Conductive Shielding Paint

[Kikegg]

Do you mean spraying the graphite stuff here? I do indeed have an airbrush, assuming I (a) find it and (b) buy some propellant for it. What base the paint I have it... well I'd have to look at the tin.

If brushing it is not the best solution, airbrushing or cans (as someone said before) is the best bet. It is an even finish so once airbrushed (and its thinner evaporated) I'm sure it will offer complete coverage and continuity.

 

[funkinbottom]

MG SuperShield Nickel works beautifully. Get it in the spray can.

Hard to describe, but the wire routs are cut into the edge of a body wing for a neck through, kinda convoluted, so I don’t think spray would reach it.

try to find a long pipe to reach those wire channels

I think kikegg is on to something here. Perhaps a tube that fits into the hole of the nozzle similar to WD40. Or maybe buy a new unused can of wd and rob the nozzle and tube. See if just the tube fits and will work. If not, IDK if nozzles are universal size, but I have robbed nozzles from other rattle cans to replace clogged or missing ones on another. If you have success either way, insert the tube from one end of the channel and spray as you remove the tube. If it doesn't reach the other end, repeat first step from the other end of the channel if accessible. Maybe let is absorb for a bit, then run a wire through a time or two to prevent blockage? I guess it mite take a couple times or so to effectively coat the channel to your liking. I have never tried this before, but if I was needing to shield wiring channels I definitely would give it a go. Seems like it would work.

Good luck, let us know how you end up doing it.

 

[toomanyslurpees]

I’m rewiring a Les Paul right now, i just decided to make everything that goes between the cavities shielded wire and then just shield the cavities and make sure everything’s grounded... though it the grand scheme of things I know it’s not really a big deal being I’m using Humbuckers with no switching options that will be a single coil on its own... but whatever, I used to do aircraft Avionics install work and it’s hard to ingore the habit to be super particular about grounding schemes...

 

[micguy]

The only time I'm concerned with shielding is when I'm doing an instrument with single coil pups.

Humbuckers solve one problem - magnetic fields. They don't solve the other problem - electrostatic and RF fields, which need shielding for your bass to be quiet. Shields don't fix single coil magnetic hum, either.

You need BOTH hum cancelling pickups and shielding for a quiet bass.

 

[cheapbasslovin]

Use what you want, but sheilded wire in the channels with a proper bonding connection back to sleeve is every bit as good as painting a place you can't see, and for my time WAY easier.

 

[gyancey]

The MG Chemicals nickel spray is great for control cavities, but I don't recommend it for shielding inside pickup covers. Nickel is a magnetic material, and the one time I used the nickel spray inside a cover it most definitely changed the sound of the pickup in a negative way. And @micguy is 100% correct - there are two components to electromagnetic fields and humbuckers on reject the magnetic component by sensing external magnetic fields differentially.

 

[fenderfour]

Conductive paint is used in the metal plating industry. I've had great luck with Caswell's Copper paint.
https://www.caswellplating.com/copper-conductive-paint-4oz.html
https://www.caswellplating.com/copper-conductive-paint-4oz.html
You will want to seal the wood with primer or clear poly prior to painting it to get good coverage. This bottle will cover ~ 20 sq ft and can be applied with a brush.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Hmmm.. maybe I'll stick with copper slug repellent tape then.

Slug tape works but it does not use conductive adhesive. You can get a comparable price with conductive adhesive easily online.

Ok so I just bought a can of Stew Macs grey shielding paint. (I'm not a fan of their shipping policies either). So the bass I needed it for already has grey shielding in it. And I need to redo parts of the paint on shielding. So would I be better off to redo it with copper foil or use the shielding paint I bought? Thoughts ?? Thanks

Since you already paid for the paint, you might as well use it. The Stew-Mac paint will not perform as well as the copper or MG Chemicals but it will get the job done.

 

[Scoops]

Humbuckers solve one problem - magnetic fields. They don't solve the other problem - electrostatic and RF fields, which need shielding for your bass to be quiet. Shields don't fix single coil magnetic hum, either.

