Shielding Question

[khutch]

I don't know what Gibson's problems were but wires vibrating inside a metal tube do not generate electrical noise. You might be able to hear them rattling around acoustically. Wires vibrating in a metal tube are no different from those same wires vibrating inside a cavity artistically shielded with copper tape. Twisted pair wires are fairly effectively shielded. They are not very good for providing a well controlled impedance for RF applications but we don't care about that here. If you don't want to solder on shielded wire, or a shielded tube, or wrap the wires with copper tape to shield them, then you could do a lot worse than twisting them.

 

[Gorn]

Fender deluxe active okoume jazz. Dual coil pickups. Noiseless. I'm getting a substantial hum when I'm not touching the strings or bridge. Worse with the treble or mids up.

Is that a shielding issue? Would a full shielding job fix it?

 

[uOpt]

Fender deluxe active okoume jazz. Dual coil pickups. Noiseless. I'm getting a substantial hum when I'm not touching the strings or bridge. Worse with the treble or mids up.

Is that a shielding issue? Would a full shielding job fix it?

Yes, a more complete shielding job means you don't have to use your belly as a shield anymore.

 

[walterw]

speaking of shielding, Invalid Link Removed is awesome! it's essentially conductive nickel spray paint.

Link Removed

after you take the time to tape up everything, a quick 3-second spray burst in a cavity will leave a conductive layer that's way beyond the graphite brush-in paint, like 20-30Ω from one side of a big control cavity to the other.

if you bother to let dry for 10 minutes and add another 3-second spray blast (i haven't seen the need yet) i bet you could get it down to almost dead-short copper foil conductance.

it ain't cheap, like $35 for a can, but it's really good and really fast.

 

[Electricblue]

I shielded my Strat using adhesive copper tape. I didn't bother with the tunnel from the control/pickup cavity to the jack. I also didn't bother tacking the tape sections together with solder. The guitar is now hum-free. Time will tell if the adhesive is up to the job.

Shielding that little tunnel would probably help, but I haven't experienced any problems. Just make sure all the shielding is connected to ground and jobs a good'n.