Shielding, Necessary?

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apl

apl

Stand Up Comity
My Bullet hot rodding project is coming along. I'm thinking about shielding. If I’m in position 2 or 4 there’s no hum. This tells me that in 1, 3, or 5 the noise problem is in the pups and not the wiring, so there’s no reason to try to improve the control cavity shielding. The consensus seems to be that you shouldn’t shield the pup cavity.

Whatcha think?
 
Why not shield?

apl said:
My Bullet hot rodding project is coming along. I'm thinking about shielding. If I’m in position 2 or 4 there’s no hum. This tells me that in 1, 3, or 5 the noise problem is in the pups and not the wiring, so there’s no reason to try to improve the control cavity shielding. The consensus seems to be that you shouldn’t shield the pup cavity.

Whatcha think?
Click to expand...

What would the harm be in more sheilding? I had the back of my P-Bass pickguard covered in sheilding as well as the PU cavity and enjoyed hum free operation..
 
apl said:
My Bullet hot rodding project is coming along. I'm thinking about shielding. If I’m in position 2 or 4 there’s no hum. This tells me that in 1, 3, or 5 the noise problem is in the pups and not the wiring, so there’s no reason to try to improve the control cavity shielding. The consensus seems to be that you shouldn’t shield the pup cavity.

Whatcha think?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is the pups. In positions 1, 3, and 5 only one pickup is active. As they are single coils, they are more susceptible to hum. I hadn't heard about not shielding the pup cavity, as this is where the hum enters the pickups. But, who knows.

This page has some good shielding ideas and methods, etc. Look under "quieting the beast".

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/menu.php
 
I thought I saw somewhere that shielding the pup cavity screws witht the pup inductance.
 
apl said:
I thought I saw somewhere that shielding the pup cavity screws witht the pup inductance.
Click to expand...

Well, enough pickguards come with pickup shielding on them that I wouldn't worry too much.
Metal covers on humbuckers sure do change the sound by affecting the magnetic field. But shielding is pretty far away from the pup's magnetic field, and has no voltage flowing through it. Aluminum is non-magnetic in any case. It's hard for me to see that happening. I won't say it doesn't, but I'd bet it would be hard to notice. Give it a shot and see, I would say. The extra effort involved should be minimal. Probably a bigger issue is that whatever sticks above the pickguard remains unshielded. Not much you can do about that.
 
apl said:
My Bullet hot rodding project is coming along. I'm thinking about shielding. If I’m in position 2 or 4 there’s no hum. This tells me that in 1, 3, or 5 the noise problem is in the pups and not the wiring, so there’s no reason to try to improve the control cavity shielding. The consensus seems to be that you shouldn’t shield the pup cavity.

Whatcha think?
Click to expand...

Hey apl, you probably have a reverse wound middle pickup. Positions 2 and 4 would actually be a type of humbucking mode and not have hum. Positions 1,3,and 5 will hum.

I don't really like the half assed "tin foil on the pickguard" type of shielding that is widely used now (by Fender even). Get a shielding plate, like was on the strats from the late 60's. Any supplier of strat parts should have one.

My '66 strat has the original shielding plate and its amazing how much quieter it was than my mex strat ("tin foil" shielding). I tried a sheilding plate on the mex strat and presto...hum cut in half.

Sometimes the "new fangled" ways of doing things, like using a tiny piece of tin foil on the pick guard, to substitute for the metal plate that covers the whole cavity, is really a step backwards IMO

Put the metal plate on, that covers the whole cavity, and be done with it.
 
jimistone said:
Positions 2 and 4 would actually be a type of humbucking mode and not have hum.
Click to expand...

Hey, jimi, I'll check that out.

My thinking was

total hum=pickup hum + wiring hum

In 2, 4, pickup hum=0 so

total hum=0 + wiring hum

so wiring hum is acceptable.

Reducing pup hum would be cool.
 
New pickups should do more for hum cancelling than sheilding will, and they will improve the overall sound of it too.
 
ibanezrocks said:
New pickups should do more for hum cancelling than sheilding will, and they will improve the overall sound of it too.
Click to expand...

I put in Mighty Mite Alnico vintage style pups which are probably as noisy as any others.
 
apl said:
I put in Mighty Mite Alnico vintage style pups which are probably as noisy as any others.
Click to expand...

If you have single coils, of any type, you will need to shield to get hum levels acceptable.
 
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