Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

lickinice said:
Do you guys shield your guitars?

or pot the pickups?


How do you do it?

As in materials wise.
Click to expand...

I had to pot one old pup a while back that was feeding back really bad, I just got some bee's wax and parafin and heated it up, its like a 80/20 mix 20=the bee's wax portion. See stewmac.com for info with better detail on that.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

So what are you all saying. was there any consensus. I didnt undrstand. I am not technically inclined. Should I use the Stew Mac paint or not? I think I am going to try the Callaham shield.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

I painted my strats cavity last weekend with conductive paint. At least
I thought so before I measured it and realized the paint is not really
conductive although it does have metal particles in it. I haven't really
played it yet at rehearsals so I don't know if it's less noisy or not. Do
you have any experiences does it have any effect on the noise if it's not
very conductive? I think I get better paint next time from Stewart -
McDonalds and do it properly.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

jerryjg said:
So what are you all saying. was there any consensus. I didnt undrstand. I am not technically inclined. Should I use the Stew Mac paint or not? I think I am going to try the Callaham shield.
Click to expand...

The callaham shield isn't really a replacement for shielding the body. You really need to create an enclosure around the electronics to shield everything thoroughly.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

Pacer_87 said:
I painted my strats cavity last weekend with conductive paint. At least
I thought so before I measured it and realized the paint is not really
conductive although it does have metal particles in it.
Click to expand...
That's interesting, isn't it?

A lot of so-called "metallic" paint is completely nonconductive. I did a bench experiment with this a while back with a couple of "aluminum" paints. They were utterly non-conductive.

As I mentioned earlier, I have read -- BUT DO NOT VOUCH FOR THE ACCURACY OF -- the claim that metal-like conductivity is not needed for EMI shielding, and the OEM paint that I've measured in the cavities of the instruments I've recently bought has very high measurable resistance compared to the StewartMacDonald stuff or metal foil/tape.

I don't have an answer for you and I would expect some hard data from anyone claiming to have one.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

Bezmotivnik said:
That's interesting, isn't it?

A lot of so-called "metallic" paint is completely nonconductive. I did a bench experiment with this a while back with a couple of "aluminum" paints. They were utterly non-conductive.

As I mentioned earlier, I have read -- BUT DO NOT VOUCH FOR THE ACCURACY OF -- the claim that metal-like conductivity is not needed for EMI shielding, and the OEM paint that I've measured in the cavities of the instruments I've recently bought has very high measurable resistance compared to the StewartMacDonald stuff or metal foil/tape.

I don't have an answer for you and I would expect some hard data from anyone claiming to have one.
Click to expand...



Without conductivity there is no path to ground. A path to ground is need for any shield to be effective.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

TheArchitect said:
Without conductivity there is no path to ground. A path to ground is need for any shield to be effective.
Click to expand...
Yes, I know. NONconductive paint will not work.

My point is that I am unclear on HOW conductive the paint needs to be. That's the question. Is more conductivity better, worse or the same as low conductivity in terms of EMI shielding?

Nobody seems to know.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

Bezmotivnik said:
Yes, I know. NONconductive paint will not work.

My point is that I am unclear on HOW conductive the paint needs to be. That's the question. Is more conductivity better, worse or the same as low conductivity in terms of EMI shielding?

Nobody seems to know.
Click to expand...

In my experience, not just with guitars but with pedals as well, the higher the conductivity, the better. You WANT that EMI interference to get sent to ground. The only way to do that and get all of it there is with the most conductive shielding you can put in.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

ErikH said:
In my experience, not just with guitars but with pedals as well, the higher the conductivity, the better. You WANT that EMI interference to get sent to ground. The only way to do that and get all of it there is with the most conductive shielding you can put in.
Click to expand...

I agree completely Erik. This is electronics 101 in my book which is why I don't understand where B's line of questions is going.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

I'm thinking of potting and shielding ALL my guitars.

I would post pics if I do, have to find the time to do it.

Hardly have any time to do anything on weekdays.
Which is quite sad.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

Bezmotivnik said:
Yes, I know. NONconductive paint will not work.

My point is that I am unclear on HOW conductive the paint needs to be. That's the question. Is more conductivity better, worse or the same as low conductivity in terms of EMI shielding?

Nobody seems to know.
Click to expand...
The shielding paint I have is from Stewmac and it is made from graphite. Now graphite isn't a very good conductor but still it does the job. You need at least 5 or 6 coats to do a good job. It is messy but it is easy to use. There are other conductive paints but a lot of them are pretty toxic and expensive. I have tried to use foil for shielding cavities and have had zero luck. Something you can do really easily is to get a can of spray adhesive and some tin foil to shield pickguards.

You can also shield pickups as long as they have a cloth shield around the coil. You just cut a long strip of tin foil and solder a long ground wire to it and then spray with adhesive and wrap around the coil. Then solder the ground wire direct to the ground lug on the jack. If you don't have a cloth shield around the coils you can use spray adhesive to attach some ribbon to the aluminum foil first so you can insulate the coils.
 
Re: Guitar shielding/Pup Potting

Conductive paint ain't the easiest thing to find at the local stores, at least
paint that works :) Maybe I go to wrong stores, I don't know. I've decided
to let this thing rest for a while. I've only got one working guitar and it takes
too much time away from playing. Maybe someday I'll get that Stewmac paint
and try again. I gave the aluminium foil a thought, but it's a little hard to
to make it right with all the glue and conductivity issues. Tried it once, but
didn't come out too well. Maybe I need more practice.
 
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