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Jazz Shielding Pictorial (Big Images Warning)

#761
ry%3D480.jpg


My 1/2 ass shield job with Snail tape

DONT GET SNAIL TAPE !!! Get the Stew Mac with the adhesive that is conductive... especially if you aren't a pro & its your first time doing this. Soldering the gaps STINK !!!

I'll solder the pieces soon... I gotta right (non conductive adhesive)?

I'm installing an Audere pre & they say I need a cavity ground. How should I go about creating a cavity ground?

This is just a back up fun bass, not going to see gigs (or any good gigs that is)
 
#762
All your shielding has to be grounded, which means it all needs to be connected. You don't necessarily have to solder the copper foil -- if what you used is intended for shielding, then the adhesive is conductive. Soldering won't hurt anything though, except maybe the finish of your bass if you're not careful.

Make sure your pickup routes as well as the bridge are connected (grounded) to the control cavity. Anyway, once that is all done, make sure your cavity shielding is connected to the negative terminal of the jack. Then you will have a grounded shield cavity.

If the preamp instructions mean something other than a shielded cavity, I'm guessing they mean you need to ground the preamp itself to the grounded shield.

But that's something you'd probably do anyway.
 
#768
That will ensure your bridge pickup shielding is grounded. What it won't do is shield the pickup wires from any EM/RF interference.

If you are in that far already, you might as well make sure that hole is shielded too. Honestly, chances are slim that leaving it unshielded will cause any problems. However, if you don't shield it, and then you do experience some unwanted noise/hum, then you have to check it as part of your troubleshooting. And that's just a PITA to have to go back later and do it.

There are a couple ways you can do it. First you're going to have to unsolder and remove the ground wire. Then...

Find a pencil or a straw or a dowel, something that can fit snugly but easily in the hole. Wrap some copper tape around the pencil/straw/dowel with the adhesive facing outward. Slide it into the hole, and remove the pencil/straw/dowel leaving the tape in place. Or...

Get a small piece of 1/4" copper tubing from a plumbing or hardware store. Measure the hole, cut the tube to length, and slide it in.

When you have accomplished either of those, the solder the tape/tube to the copper shielding on both sides of the wire channel. At that point, the pickup shielding will be grounded to the control shielding, so you don't have to resolder the ground wire you unsoldered. But I would do it anyway, just for redundancy. It's a small investment of time for shield insurance.
 
#773
selowitch said:
Regarding that, I believe the OP reported that because of a change in his image hosting, the links to the images were broken. I think he tried to create a PDF with the similar text and images for the tutorial which is posted somewhere in this thread, if I recall correctly.
Click to expand...
Actually, I did. So search for posts from me.
 
#776
Alex_rus said:
I see that many of you fellas are unaware of physics and how over-shielding may affect the tone adversely. Will post pics of a proper shielding job later
Click to expand...
I've heard this objection before, totally understand the tech behind it, and while it does hold technical merit, I have yet to hear a significant enough degradation to outweigh the benefits of the amount of noise reduction in actual practice/peformance.

At least thus far, anyway.

But I'm always looking for more data... bring it on. :)
 
#778
I get mine from ebay. If you don't mind the fact that it comes from china, you can get much more copper tape with conductive adhesive than the rolls at Stewmac at a fraction of the price. (The Stewmac rolls are 15 feet long. The rolls I get are 25-50 meters.)

Once again, here's my shielded Jazz cavity.
 

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#780
Thanks! There isn't really anything to it other than time and patience. And OCD.

I use the back of my fingernail to press the foil down to get maximum grip from the adhesive (I use a tool for the corners and crevices -- something like a popsicle stick will do nicely). I use scissors to cut the contoured edges. I go through and solder the seams afterward. Pretty simple.

I'm not afraid to use a lot of tape in layers to make sure a hard spot gets covered, like a J pickup route. As long as I press it down well, it doesn't build up in any noticeable or significant way.

One thing I do that I believe is unusual, as I mentioned in a previous post, is shield the pickup wire holes. Since I plan to build more basses and shield them, I got some 1/4" copper tubing. I cut it to the length of the wire channel, file the insides of the ends so there are no sharp edges, insert it, attach it with copper tape, and solder generously. Then I shrinkwrap the pickup wires where they go through the tubing, just to be safe.

Something else I did, purely for cosmetic purposes, is solder the bridge ground wire to the corner of the cavity shield, and then used copper tape to cover the wire and the hole it came out of. No particular reason other than to look cool.
 

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