aluminum foil sheilding??
- Thread starter joeydude
- Start date
Jeff_H
Dean Hardtail Fanologist
Re: aluminum foil sheilding??
or you can just go HERE, go to Strat parts and order the aluminum pickguard shield. I have put one on every strat I own with a pickguard, and in every case it has made my strats extremely quiet. Well worth the $20, and it's easier to do.
I do recommend bookmarking the site alba44 gave you. It's a great place for wiring diagrams and info about your strat. I like the star grounding techinque the list on there. It's not normally necessary, but if you have a strat or an amp or a place you play that causes unusual amounts of hum, it can really cut down on that as well.
Callaham Full Aluminum Pickguard Shield
These are made from 0.014 thick 6061-T6 aluminum just like what was used on the early 60's strats. We have made them more versatile by incorporating both the 50's 8-hole pattern and the early 60's 11-hole pattern. It is designed to work with almost anybody's traditional strat® guard, with slightly larger holes for clearance. This shield is far superior to foil by allowing you to tighten pots and switches firmly without fear of breaking through a thin foil. You will no longer need ground straps from pot to pot thus eliminating a potential ground loop and unwanted noise.
or you can just go HERE, go to Strat parts and order the aluminum pickguard shield. I have put one on every strat I own with a pickguard, and in every case it has made my strats extremely quiet. Well worth the $20, and it's easier to do.
I do recommend bookmarking the site alba44 gave you. It's a great place for wiring diagrams and info about your strat. I like the star grounding techinque the list on there. It's not normally necessary, but if you have a strat or an amp or a place you play that causes unusual amounts of hum, it can really cut down on that as well.
Callaham Full Aluminum Pickguard Shield
These are made from 0.014 thick 6061-T6 aluminum just like what was used on the early 60's strats. We have made them more versatile by incorporating both the 50's 8-hole pattern and the early 60's 11-hole pattern. It is designed to work with almost anybody's traditional strat® guard, with slightly larger holes for clearance. This shield is far superior to foil by allowing you to tighten pots and switches firmly without fear of breaking through a thin foil. You will no longer need ground straps from pot to pot thus eliminating a potential ground loop and unwanted noise.
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noth
New member
Re: aluminum foil sheilding??
ABSOLUTELY!!! You want to really hear what your guitar and you sound like? Shield those cavities.
Noth
ABSOLUTELY!!! You want to really hear what your guitar and you sound like? Shield those cavities.
Noth
Fresh_Start
New member
Re: aluminum foil sheilding??
Go buy some "heavy duty" aluminum foil, cut out a shape that will cover the cavities in your guitar (not necessarily the entire underside of the pickguard), apply Elmers Spray Adhesive to the foil and apply to pickguard. Don't need to spend $20. Then read the GuitarNuts site (possibly ignoring the part about the caps, etc. on the ground unless you have old amps and/or play in places with bad wiring - which could be your house).
Aluminum foil won't work inside the cavities because it tears too easily and you can't solder the pieces together. The copper foil from GuitarElectronics, Warmoth, etc. works really well, but there are some hard-to-get places in there. I use copper foil where it's easy and StewMac's conductive paint for the nooks & crannies where the foil would be harder. Make sure you bring part of the cavity shielding up over the edge so it has good contact with the underside of your pickguard.
Before you seal it up, check every piece of shielding for continuity with the sleeve of your jack with a multi-meter. The shielding doesn't do any good if it's not grounded.
Oh, and remember that now your pot bodies are already grounded (assuming you ground the shield) so you don't need to solder onto the pot backs anymore.
Shielding really is worth the effort, especially for single coils IME.
HTH
Chip
Go buy some "heavy duty" aluminum foil, cut out a shape that will cover the cavities in your guitar (not necessarily the entire underside of the pickguard), apply Elmers Spray Adhesive to the foil and apply to pickguard. Don't need to spend $20. Then read the GuitarNuts site (possibly ignoring the part about the caps, etc. on the ground unless you have old amps and/or play in places with bad wiring - which could be your house).
Aluminum foil won't work inside the cavities because it tears too easily and you can't solder the pieces together. The copper foil from GuitarElectronics, Warmoth, etc. works really well, but there are some hard-to-get places in there. I use copper foil where it's easy and StewMac's conductive paint for the nooks & crannies where the foil would be harder. Make sure you bring part of the cavity shielding up over the edge so it has good contact with the underside of your pickguard.
Before you seal it up, check every piece of shielding for continuity with the sleeve of your jack with a multi-meter. The shielding doesn't do any good if it's not grounded.
Oh, and remember that now your pot bodies are already grounded (assuming you ground the shield) so you don't need to solder onto the pot backs anymore.
Shielding really is worth the effort, especially for single coils IME.
HTH
Chip
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