do it proper.

I just did a 57 RI strat. It was very noisy prior to shielding. Now it is as quiet as my Ron Kirn Custom. I was amazed...

Others may have better input. I'm kind of new to shielding. The above is just what I gathered and put into use...

Never realized I would have to connect using a wire through the tunnel. I also have the stew mac pickguard aluminum which should help. How many layers of copper tape would you recommend laying down? Hmmm this should be interesting to work with..

when i replaced pups in my new tele i didn't reconnect shielding wire to the two pup cavities. just the control cavity. no problems. i don't understand significance.

Make sure that all the joints between the pieces of copper tape have a blob of solder connecting them. I've heard that even the conductive adhesive (not all of the copper tape has it) eventually loses its ability to conduct.

Why would that be?

Never realized I would have to connect using a wire through the tunnel. I also have the stew mac pickguard aluminum which should help. How many layers of copper tape would you recommend laying down? Hmmm this should be interesting to work with..

I think the key is to overlap the copper shielding. I've come across different thicknesses of copper shielding but I think what you want is one flexible enough to work around the nooks and crannies of the control and pickups cavities one layer thick.

Covering as completely as you can and overlapping should do it. I've never seen a wire connection between cavities but that's not to say it wouldn't help. It's just that mine don't have that and it's not been a problem for me so far.

The best advice will come from one of the builders here like Ron Kirn, Colt W. Knight, Rob Stefano etc. These guys are the real gurus around here and whatever they suggest would be the best way to go about it.

All things considered using a paint shield may be less of a hassle then all you need to do is ground the cavity itself from a start screw to a pot. That's the way my CVC is done and it's as quiet as you could ask for.

Are you currently having problems with noise?

Prior to this build I was (standard MIM Telecaster). A lot of things have been upgraded since including neck, pup's, pot's, thinking about replacing capacitor but don't know the significance of it :/ . With the stock pickups there was some hum, but it was being played through a garbage amplifier also. Because I am replacing the pup's with texas custom specials, and I know they are hot, I wanted to shield the guitar to avoid humming and get a clean sound.

Thanks for all the help guys, great insight!

Why would that be?

My novice (heavy on the novice) understanding is just that the shielding has to be connected. If you overlap the control cavity and the pup cavities so that the shielding on the pickguard is touching it all, perhaps you wouldn't need the wire.

Again, I am simply relaying what I found across the interwebs. I recently did it and it worked splendidly, so I just wanted to relay what I had done.

I am certainly no professional and hopefully they will chime in.

I tried to be super thorough because the place I play is an old grange and our house is notoriously loud (not just computers and such, but our lights and fans cause bad hum). The hum is so loud at the grange it can actually be deafening when you are not touching the strings. So I just tried to do everything I found others suggested.

My buddies house is almost dead quiet even around his electronics.

So, sorry if i misled, I'm just repeating what I found and put into practice when I searched the net...:oops:

Here are a couple of links that may help guide you as well...

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Electronics/Shielding/i-3789.html

For a tele
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/tele.php

For a strat
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

Hope these links work...

yep. ALL of it has to have electrical continuity… I have never trusted the conductive adhesives…. and if you have separate cavities, they have to have some conductor connecting them, otherwise, it's useless.

r

hmmm.. this certainly changes the game plan, out to get the 20-22 gauge wire I suppose. Got this far already, might as well finish what I started. The capacitors I'm still stumped on, I'll have to do some research and take a look around.

yep. ALL of it has to have electrical continuity… I have never trusted the conductive adhesives…. and if you have separate cavities, they have to have some conductor connecting them, otherwise, it's useless.

r

Thanks for chiming in, Ron. Now the OP can feel confident in his project.

I believe the capacitor is used to keep you from being electrocuted if something is wrong in the amp or the house wiring by isolating the strings. I think it's mostly used on stratocasters. I'm not sure if you could do that on a tele because there are too many other metal parts that you could touch like the control plate and knobs. Someone else here probably knows better than me though.

The capacitor(s) in a guitar are use to shunt off frequencies to ground, hence effecting tone. If you ever did get major voltage through your guitar, the tiny capacitors would not protect you at all. The amps used to have larger capacitors (death caps) to slowly bleed the voltage to ground. They were not effective. When amps went three-wire, the danger was greatly reduced.

Ed

Like others have said, that's the magic word to remember! I shield all my players. I've used both paint and copper, and prefer the copper. You've got to be careful with the paint (especially with thru-holes on body mounted pots/jacks). I find that no matter how its applied and long it dries, I get some rubbing off when you touch it and it smears on to cloth hookup wire. There's also some measurable resistance even after 3 coats. Copper is a lot more time consuming to measure/cut/install but it has virtually no resistance (I spot solder every join). Also, its reversible! I buy it by the square foot sheet, rather than tape,from a stained glass supply shop.
Of course, YMMV...

i've shielded both my strats with copper tape and had excellent results. my tele is very quiet already so i don't really see the point.

I think the OP was referring to the capacitor discussed in the link Starrman44 posted about shielding at strat.

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

On a thread on this site, someone recommended this stuff
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/outdoors-garden-center-animal-pest-control-insect-mosquito/corry-s-15-ft-slug-and-snail-copper-tape-barrier-182003.html#.UBNnXqCPwn0

I have not used it... and do not know how well it works.... the poster said it worked well in their use

just an fyi for the thrifty minded

On a thread on this site, someone recommended this stuff
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/outdoors-garden-center-animal-pest-control-insect-mosquito/corry-s-15-ft-slug-and-snail-copper-tape-barrier-182003.html#.UBNnXqCPwn0

I have not used it... and do not know how well it works.... the poster said it worked well in their use

just an fyi for the thrifty minded

That should work fine. I have even used copper embossing sheets that you get in the picture framing aisle at Hobby Lobby.