Does copper shielding change passive tone?

[darwin-bass]

If I shield the pickup cavity and control cavity on a Jazz bass, will it affect the tone of the instrument?

I assume the added capacitance is small.

What if I shield the 1/4" diameter wiring tunnel from each pickup opening. Do we start to get enough capacitance to have an audible effect?

 

[Geri O]

I don’t know about the capacitance part, but no, the tone will not be affected.

 

[RobbieK]

What if I shield the 1/4" diameter wiring tunnel from each pickup opening. Do we start to get enough capacitance to have an audible effect?

I'm not sure how you would do this. Instead, it's easier to replace the pickup wires with shielded cable. (Most quality aftermarket pickups will have shielded leads.) And while capacitance across a pickup does change its tone, I doubt the small amount of capacitance in 10-20cm of shielded cable will be audible.

 

[96tbird]

the advantages of shield far outweigh any minute capacitive effect it may have on the signal.

Considering millions of electric instruments are shielded, why would you consider this a problem?

 

[two fingers]

Yeah you're overthinking it.

 

[darwin-bass]

I do not consider it a problem, was just asking the question.

Copper shielding the wiring tube will be a pain so I will likely skip it.

 

[96tbird]

You can leave the backing paper on, wrap it around a chopstick or a straw, etc. Insert it, and attach the exposed ends to ground.