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Jazz Shielding Pictorial (Big Images Warning)

#281
00Funk said:
Can I please trade in my U Retro for a free Audere pre ? :)
My other 2 Audere basses, are completely silent. I guess they dont require the extreme grounding as the U Retro.
I'll probly attempt, to sheild this myself.
How do you get the copper foil to stick to the cavity ? Spray glue or something ?
Can anyone provide a UTube link or something, of a teaching video, on installing copper sheilding ?
Click to expand...


When I shielded my MIM Jazz I bought some copper shielding tape from Ebay. Wasnt expensive and I have loads left for any future projects I might carry out. Even the adhesive on the back of the tape was conductive so I didnt even have to solder the joins to get good continuity. Reads a relative 0 ohms from any point of the tape to the ground lug.

Sorry mate I cant help much more but that tape might be worth looking for.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Conductive-se...ryZ14968QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thats the uk ebay but you should find it on the us one too.
 
#282
The_D said:
When I shielded my MIM Jazz I bought some copper shielding tape from Ebay. Wasnt expensive and I have loads left for any future projects I might carry out. Even the adhesive on the back of the tape was conductive so I didnt even have to solder the joins to get good continuity. Reads a relative 0 ohms from any point of the tape to the ground lug.

Sorry mate I cant help much more but that tape might be worth looking for.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Conductive-se...ryZ14968QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thats the uk ebay but you should find it on the us one too.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate, I just got a 6' roll on ebay for 4 dollars
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NO SOLDER COPPER SHIELDING TAPE - OVER 6FT ELEC GUITAR
 
As an eBay Associate, TalkBass may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
#284
00Funk said:
This bass has no sheilding of any kind. No paint no foil. Just bare wood. Quiet as a church mouse. What gives ?
Click to expand...
Ha - you can't fool us. We can see it's not plugged in! :smug:
But seriously, I expect it is properly wired for signal path grounding to handle conducted noise, and maybe the EMI (electro-magnetic interference, or radiated/induced noise) environment where you play is not so harsh that shielding is necessary. I had a huge problem in my house with when the light dimmers were on - solved with the wiring and shielding.

By the way, that is one very sweet-looking bass!!
 
#287
pdeon99 said:
Let me take a crack at answering. I numbered your questions above for convenience.

(1) Yes. You can find detailed instructions on guitarnuts.com NOTE: You will not need to shield the pickup cavities if your pickups themsleves are shielded, or if they are "noiseless" by design.

(2) If you mean "up over the edge onto the top of the guitar", then yes, this is in order to bond the cavity lining to the foil on the back of the pickguard when installed.

(3) Probably. The screw just secures the wire to the foil for a good mechanical bond. Solder the wire to a ring terminal first, or use a washer under the screw head. However, the wire probably is there just to bond the controls to the cavity shielding. If you wrap the cavity foil up over the edge and put foil on the back of the pickguard, that wire will be redundant and not needed.

(4) By all means use your preamp mfr's instructions. If your preamp has hot and cold (+/-, or white/black, or whatever) inputs for each coil, I would think you should not be grounding the low side unless they tell you to.

(5) The added wire to the control cavities is only to ground the copper shielding if you wrap your pickups. Not all pickups need that extra shielding - it just happened that mine were vintage pickups that did need the shielding.

(6) You could do that, or you could replace the wire with twisted pair shielded wire, where the wire shield replaces the foil lining you would otherwise have added. Might be easier.

(7) There should already be a simple grounding wire coming from under your bridge. (You can check for continuity to your strings with an ohm meter.) If it's not there, you should add it.

(8) Not that I have seen, but that's not saying one doesn't exist.

(9) Yes. (See (2).
Click to expand...

I'm shielding a new MIA jazz body, and I'll have some of the same issues as this guy did with him MIM, mainly, the neck pickup rout and the control cavity are connected.

I have three questons I hope someone can help answer:

1) I plan to shield the neck pup rout and control cavity as one unit. Your advice is to shield the underside of the pickguard as well. How large an area should the underside pg tape cover? Should it cover the whole rout and extend all the way to the control plate, leaving only the hole for the pickup?

2) There's a small gap (visible only from up close) between the control plate and the pickguard, due to my overdoing the trimming of the pg to fit that area. Will that gap affect the grounding and cause hum?
 
#288
Auriaprottu said:
I'm shielding a new MIA jazz body, and I'll have some of the same issues as this guy did with him MIM, mainly, the neck pickup rout and the control cavity are connected.

I have three questons I hope someone can help answer:

1) I plan to shield the neck pup rout and control cavity as one unit. Your advice is to shield the underside of the pickguard as well. How large an area should the underside pg tape cover? Should it cover the whole rout and extend all the way to the control plate, leaving only the hole for the pickup?

2) There's a small gap (visible only from up close) between the control plate and the pickguard, due to my overdoing the trimming of the pg to fit that area. Will that gap affect the grounding and cause hum?
Click to expand...

Here's my take:
(1) Think of the shielded area like a metal box, where the metal (foil) stops the radiated electrical noise. It's as if light caused the buzzing problem and everything in your guitar was made of clear plastic - except the foil box. Therefore the foil on the back of your pickguard needs only to be sufficient to form the box lid, i.e., it needs to cover the shielded cavity underneath.
(2) I highly doubt that a small gap like the one you describe would cause any appreciable problem.
(3) I missed your third question.
 
