Ground Shielding Paint?

Silence Kid

Silence Kid

New member
My Vintage Modified Jazzmaster has a lug the factory screwed in the body to ground the shielding paint; on the other hand my Mascis body has shielding paint, but no lug or attachment to the grounding of the guitar.

By my intuition, shouldn’t the grounding need to be shielded in some way to prevent the shielding itself being a source of noise? Then again, I can’t get the shielding paint to register continuity on my multimeter in the first place - is that normal? Thinking I should just use aluminum foil at this point, but wondering why Fender didn’t make any effort to ground the shielding on the Mascis.
 
Re: Ground Shielding Paint?

I would get an eyelet terminal. There are many approaches to this but these are some of mine. Just make sure you've got some heat shrink. Attach it to any ground point and you're set. There are two ways to approach this without getting a wire crimper as it's not something guitarists will use every day.

#1 - Either pull off the plastic part that in this photo is yellow and solder directly to the connector away from the screw and put heat shrink over it
#2 - with an old pair of wire cutters that are dull (or cheap) use Bruce Lee death grip and once it's on just give it a few tugs to ensure it won't go anywhere. Then go over it with heat shrink

The eyelet terminal you'd want has to have two requirements
the right AWG of wire - your wire should say on the side unless it's braided or cloth - 22 or 24 AWG is what I use
the right inner diameter for your screw - but screws being one of the few things left that are a dime a dozen I wouldn't worry too much

From there just ground to the back of any part of your wiring.

View attachment 102203
 
Re: Ground Shielding Paint?

Silence Kid said:
My Vintage Modified Jazzmaster has a lug the factory screwed in the body to ground the shielding paint; on the other hand my Mascis body has shielding paint, but no lug or attachment to the grounding of the guitar.

By my intuition, shouldn’t the grounding need to be shielded in some way to prevent the shielding itself being a source of noise? Then again, I can’t get the shielding paint to register continuity on my multimeter in the first place - is that normal? Thinking I should just use aluminum foil at this point, but wondering why Fender didn’t make any effort to ground the shielding on the Mascis.
Click to expand...
It should give continuity on the multimeter.

In most cases the pots/switches body making tight contact with the paint/copper shield with a washer is enough to form a connection to common ground. If you still want a more robust contact then that eyelet screwed inside the cavity & a wired to ground will get the job done. Only do it if necessary though, cause its not required in majority of cases.
 
Re: Ground Shielding Paint?

Thanks - that eyelet is similar to what the VM body has pictured below.

rplgjvqzb2hxrokzslcz.jpg


The Mascis body has black cavities and my assumption was this is shielding - possible they chose to forego any shielding paint, due to the aluminum pickguard?

scgojqkogoekn9cwamwc.jpg
 
Re: Ground Shielding Paint?

An aluminum pickguard would only provide shielding in one direction. If the paint overlapped the rim of the route and came into contact with the pickguard it would complete the circuit and ground both because the pot's case coming into contact with the pickguard should ground it.
 
Last edited:
Re: Ground Shielding Paint?

If you are not reading continuity in your shielding paint, it is probably because you don't have it thick enough. It is not uncommon to need 3 or 4 coats of paint. That's one of the reasons I prefer copper tape...plus you don't have to worry about spilling/slopping paint onto your finish. And you can solder a grounding wire to the tape, no need for a screwed-in terminal connector.
 
Re: Ground Shielding Paint?

I worked at Fender for almost three years and they basically paint enough shielding to cover and fill. They didn’t wait to even coat a second layer. When I worked that station, I would take a bit more time and get several coats in if I could. Time is money and they have a quota and pace to meet so it just gets basic attention.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top