Aluminum Foil?????????

[JackANSI]

Sorry for the hi-jack, but jwymore, that is a beautiful job, both sheilding and finish.

That is how its done, people.

 

[Bassamatic]

I have done this several times. It is best to use the copper tape from Stew-Mac as the adhesive is conductive. Otherwise, you have to solder all the pieces together so it becomes one piece. Otherwise, it is only partially shielded.

The problem with aluminum is that it must be one piece - you can't solder it. Then - how do you connect the pup cavities to the main one? Just spend $10 and get the Stew-Mac tape - it is well worth it.

ALSO - regarding the grounding - it is also well worth it to do a true STAR ground - all pieces grounded to a single point. I run wires from each pup cavity, each pup, the output jack and from each pot. They are crimped into a screw terminal and screwed into the main cavity. ALSO - make sure that there is a tab of tape that goes over the top a bit around a screw hole so that the pickguard shielding is grounded to the main cavity when you screw it in.

 

[kevinmoore73]

I also run a tiny bare wire through the pickup wire holes and solder them to the shielding in each pickup cavity.

While your method of using wire probably works perfectly fine, I made "shield tubes" out of copper foil and used them to line the tunnels between my pickup cavities and the control cavity.

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[Bassamatic]

The pickup tubes are best, but only for the most dedicated. I make sure that the pickup wires are twisted a few times making a twisted pair cable that is sort of hum resistant. Then I add a small wire to connect the small cavities to the main one.

Don't forget the tab to ground the top and bottom parts.

 

[jwymore]

I just use the Radio Shack light duty Rosin Core Solder. The trick IMHO is using the very thin stuff .... it's like 1/32" diameter. It melts easy and flows nice without globbing onto everything. I have had a 8 ounce roll for years and it is only about half gone.

 

[ReidK]

Just a couple of points:

Use "heavy duty" aluminum foil (the supermarket has it, just look around).

You do not need to solder all the pieces together, you just have to have electrical connectivity. You can easily get that just by having each piece come up and contact the foil on the pickguard or cover. The seams between sections don't have to be soldered or sealed either, just overlapped (no gaps). I've shielded many guitars and amps (and other things) and I've never had to solder to the shielding foil.

Making little copper tunnels is cool, but for me it's easier just to use braided sleeving (the same stuff used in shielded cable). I've even used copper tubing (plumbing supply) and if the size is right, it works great.

Reid

P.S. And folks... it's an output jack. The signal comes OUT of the bass, and INTO the amp.

 

[lemur821]

While your method of using wire probably works perfectly fine, I made "shield tubes" out of copper foil and used them to line the tunnels between my pickup cavities and the control cavity.

I recently did that on my bass and the difference is night and day. I think I'm in a particularly noisy home, but twisting the pickup wires together was not cutting it (yes, I did have the cavity shielding properly grounded ).