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Shielding question for a dufus

bassgod76

bassgod76

Garbage bassist, but I love this goofy instrument
Mar 13, 2003
5,329
1,133
South Florida
#1
I'm getting ready to shield a cavity, and I have a stupid question.
Is the sticky stuff on the backing of the copper foil sticky enough to stay fixed to the wals of the cavity?

Or do I have to do some sort of prep work in the cavity so the shielding stays put?
 
#4
Just wipe it down with a damp cloth. I find a lot of powder from the buffing in there that will prevent the tape from sticking.

Please note that the copper foil is very stiff, and will stay in place even if it weren't 100% stuck to the walls.

Be sure to use the Stew-Mac copper or some other where the adhesive is conductive. Otherwise you need to solder all the little pieces together so it is one piece elecrically.

Remember to GROUND the shield. Solder a wire to it and connect to your main ground. Otherwise it doesn't work.
 
#5
Gio S said:
Just wipe it down with a damp cloth. I find a lot of powder from the buffing in there that will prevent the tape from sticking.

Please note that the copper foil is very stiff, and will stay in place even if it weren't 100% stuck to the walls.

Be sure to use the Stew-Mac copper or some other where the adhesive is conductive. Otherwise you need to solder all the little pieces together so it is one piece elecrically.

Remember to GROUND the shield. Solder a wire to it and connect to your main ground. Otherwise it doesn't work.
Click to expand...

I bought that copper tape set (3 rolls) from Stew Mac.

So, I need to solder a wire from the cavity to the output jack ground?

Many Thanks!
 
#7
You do not need to shield an entire cavity. Shielding creates a Guassian field around the electronics; such that a linear plane of copper will create a three dimensional globe of conductivity. Your control placements determine the shielding size and not the cavity size.
 
#8
mikeyswood said:
You do not need to shield an entire cavity. Shielding creates a Guassian field around the electronics; such that a linear plane of copper will create a three dimensional globe of conductivity. Your control placements determine the shielding size and not the cavity size.
Click to expand...

I would go ahead and shield the entire cavity. The more complete a Faraday Cage is, the better it will work. Shielding is basically a Faraday Cage.

In terms of soldering a lead from the copper to a ground, I dont worry about it. I do shield the pickup cavities and run a ground from there to the shielding in the cavity, but when you put the pots in, they sandwich the copper between themselves and the wood grounding the shielding in the process.
 
#9
automan said:
I would go ahead and shield the entire cavity. The more complete a Faraday Cage is, the better it will work. Shielding is basically a Faraday Cage.

In terms of soldering a lead from the copper to a ground, I dont worry about it. I do shield the pickup cavities and run a ground from there to the shielding in the cavity, but when you put the pots in, they sandwich the copper between themselves and the wood grounding the shielding in the process.
Click to expand...

I'm shielding a P Bass, so I was assuming that if you properly shielded the pickguard and cavity, that a jumper from the cavity to the output jack wouldn't be necessary. Then again, I'm a noob at shielding.
 
#10
After you shield the cavities and the pickguard, leave a strip of shielding coming out of the cavity and over to a screw hole. Make a mirror on the pickguard. When you screw that screw in, it will close the cage and make it work way better.
 
#17
Okay, so my first experience with shielding went pretty well... I think. I forgot how pliable copper is. I used to be amazed how clean these guys did their shielding jobs. It's not that hard. Copper is like playdough and pretty much molds into place with GENTLE coaxing. I discovered early on that trying to aggressively seat a sheet in a tight corner will cause it to tear. Also, I've heard suggestions on soldering every piece. This adhesive stuff I got from Stewmac worked great, and didn't require solder. After completion, I tested various points in the cavity with a multimeter and almost zero resistance at every point I tested! Yay!

Dirk, you're right. That stuff slices and dices. Luckily, I only experienced it once. Ouch!
Squire 1.jpg

I did the trick where I rolled a tube of copper for the bridge wire to travel through. I not only grounded the wire to the bridge, but the copper tubing from the bridge to cavity, as well. Is this correct?
 
#18
bassgod76 said:
Okay, so my first experience with shielding went pretty well... I think. I forgot how pliable copper is. I used to be amazed how clean these guys did their shielding jobs. It's not that hard. Copper is like playdough and pretty much molds into place with GENTLE coaxing. I discovered early on that trying to aggressively seat a sheet in a tight corner will cause it to tear. Also, I've heard suggestions on soldering every piece. This adhesive stuff I got from Stewmac worked great, and didn't require solder. After completion, I tested various points in the cavity with a multimeter and almost zero resistance at every point I tested! Yay!

Dirk, you're right. That stuff slices and dices. Luckily, I only experienced it once. Ouch!
View attachment 140646

I did the trick where I rolled a tube of copper for the bridge wire to trave through. I not only grounded the wire to the bridge, but the copper tubing from the bridge to cavity, as well. Is this correct?
Click to expand...

I was expecting to see the "Joan Rivers bass"!

You must be like me.....once in "project mode" nothing is safe! :D

The first time I did a shielding job, I couldn't figure out why the copper had that "red stain" on it in places....the I realized it was my blood. Ahhh, fun times.;)
 
#19
THand said:
I was expecting to see the "Joan Rivers bass"!

You must be like me.....once in "project mode" nothing is safe! :D

The first time I did a shielding job, I couldn't figure out why the copper had that "red stain" on it in places....the I realized it was my blood. Ahhh, fun times.;)
Click to expand...

The Joan Rivers bass gets no shielding because It has EMGs. EMG told me that their products are already internally shielded and shielding cavities that house them causes some sort of issue.

Oh, when I cut myself, I knew it. Wow, that hurt!
 

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