Shielding pickup cavities opinions?

I have used both here and there. The paint is way faster even with 3 coats. I shield the pickup cavities and control cavity. With the paint, you can dip a pipe cleaner in it and go all OCD on the drilled holes between the cavities and going to bridge ground.
The copper foil works great but takes a while to apply cleanly. I've also used the aluminum tape which is highly conductive and considerably less expensive. End of the day I'm using paint because a spinning or loose pot can tear the foil and break the ground.

 

Yep. I always shield the pickup cavities, even though my pickups have their own shielding shell. I used to use copper tape; it works, but it's a lot of labor and there's a risk of parts coming loose and shorting something.

These days, I use Super Shield paint for all my shielding. Much faster, more reliable, and neater looking.

 

The paint works as does foil, especially if you do the OCD method mentioned above.
This used bass came here quiet as a mouse except the previous shielding job did not connect the foil to a ground and it would cause a capacitance-effect when used in a dry place with carpet(static buildup and discharge?) and sometimes make a popping sound. I added a screw that was put through the copper foil with a wire from it and soldered to the jack ground = problem solved.

 

Of course you do the cavities. I used to use copper but paint is much faster and leaves a much more professional looking job, they both shield just as well. I do still use copper for the pickup covers and other bits and pieces.

I also used to use aluminum tape but I really recommend spending the money on copper tape or conductive paint. Aluminum tape does not have conductive adhesive and it is a pain to solder to. I also recommend people do not buy shielding supplies from stew-mac, their copper prices are highway robbery.

 

There's a project bass here that will get ALL shielding paint b/c of copper prices plus the paint is already here.
Pics when it is being done.

 

This is the Super Shield that I use, the aerosol nickel shielding:

http://www.amazon.com/Aerosol-Shiel...f=sr_1_69?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1420414254&sr=1-69

Yes, it will stick to almost anything, as long as it isn't greasy. It's about like Krylon, with fine nickel particles floating in it. You don't need much. I usually spray just two coats. One spray can will do maybe 20 instruments.

I normally spray the base coats of the finish on the body, including inside the control cavities, to get the wood all sealed up. Then I spray the Super Shield in the cavities, mask them up, and do the rest of the finish.

The nickel shielding is lower resistance than any of the carbon/graphite shielding. It usually measures only an ohm or two anywhere across the cavity.

 

I use the same product as Bruce. It works great. I have not used it on an oil finish but I have used it only poly and nitro. I have no experience with anything other than the nickel-based paint.

 

Could you explain that shell?

 

It's a strip of perforated brass sheet, formed into a ring (fence? wall?) that surrounds the coils. It's fitted into the mold, along with the coils, and everything is cast solid in epoxy. There's also an aluminum base plate which covers most of the bottom. The brass shell and the base plate are both connected to ground and form a shielding shell that's open only on the top. That, plus matched humbucking coils, is how you make quiet pickups.

 

I'm going to have to swing back around to this later in the year when I start winding my own pickups.

 

I used the copper tape on my Strat. It was a fun project but unfortunately didn't produce any results - my problem comes from the single coil pickups, not any outside noise.

 

Johnny higlights an important point. I use copper foil, and here's a tip no matter what you use:

I had trouble routing the pup wires plus a wire to ground the pup cavity shields. I found that the twist ties that I had laying around worked and were much easier to get through the holes along with the pup leads. I just stripped the ends and soldered to the bottom of the pup shield and control cavity shield.

I also tie the bridge ground to the bottom of the cavity shield, which means that when I remove my J control plates I have a lot more clearance from the body.

 

I used some copper flashing leftover from a roofing job. It is a thicker gauge so I was able to mould it into all of the cavities without sticking it with adhesive (it's a vintage body). I then wrapped the sides and bottom of the pots with electrical tape to prevent any grounding. It's a tight fit but the single coils are quiet as mice now.

 

I used copper self adhesive foil and electrical tape to wrap the pickups and it worked an absolute treat. Zero hum from single coils!

 

I hate to be "that guy" but shielding will do nothing for 60hz hum, which single coils are susceptible to. Shielding prevents RF interference. Your single coils will still get hum if the pickups are not balanced (if the environment has noise.)

 

Probably used the wrong term it was interference that I was getting not 60 cycle hum, it was noisy beforehand, the foil cured it