Cavity Shielding

[Dmoney]

so today im going to get some copper foil in anticipation of getting my miracle man set.

im going to sheild the cavity's on my LTD EC-1000.

im my les paul custom, the shielding is just copper foil, and then in each pickup cavity there is a screw + washer holding down one end of a piece of conductive wire which is soldering to ground inside the control cavity.

ive also heard that you can solder wire onto the copper rather then screw it down, and take that to ground also.

what im asking is... what is the prefered way to shield and ground shielding?

[FELINEGUITARS]

If you use several pieces of copper - you ust make solder joints between them
Solder a wire to the copper and to the back of a pot

I still like the copper foil but tend to use nickel screening paint

[Philly Q]

I like to use the brush-on shielding paint fromStewart-MacDonald, it's a bit less messy than spraycans.  And copper foil on the back of scratchplates and cavity covers.

[Dmoney]

nice one!
thanks a lot. i may have to check the joints on the sheets in my les paul. im not sure if there is any solder on those!
i'll tidy it up.
ill also have a think about the neat places to join the copper sheets with solder, and wire placement.

thanks a lot!!
(i best get saving for a feline :P)

[Dmoney]

DONE!
took a while.
got the cavities covered in the copper (probably should have gone for the paint) and the underside of the pickup selector cavity back plate, and the control cavity back plate. i think i got them all joined together with little solder joints. its not as untidy as i thought i might end up!

used 1 wire from each pickup cavity and wired it to ground on the back of the tone pot in the LTD.
used 1 wire to connect the selector switch cavity to the neck pickup cavity.

just waiting on my new miracle man set now.

im hoping that my soldering is ok. and that the input jack isnt making contact with the shielding.
if i turn it on and my guitar start picking up the local radio or something, ill know its not quite right.
still, im lacking some confidence in this.

[Philly Q]

and that the input jack isnt making contact with the shielding.

I've had that happen a few times!  If it does, just stick some electrical tape over the "hot" part of the jack, works fine.

Did you get a load of cuts on your hands from the foil?  I always do, somehow!

[murraymurray]

Did you get a load of cuts on your hands from the foil?  I always do, somehow!

Ha yeah that happened to my bassist yesterday, was rewiring his gat then came to prac with his "main" finger all cut open from the foil

[Dmoney]

im hoping its all good.
this was pretty solid noise wise beforehand anyway.

i hoping everything is good. i pulled out all the 25K pots or whatever EMG's use, and put in 500K cts pots, and a sprague orange drop cap. its been awesome with passive pups in.

i always stress out about this rewiring stuff. i always get the fear off putting it back together and it sounding horrible.

i didnt cut my fingers really! i have a small cut on the back of one finger and thats all! i burnt myself on my soldering iron a few times trying to wire the shield from the 3 cables that go to the selector switch from the pots back in place.

annoying.
i hope the pickups come tomorrow. its going to look SOOOOO good!

[ToneMonkey]

Next time I have to shield a cavity, I'm going to stick all the copper to the some thin plastic first so that it stays nice and neat.  I'll cut some the same shape as the cavity bottom and cut a long strip to go round the walls of the cavity.  Only tried it once (without sticking it on plastic) and I got in a right bloody mess.

Also, I found stciky back copper tape cheap in the garden centre.  You put it round the bottom of the pots and it's supposed to stop the slugs.  It might have stopped the slugs eating my lettice, but that just made room for something else to come long and eat it instead  :?

[Dmoney]

i found cuts on my finger that i never knew i had. haha.

also, a tip for slugs, if you bury a pint of beer in your veg patch, but have the top level with the ground, and cover it over just to keep the rain out, slugs and snails will come drink the beer, get drunk and fall into the beer and drown.

what a way to go!

[FELINEGUITARS]

and that the input jack isnt making contact with the shielding.

I've had that happen a few times!  If it does, just stick some electrical tape over the "hot" part of the jack, works fine.

Did you get a load of cuts on your hands from the foil?  I always do, somehow!

The copper foil is horrible for getting cuts
Like paper-cuts - only much worse

[Dmoney]

oh!
i thought id add, to get over the potential issue of the input jack touching the copper, ive order a wide section of heat shrink think will hopefully fit over the contacts on the jack input. ill heat it up with the soldering iron and hey presto! problem solved. not that there is a problem yet... but planning ahead. prevention is better than cure.

[ToneMonkey]

i found cuts on my finger that i never knew i had. haha.

also, a tip for slugs, if you bury a pint of beer in your veg patch, but have the top level with the ground, and cover it over just to keep the rain out, slugs and snails will come drink the beer, get drunk and fall into the beer and drown.

what a way to go!

You also get pissed hedgehogs - honestly  :D  I prefer the pick them up and throw them over the back fence method  :lol:

[HTH AMPS]

I must be one of the few who don't seem to need extra shielding on their guitars - is it really that bad?

Then again, I'm not bothered by the small amount of hum from single coil pickups either.

[Philly Q]

I must be one of the few who don't seem to need extra shielding on their guitars - is it really that bad?

Good question - I just automatically shield every guitar I buy, so I don't really think about how bad it is (or isn't).   :lol:

The only exception is my Thinline Tele, which is unshieldable and has single-coils, and I must admit I don't notice the hum that much.  Then again, I'm never playing on stage or even through a cranked amp.