guitar shielding.

[punkykatt]

Hello, Do any of you guitar players shield your strats or teles  body pickup cavities and pick guards with copper foil tape to get rid of EMI noise? Or do you use a Furman  power conditioner? Or both? My band  got  a new venue and both guitars and the bass were wicked loud nasty buzz. We had to use the neck and center pickups or bridge and center pickups together all night to rid the buzz. I have one of those testers you plug in the receptacles to check for ground connection. All tested good.  Any comments/ suggestions are much appreciated.

[Ritchie200]

Originally used by Ritchie Blackmore's tech in his Strats during the first Rainbow tour due to the rainbow lighting rig being fired by SCR's that would make a neon sign sound quiet.  It was called radar paint and the folks below ran with it.  Not cheap but works great.

http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_Electronics/Shielding/Conductive_Shielding_Paint.html

Jim

[G._Hoffman]

Every electric I build, I shield with shielding paint.  It definitely helps, but isn't a night and day thing in most situations.  On occasion, you'll be in a really bad bar or something and it will help a lot.  Whatever material you use, it won't get rid of the single coil hum because the pickups (obviously) can't be completely shielded.


Gabriel

[G._Hoffman]

Originally used by Ritchie Blackmore's tech in his Strats during the first Rainbow tour due to the rainbow lighting rig being fired by SCR's that would make a neon sign sound quiet.  It was called radar paint and the folks below ran with it.  Not cheap but works great.

http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_Electronics/Shielding/Conductive_Shielding_Paint.html

Jim

It's very cheap, if you are shielding enough guitars.  But it doesn't make much sense for just one guitar, though. 

By the by, you can just use aluminum foil and spray adhesive.  It works just as well as anything else.


Gabriel

[jjasilli]

Hello, Do any of you guitar players shield your strats or teles  body pickup cavities and pick guards with copper foil tape to get rid of EMI noise?
I shield the bottom of the pickguard with aluminum foil; and the cavity with foil or shielding paint.  I also use the guitarnuts.com method of avoiding ground loops; and separate chassis from signal ground inside the cavity.  The "foil" is the thicker foil from disposable aluminum serving pan lids.

[punkykatt]

thanks for the replies guys. Much appreciated.

[rake]

You also can get aluminum foil duct tape. 2" wide at most big box stores.
HVAC guys use it.

[jeff]

I would say if you are getting zero hum in positions 2 and 4 shielding won't help. If you get a slight hum in 2 and 4 shielding might help with that but 1 3 and 5 will always pick up any stray noise, just the nature of a single coil. 

[Jennings]

I tend to find I focus more on well grounding the electrics, and a good connection between that ground and the bridge/tailpiece ground.  Often the latter is overlooked or inadequate, and seems to be when most of the hum issues I've come across come from.

[nandrewjackson]

+1 for the metal HVAC ducting tape