You need BOTH hum cancelling pickups and shielding for a quiet bass.

Yes, but if you want to play single coil pups, you need to do something. I found the best solution is to point my pups in a different direction

 

[thisSNsucks]

Man, didn’t realize what a hot button topic this is lol

Personally I like foil most. Takes time and patience to get it nice but I always have good results and it is easily removed.

The stewmac stuff never gave me a problem but it’s not fast and honestly it builds a bit of thickness.

I’d like to try that MG stuff, kinda pricey though.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Slug tape works but it does not use conductive adhesive. You can get a comparable price with conductive adhesive easily online.



Since you already paid for the paint, you might as well use it. The Stew-Mac paint will not perform as well as the copper or MG Chemicals but it will get the job done.

The slug tape is about 20% of the price and I probably have a lifetime supply. I just turn over the corner of the next piece so there's a direct contact and tape on top of that to hold it in place, and my multimeter says it's fine. It's not as pretty, though. I have some foil sheet with conductive adhesive left which works for larger areas like the bottom of cavities. Trying to solder connections of foil seems to be a fool's errand in my experience, but I may be doing it wrong.

 

[JuanB]

I recommend that you don't waste your time or money on any of the carbon-base (graphite-base, black color) shielding paints. Lots of problems with them; most of us gave up on them years ago. Too high resistance, flaking up after drying, etc.

MG SuperShield Nickel works beautifully. Get it in the spray can. Two light coats gives you a shielding shell that's equal or better than copper tape, with almost zero resistance to any point. And the paint base is strong and permanent.

I don't recommend brushing the shielding paint. It takes a lot of extra time, and any of the shielding paints tend to be thick and clumpy. Use the spray cans.

SuperShield Nickel is a silver-grey color as sprayed, but there's no harm shooting a coat of black whatever over it if you want a black color in the chambers. Just mask off some patch to make an electrical connection to it.

There are a couple of guys over on the Pickups & Electronics section who continuously argue how copper tape provides better shielding than shielding paint. It's not true, if you are comparing normal thickness copper shielding tape with normal thickness nickel shielding paint, and measuring at audio frequency ranges. I've tried to argue reality with them, but they aren't listening. Be forewarned if you are reading the many threads about shielding over there.

Is the nickel stuff OK to use in pickup cavities given the magnetic properties?

 

[RichterScale]

Is the nickel stuff OK to use in pickup cavities given the magnetic properties?

Nickel is not magnetic. Will not interact with the pickup's magnetic field. All good.

 

[JuanB]

Nickel is not magnetic. Will not interact with the pickup's magnetic field. All good.

Nickel is definitely ferromagnetic, my mistake saying it’s magnetic by itself. Nickel will shunt magnetic fields. Just wondering if having the film behind the pickup will do anything.

 

[smart51]

I've had good conductivity results with the black paint. Too good. On one bass, I didn't leave quite enough room for the jack. The battery contact on the jack was touching the black painted sides of the cavity. It drained the battery over night. Plenty of conductivity there.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Nickel is definitely ferromagnetic, my mistake saying it’s magnetic by itself. Nickel will shunt magnetic fields. Just wondering if having the film behind the pickup will do anything.

I don't think it has any measurable effect in altering the pickups' magnetic field. If anything, it might focus the field better around the strings. I've been shielding pickup cavities with nickel shielding paint for many years.

Edit: I agree that you don't want to put nickel shielding inside a pickup cover, where it goes over the top of the coils. That will affect the pickup's sound. But in the cavity under the pickup is fine.

 

[Hectobar]

Nickel paint is amazing. Copper tape is dead to me. And to whoever convinced me to try it, thank you

 

[T_Bone_TL]

An alternate approach to the wiring channel issue would be to steal the braid off a hunk of scrap coax cable (or egad, buy hollow braid, but scrap coax is not difficult to find, IME) and not worry about painting them. Just slip the braid over them and then pull it snug, and ground it at both ends in the easily sheilded areas with access.