Do gold anodized pickguards electrically shield?

[cassius987]

I was thinking about having someone do a custom guard for my 4003 in a gold color to match its amber finish. On the other hand I remembered the cool gold anodized pickguard from some Fenders. Would something like this also work as a shield if connected to ground?

[mongo2]

By itself, no.

But it could be integrated into a total shielding package.

[walterw]

if it's grounded, it will shield as fully as a regular pickguard with grounded shielding foil does, anyway.

[cassius987]

Originally Posted by mongo2

By itself, no.

But it could be integrated into a total shielding package.

Sorry? I can't tell if you ignored the part where I mentioned connecting the pickguard to ground. I understand that is needed. If there's more to it than that you'll need to expand on what you've said.

[Steveaux]

Jazz Shielding Pictorial (Big Images Warning)

[Rick Auricchio]

This will work if the pickguard truly has metal on it. Not just gold-colored paint.

[Lublin]

The aluminum pickguard will act as a shield. Just make sure it's got some sort of connection with your ground.

[mongo2]

Originally Posted by cassius987

Sorry? I can't tell if you ignored the part where I mentioned connecting the pickguard to ground. I understand that is needed. If there's more to it than that you'll need to expand on what you've said.

I saw it. An anodized aluiminum pickguard alone will not act as a proper shield even if grounded.

For proper shielding a Faraday cage is needed around the components. That is, continuous copper foil or other such conductive material lining the cavities of the instrument and connected to ground. The anodized guard can be used as the top plate of the shield cage but it will be necessary to scrape off or break through some anodizing to the bare metal underneath to have the pickguard in hard contact with the foil (around a screw hole by the control cavity for instance) and properly connect the 'guard to ground since the anodizing oxide acts as an insulator. A ground wire to a pot casing with either an external star lock washer to bite through or sanding off the anodizing so the casing makes contact could be used to ground the 'guard

Try a search for shielding for more information, or check out the link a few posts above.

[mnphysicist]

An electrical connection as others have mentioned is needed. However, in the anodizing process, an electrical connection is needed as well, and most firms randomly put an electrode on the back side, such that the small spot where anodizing is missing will not be noticed. What you might do, is instruct the anodizing firm where to put this, or even suggest a zone where they should apply a masking agent in order to provide a conductive region to provide a ground connection.

Where shielding is really mission critical, we mask a continuous outline, and use electrically conductive gaskets... on the other hand, unless you are playing in proximity to a high powered transmitter, such would be overkill. For 50/60Hz and the resulting harmonics of such, a single point attachment to the pick guard should be fine. If you have electrical noise pickup from on stage motion controllers, then multiple point connections to the pick guard are likely in order.