Copper Shielding Tape

Yorkie

Thanks. My question is more about whether to use copper tape or some other means of shielding. Being all flat, a pickguard looks like an ideal candidate for aluminium foil and glue stick! 

OilCityPickups

Graphite shielding paint is work of the devil ... more hassle cleaning the crap up ... or sealing the surface than a bit of copper tape, I can't even be persuaded that it's as effective as copper. I've actually never cut myself once shielding cavities - can't say the smae for making copper ground planes for fibre bottomed pickups mind ... my DNA is all over those :-) 

BillDL

I don't suppose there would be any harm in using aluminium oven foil on the underside of the pickguard rather than self-adhesive copper tape.  I take it you were asking about covering the entire underside because it would be easier to roll out and flatten the foil, apply glue to the scratchplate, flop it down onto the foil so you don't have any wrinkles, and trim around the perimeter and pickup holes after the glue dried?  That would certainly be easier than trying to stick a floppy flattened section to a selected area of the scratchplate.

Yorkie

BillDL said:

I don't suppose there would be any harm in using aluminium oven foil on the underside of the pickguard rather than self-adhesive copper tape.  I take it you were asking about covering the entire underside because it would be easier to roll out and flatten the foil, apply glue to the scratchplate, flop it down onto the foil so you don't have any wrinkles, and trim around the perimeter and pickup holes after the glue dried?  That would certainly be easier than trying to stick a floppy flattened section to a selected area of the scratchplate.

Yup, that was my idea.

kossofffan

Would copper tape underneath my Telecaster pickguard help reduce the static noise from my picking hand?

ICBM

kossofffan said:

Would copper tape underneath my Telecaster pickguard help reduce the static noise from my picking hand?

Possibly. Worth a try if it’s annoying you.

kossofffan

Thanks, I’ve ordered some, so will try it.
Every Tele I’ve had from a Player to a Custom Shop has done it, so it might be just me. Lol

SteveRobinson

Make sure that the copper foil is connected to earth though, a small strip on the body connecting it to the control plate will do.

kossofffan

Thanks

Seziertisch

https://youtu.be/JwGUtcecEN0?si=h65t5zr-n7QECs4i

At 1:28 in this video he removes the shielding as he doesn’t like how it sounds. 

I’ve seen this opined before but I’m not sure what the science behind it would be other than that someone might expect there to be buzz.

inewham

kossofffan said:

Would copper tape underneath my Telecaster pickguard help reduce the static noise from my picking hand?

It worked on my strat, I used copper slug tape and earthed it.

ICBM

Seziertisch said:

At 1:28 in this video he removes the shielding as he doesn’t like how it sounds. 

I’ve seen this opined before but I’m not sure what the science behind it would be other than that someone might expect there to be buzz.

Excessive shielding adds capacitance which can dull the tone, although it has to be very close to the signal path to have any noticeable effect - shielding the insides of Strat pickup covers (sometimes advised/done) definitely does, so I would avoid that. Shielding a control cavity doesn't, because not only is the separation from the conductors much greater, the total length of wire is very small, unlike a pickup coil. Long lengths of the typical very thin shielded cable used in far-east guitars also does dull the tone - usually simply trimming it to the minimum sensible length makes an audible difference, despite the difference being pretty small in capacitance terms.

Bod

inewham said:

Cheap, thin and pliable 

Also my Tinder bio.  Except for the thin bit...

strtdv

I shield the pickup cavity in my Strat as I tend to use the bridge pickup with quite bright single coils, and the extra capacitance tames the ice-pick a little. I also play regularly somewhere that has a hearing aid loop so I need all the shielding I can get.

thermionic

Yorkie said:

Thanks. My question is more about whether to use copper tape or some other means of shielding. Being all flat, a pickguard looks like an ideal candidate for aluminium foil and glue stick! 

I have used spray contact adhesive and kitchen foil on a couple of guitars. No need for it on my current Strat as I have fitted a thin aluminium shielding plate under the pickguard - although I haven’t bothered shielding the cavities on that one, it’s quiet enough.

Schnozz

I ended up using the copper tape that @TrentGuitars recommended. It was very easy to apply and didn't cut me at all. I did solder tags on the joins just to make sure, but it worked perfectly.

Thank you

BillDL

strtdv said:

.... I also play regularly somewhere that has a hearing aid loop so I need all the shielding I can get.

That's something I haven't actually given much thought.  It's highly improbable that I will ever play in a church, but I know there are quite a lot of churches these days with those hearing aid loops installed and I would guess that more halls, theatres, and auditoria/ums will end up having them fitted.

ICBM

BillDL said:

That's something I haven't actually given much thought.  It's highly improbable that I will ever play in a church, but I know there are quite a lot of churches these days with those hearing aid loops installed and I would guess that more halls, theatres, and auditoria/ums will end up having them fitted.

If it's an induction loop, shielding is of only limited help - you really need hum-cancelling pickups, which if they're single coils means either stacked humbuckers, or RWRP pairs if you only use the two-pickup sound.

BillDL

I'll bear that in mind when I give up the booze, fags, loose women, and swearing and join a "praise group" in my retirement