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I am about to try shielding the compartments and around the pickups with MuMetal. My gut says it will help but you obviously can't shield the pickup magnets themselves, and their coils are what's picking up the most hum. (That's why shielded wire will be of no use. The fields in the room are acting just like the strings -- right at the pickups.). I am very dubious of any reports using copper. I have used MuMetal for a studio wall. You might want to wait until I can report my results.
Yeah, I have no good answer that doesn't insult somebody, but you can find other posters saying exactly what I'm saying. Copper is way cheaper and easier to work with so not much downside to trying it. Added note: I have a bunch of condenser mics which are immune to the EMG fields from my other equipment (their diaphragms are electrically conductive but not magnetic) and one RE20 dynamic. It buzzes like crazy depending which way I point it. Wrapping it in aluminum or copper foil does not stop that and the output is already balanced (differential) and therefore interference cancelling. There's no way around that the element's coil (a magnet) is vibrating with the 60 and 120 cycles. Never mind. We can all get along.
I'm not sure that's true in all or even most cases. Don't single-coil Jazz pickups cancel each other's hum when they are both at the same volume? Also, I think most people who seek to shield their Jazz Basses want to enjoy the single-coil sound with less of the undesirable noise. Sure, humbucking Jazz pickups are available (e.g., stacked pickups from Seymour Duncan) and they sound good but they surely aren't the only option.
... So here are some pics of my very not professional shielding job, don't laugh too much at me... it worked!
First of all, congrats on a successful shielding job! The proof is in the end result, especially when the result is as dramatic of a difference as it was in your case. If I may make a couple of suggestions, though, you might find things a lot easier the next time you do it.
Sure looks like a Squire DJAV or DJAV. I have one defretted & it has no ground hum in passive, but with the active Aguilar OBP? Maybe. Gotta see about it in various environmentsFirst of all, congrats on a successful shielding job! The proof is in the end result, especially when the result is as dramatic of a difference as it was in your case. If I may make a couple of suggestions, though, you might find things a lot easier the next time you do it.
The thing that makes people bleed is not so much a lack of experience working with copper tape (though obviously experience helps) as it is that the copper tape they're using is rather unforgiving. I use copper tape that is thinner, and therefore more pliable. The stuff from StewMac is 1.25 mil thick, the stuff I get on ebay is 1 mil. I can lay down two layers of the thinner stuff in the time it takes to wrestle one layer of the thicker stuff in place, plus the end result looks a lot nicer when you can smooth it out easily and there are no blood stains.
Not to mention, on ebay you can get twice as much for half the price as what you'd pay at Invalid Link Removed.
What I use, and what I recommend, is a 55 yard/50 meter roll of 1/2" tape, available for $12 from an American seller. It's true that you need to lay down four lengths of it to cover the same width that a piece of 2" tape will cover, but there aren't that many large surface areas for it to make a big difference. Plus, if you have wrestled with a piece of cut 2" tape, you know it can be unwieldy, and it doesn't always cooperate with you when you are trying to put it into place. Using 1/2" tape is a lot easier, and will actually cut the time spent shielding quite a bit.
When I put a piece of tape in place, I smooth it out before putting the next piece in place. I often use the back of a fingernail, but in places that are hard to reach, a small spoon or popcycle stick or something like that will work. It makes the tape look good, but the real reason for doing it is to engage all the adhesive so it sticks better.
You might have read on here some opinions about adhesive "drying out." I am certain that in any case where tape has not held, it was NOT because the adhesive dried out -- instead, it was either because the surface area was not prepped correctly, or the tape adhesive wasn't sufficiently engaged with the surface. Using a tool (fingernail, popcycle stick, etc.) to flatten out the tape increases your chances of the tape sticking permanently.
At the end of everything, I go through and solder as many seems as I can easily reach. I totally believe in conductive adhesive, and if I were to skip soldering, I'm confident that my shielding would be just as effective and just as permanent... so why do I do it? Because I believe in overkill. Because soldering is better -- it makes for 100% connectivity, it is permanent, and it adds rigidity to the tape -- in other words, I have form-fitted a bunch of pliable material into a specific shape, and now that shape is reinforced everywhere there's solder.
And sometimes, after I solder, I put some more tape down just for aesthetics. Yes, it's crazy, but what the hell. I did it with this control cavity. Looks cool, doesn't it?
