Shielding a strat.

markj

Just got a replacement pickguard for my Classic Player. The new PG doesn't have any shielding on the underside like the old one. Why i'm replacing it I will make a proper job of it and shield the complete cavity. Any advice about shielding and where to buy the copper or aluminium foil would be welcome.

Roland

Copper anti-slug tape is usually the cheapest. You can sometimes find it cheap in a pound shop. It often comes with a pinked (serrated) edge, which is useful for the corners. I usually do the cavity walls first, then lay a pre-cut piece across the bottom.

Wear gloves, because the edges can cut, and the cuts don’t heal quickly because of the trace copper.

Solder the pieces for electrical continuity. When you first stick them together there’s a good connection, but the glue can break down over time. I run one or two cores from an electrical cable through the control and pickup cavities, soldering to each piece as I go.

Hence I don’t use aluminium.

Lebarque

Just get an aluminium pickguard shield. Job done.

ICBM

Lebarque said:

Just get an aluminium pickguard shield. Job done.

Apart from shielding the sides and back of the cavity, and the jack cavity...

I do the same as Roland, except that I start with the bottom . And I don't wear gloves - I can't remember ever cutting myself on it but I suppose it's possible.

I also solder all the joints - just one spot between any two pieces is enough, you don't need to 'seam' them - and solder a wire to one of the main grounds, either the volume pot or the jack.

I also prefer to use a piece of shielded cable from the jack to the volume pot.

Lebarque

ICBM said:

Lebarque said:

Just get an aluminium pickguard shield. Job done.

Apart from shielding the sides and back of the cavity, and the jack cavity...

I do the same as Roland, except that I start with the bottom . And I don't wear gloves - I can't remember ever cutting myself on it but I suppose it's possible.

I also solder all the joints - just one spot between any two pieces is enough, you don't need to 'seam' them - and solder a wire to one of the main grounds, either the volume pot or the jack.

I also prefer to use a piece of shielded cable from the jack to the volume pot.

Nah, you don't need all that. It takes away some of your sparkle, although I know ICBM doesn't agree with that. Fender got it right with the aluminium shield IMO. Hassle-free too. Masterbuilt strats are no expense spared, but they still don't shield all the cavities. There's a reason for that.

ICBM

Lebarque said:

Nah, you don't need all that. It takes away some of your sparkle, although I know ICBM doesn't agree with that. Fender got it right with the aluminium shield IMO. Hassle-free too. Masterbuilt strats are no expense spared, but they still don't shield all the cavities. There's a reason for that.

Yes - vintage "correctness". It makes them noisier than they need to be.

If you think that just shielding the front of the cavity works, you don't understand how electrical interference gets into a circuit and how to stop it. You need a complete Faraday cage for it to work properly.

Really excessive shielding too close to the pickup coils does change the tone, yes - shielding the cavities doesn't.

For what its worth, I just worked on a Custom Shop Telecaster that was extremely noisy until I improved it simply by shortening and twisting the wires properly, without even adding any shielding, so just because the Custom Shop does something does *not* make it right. It was a total rat's nest as it came.

Remember that Leo Fender was working in an age with far less background electrical noise than we have now, and even then his later designs had more shielding, including in the cavity floors. Do you think he would have done that if it wasn't necessary? That brass sheeting and the labour to fit it cost money.

Lebarque

ICBM said:

Lebarque said:

Nah, you don't need all that. It takes away some of your sparkle, although I know ICBM doesn't agree with that. Fender got it right with the aluminium shield IMO. Hassle-free too. Masterbuilt strats are no expense spared, but they still don't shield all the cavities. There's a reason for that.

Yes - vintage "correctness". It makes them noisier than they need to be.

If you think that just shielding the front of the cavity works, you don't understand how electrical interference gets into a circuit and how to stop it. You need a complete Faraday cage for it to work properly.

Really excessive shielding too close to the pickup coils does change the tone, yes - shielding the cavities doesn't.

For what its worth, I just worked on a Custom Shop Telecaster that was extremely noisy until I improved it simply by shortening and twisting the wires properly, without even adding any shielding, so just because the Custom Shop does something does *not* make it right. It was a total rat's nest as it came.

Remember that Leo Fender was working in an age with far less background electrical noise than we have now, and even then his later designs had more shielding, including in the cavity floors. Do you think he would have done that if it wasn't necessary? That brass sheeting and the labour to fit it cost money.

"Rat's nest". I love that phrase!

aord43

I used this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shielding-Repellent-Electrical-Repairs-Grounding/dp/B01I1XNY1E ;
I covered all the inside of all the cavity, all the back of the pickguard. Overlapped the layers to maintain continuity, and soldered an earth wire to one piece.
Works a treat, sounds great.
I read that it would affect the tone if you shielded the actual pickup coil with a continuous loop, for which the solution is just to have a break in the loop, ie. not a loop.
Edit: Oh and I also used shielded cable for all the connections.  No point in not doing so as I was rewiring everything.