Grounding Earthing Shielding HELP!!!!

[bazza99]

Hi - I'm a newbie and I have just stripped down a really good copy Jazz Bass. (The pickups are wired as two independent volumes and one tone blend). Before putting it back together, I thought about putting in some very basic shielding or grounding - (I don't even know the difference between the terms grounding, earthing or shielding!) The only thing I can see at the moment is one wire coming off one of the pots and leading to securing under the bridge plate.

So, bearing in mind I am no electrician and know nothing about resistors or anything else electrical, can anyone tell me a SIMPLE, BASIC method of providing some shielding / grounding etc as there is nothing in the control panel cavity at the moment. Maybe would aluminium foil or any other easily obtainable materials do it??

Can anyone please point me to, or post a step by step tutorial as I feel I might as well apply some basic protection before I put it all back together. Thanx

 

[PJSShearer]

Look at the sticky at the top of the Pickups & Electronics thread called "Jazz Sheilding Pictorial".

 

[line6man]

You need to do a search on shielding.
There are plenty of tutorials out there on how to do it.

You can use aluminum foi if you want, but solder does not stick to aluminum, so you are going to have a tough time connecting all the pieces together to maintain continuity.

I would suggest using copper tape as opposed to conductive shielding paint.
The conductive paint can be somewhat resistive, so copper tape provides better continuity.

I buy my copper tape from GPR, as they seem to have the best price, AFAIK.

Link Removed

 

[mcnach]

also check www.guitarnuts.com

lots of good info there.

 

[andk5591]

Good advice given - Bottom line is that it is not rocket science. Your objective is to cover as much as possible with something that conducts electricity and connect all of these to a good ground. The pickup cavities and the control; cavity are your main concerns on a jazz. Aluminum foil is fine (tyou can use contact cement or whatever to hold it in place, but as mentioned, soldering to it may be a problem. But you can use a screw with a washer to make your electrical commections.