Cavity Shielding

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Kingofpain678

Kingofpain678

Returned from the dead
Aluminum has some strange properties, and it’s the only commercially available metal I know of that can eliminate the buzz caused by light dimmers. An inch thick copper or brass shield cannot reduce the buzz caused by light dimmers but .003 thick aluminum foil can! This is known some thirty years and the reason why Belden introduced double shielded cable ( Copper braid plus aluminum foil). There is one problem for guitar cords -- the double shielding makes the cable too stiff . It helps quite a bit when you shield your guitar with copper and aluminum foil.

Try this one-- wire a single coil to a jack and plug it into your amp. Put the pickup on a table next to your amp. Take an aluminum pan from your kitchen and put it slowly on top of your single coil and watch the hum disappear.
- Bill Lawrence
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I've done some research and found that it's okay to use aluminum foil as an alternative to copper foil to shield the electronics cavity in a guitar... From what I understand, You just keep connectivity from the ground to the shielding which shouldn't be any problem I wouldn't think.
Only problem is, I read that shielding a guitar's cavities kill the liveliness of a pickup. I'm not sure how that statement could hold any water but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask...

So, is there any way shielding can effect the sound of a pickup?
 
I don't want to comment on your question about shielding dulling the tone from the pickups, because I don't know any of the theory behind that and never noticed anything. I'd just adjust my amp if I did...

BUT I have seen (and in the past, attempted) aluminum foil shielding jobs, and it's almost always ugly and fragile. It's good for the back of pickguards/cavity covers but otherwise I'd not bother. I go with silver paint when I have to, it works great, looks great, lasts longer than the adhesives in tape etc.
 
slowmotion said:
I don't want to comment on your question about shielding dulling the tone from the pickups, because I don't know any of the theory behind that and never noticed anything. I'd just adjust my amp if I did...

BUT I have seen (and in the past, attempted) aluminum foil shielding jobs, and it's almost always ugly and fragile. It's good for the back of pickguards/cavity covers but otherwise I'd not bother. I go with silver paint when I have to, it works great, looks great, lasts longer than the adhesives in tape etc.
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I'm not so worried about how it looks. Once I get pickups and electronics in this guitar their probably not gonna come back out for years to come. The guitar I'm putting it in is just an old project guitar that I'm just gonna use for practice and such. Depending on how it sounds I might use it for recording every now and again but the guitar isn't anything too important.

As long as the foil works I'll be happy.
 
I guess I don't mean "looks" - obviously it's all hidden. Ugly, insofar as it's not an elegant solution... the foil can flake off and start touching stuff it shouldn't, so stick it down really well if you're going to. Cavities have rough walls and it's hard to get it to adhere, which is why I choose paint. Still, give it a go.
 
slowmotion said:
I guess I don't mean "looks" - obviously it's all hidden. Ugly, insofar as it's not an elegant solution... the foil can flake off and start touching stuff it shouldn't, so stick it down really well if you're going to. Cavities have rough walls and it's hard to get it to adhere, which is why I choose paint. Still, give it a go.
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Yeah, I can see how it could be a PITA... I'll give it a shot. ;)


I'm sure MSH knows if it will effect my 'buckers...

OH MSH!!! WHERE ART THOU?!
 
I used adhesive backed aluminum tape on one of my strat copies just to see how it would work--it didn't get rid of all the hum, but it was a noticeable improvement. Having it 2" wide on a roll also made it much easier to work with. In lieu of conductive backing, I lapped the tape about 3/8"-1/2" all around the cavity to connect with the same stuff on the back of the pickguard.

Another thing I did to get rid of hum was getting rid of CRT monitors, now I can sit right in front of the computer and the guitar may pick up a little noise from a fan kicking on, but nowhere near what was coming off the CRT.
 
dervish riff said:
I used adhesive backed aluminum tape on one of my strat copies just to see how it would work--it didn't get rid of all the hum, but it was a noticeable improvement. Having it 2" wide on a roll also made it much easier to work with. In lieu of conductive backing, I lapped the tape about 3/8"-1/2" all around the cavity to connect with the same stuff on the back of the pickguard.

Another thing I did to get rid of hum was getting rid of CRT monitors, now I can sit right in front of the computer and the guitar may pick up a little noise from a fan kicking on, but nowhere near what was coming off the CRT.
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I got rid of my CRT monitors as soon as I could replacing them with small LCD's... Now I want a 32" HDTV as my PC monitor :p:p:p

ah, I can wish....
 
Shielding the cavity with aluminum foil is a MAJOR pita... you can TRUST me on that one.
 
You can use paint or foil tape it makes no difference. Tape foil can be applied to look waayyy better than paint.

Shielding will not effect the tone of your pickups in any way that you will ever Notice.

I use braided copper these days but thats just because I have it.
 

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stevieb said:
Shielding the cavity with aluminum foil is a MAJOR pita... you can TRUST me on that one.
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??? Don't know what all the fuss is about. The edges don't look as neat as muttley's but it still looks alright. I had to problem getting it in at all and it's not moving or flaking or coming out...
I stuck electrical tape on the positive solder points to make sure they wouldn't come into contact with the ground.

Pics are in the cave.

Asking why their in the cave? cause I didn't feel like posting anywhere else.

I might reconsider and post here if anyone is unwilling to go to the cave.
 
muttley600 said:
You can use paint or foil tape it makes no difference. Tape foil can be applied to look waayyy better than paint.

Shielding will not effect the tone of your pickups in any way that you will ever Notice.

I use braided copper these days but thats just because I have it.
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That's TAPE?! Damn man, nice.
 
i used dollar store aluminum foil and super glue and a piece of the super glue packaging to spread it underneath the foil... wasn't that much of a pain in the ass... it worked and I only spent $2.32 cad
 
MatchBookNotes said:
i used dollar store aluminum foil and super glue and a piece of the super glue packaging to spread it underneath the foil... wasn't that much of a pain in the ass... it worked and I only spent $2.32 cad
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Exactly what I did. The super worked wonderfully.
 
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