#289
pdeon99 said:
Here's my take:
(1) Think of the shielded area like a metal box, where the metal (foil) stops the radiated electrical noise. It's as if light caused the buzzing problem and everything in your guitar was made of clear plastic - except the foil box. Therefore the foil on the back of your pickguard needs only to be sufficient to form the box lid, i.e., it needs to cover the shielded cavity underneath.
(2) I highly doubt that a small gap like the one you describe would cause any appreciable problem.
(3) I missed your third question.
Click to expand...

Okay, I gt the "lid" part. Thanks! So I need to cover the entire shielded area, which in this case would include the open "channel" from the neck rout to the control cavity.

My third question (forgot to add that one) was based on the answer to #1. Now that I know, I can ask.

Do I add a second strip of copper (like the copper "tab" that extends over the top edge of the control cavity and connects the control plate to the control cavity in the photos in p. 1) so that I'll have a definite connection between the underside of the pg and the shielding in the cavity, or is the one at the end of the control plate enough?
 
#290
At least ensure that there is a tab strip or wire grounding every non-signal metal part - so yes, I would add a separate tab strip for the pg.

Personally, I like to make that 'definite connection' between the cavity and PG with an over-lip strip all around the edge of the cavity, because otherwise it's a long skinny gap where radiated noise can leak in - much larger than that tiny space you talk about in #2. But if you're already re-assembled, I would try the one tab strip and wait to see if you are still getting noise in there before going through the trouble of adding a full-edge strip. It's probably just as easy to add that later as it is now.
 
#291
pdeon99 said:
At least ensure that there is a tab strip or wire grounding every non-signal metal part - so yes, I would add a separate tab strip for the pg.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. I'll do this.

Personally, I like to make that 'definite connection' between the cavity and PG with an over-lip strip all around the edge of the cavity, because otherwise it's a long skinny gap where radiated noise can leak in - much larger than that tiny space you talk about in #2. But if you're already re-assembled, I would try the one tab strip and wait to see if you are still getting noise in there before going through the trouble of adding a full-edge strip. It's probably just as easy to add that later as it is now.
Click to expand...

The bass is being created over the next few days or weeks, depending on when I decide to buy the bridge pup (I have a Duncan STK-J1 Classic Stack neck pup, and will buy the bridge pup soon). I shielded it this afternoon. I thought about doing it that way (the "lip-strip" as you call it) and I have more than enough tape left over to do it. It seems to make more sense than leaving the skinny gap.

Thanks again, and I'll try your suggestions. In a couple of weeks, I will know for certain if it worked.
 
#292
Hi Guys,

I have been following this thread with great interest, I think I now have an idea of how to properly ground and shield my Tribute L2000.

I am confident in the shielding, but can anyone help with my approach:
1) I will install a star grounding lug - do I connect the pickup ground wires (green ones I think), the pre-amp ground wire, the bridge ground, and what appears to be a ground on the volume pot.
2) Remove the ground loops connecting the pots.
3) Connect all these to the ground on the jack.

Any help would be awesome.

Cheers,
ben
 
#293
foolshark said:
1) I will install a star grounding lug - do I connect the pickup ground wires (green ones I think), the pre-amp ground wire, the bridge ground, and what appears to be a ground on the volume pot.
2) Remove the ground loops connecting the pots.
3) Connect all these to the ground on the jack.
Click to expand...
Hi Ben,
You have the idea, but the details are a little unclear. For example, the important wires for the star ground are the "signal grounds" which is the anything grounded that might appear in the signal circuit connected to ground. It's very important to give every pot arm its own wire, and if any arms are bent back and soldered to the pot shell, free them up and run a wire to the star ground. For extra reference, Part 2 of this article in the Talkbass Wiki deals with the ground wiring. http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.php/Silencing_the_Noise_on_a_Marcus_Miller_Signature_Bass

(Wow this thread is a looong sucker!)
 
#294
I couldn't readily find copper foil tape around, and did not want to wait for mail order. So, I got the bright idea of using that metal duct tape you can get at any hardware store. Works just fine!

I did run ground wire under the pots, but instead of soldering them I used the same tape to hold the length of wire on the pot casing.

I used a burnishing tool (you can get them at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc.) to smooth down all the tape in the cavities and on the pots.
 
#295
Double Daddy said:
I couldn't readily find copper foil tape around, and did not want to wait for mail order. So, I got the bright idea of using that metal duct tape you can get at any hardware store. Works just fine!

I did run ground wire under the pots, but instead of soldering them I used the same tape to hold the length of wire on the pot casing.

I used a burnishing tool (you can get them at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc.) to smooth down all the tape in the cavities and on the pots.
Click to expand...

FWIW:

never looked but I've been told Michaels has the copper shield - not sure if it's the tape or not.

You "taped" the grounds to the pot?
 
#296
Quick questions:

The American Standard Jazz body has two screws- one in the channel between the neck washtub and the control cavity, and one in the bridge pup rout.

1) Can I use the screw in the channel for my star-grounding lug instead of putting one in the control cavity? It's all the same, it would seem.

2) Am I correct in assuming that I can ground the neg from the bridge pup to the screw in the bridge pup rout, and send a wire from that screw to the one in the channel? It seems to me that this would connect everything correctly.
 
#297
Auriaprottu said:
2) Am I correct in assuming that I can ground the neg from the bridge pup to the screw in the bridge pup rout, and send a wire from that screw to the one in the channel? It seems to me that this would connect everything correctly.
Click to expand...

It will produce sound, sure enough, but doing that creates a ground loop. (That's typical factory wiring.) For quiet, you want every ground wire that comes from a signal component to touch ground only once, and all at the same place. I recommend tying all your signal grounds together, insulated and NOT grounded, and run one wire from that point to the ground side of the output jack.
 

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