Shielding Paint

[Skarekrough]

So I'm going to be doing a shielding project on two of my Strats (MIM and a 73').

The Stew-Mac $30 can has gotten me a little jumpy and I noticed a local electronics house has spray cans of shielding paint for about a third of the price.

However I'll be damned if I've ever seen it mentioned that shielding paint comes in anything other than a can.

Anyone used it in this form?

Thanks....

 

[rspst14]

Re: Shielding Paint

The important thing is the metal content of the paint. If it's super cheap, it may not be as effective as the Stewmac paint (which I've used with good results.) I've heard that boating and marine stores sell a type of paint for boats which works well for shielding purposes, but I've never tried that.

If it's a top routed guitar with a pickguard, you may want to consider foil instead of paint, as the paint does make a huge mess, even when it's dry. Try putting your hand on dried shielding paint...your hand will be totally black. Hamer also uses a special shielding paint that is highly effective, you might try emailing them to see if they'll divulge their supplier.

Ryan

 

[Pandemonium]

Re: Shielding Paint

If it's carbon paint it'll work. Never tried it in spray cans, I believe I'd spray some into a container and paint it on with a brush.

 

[MikeRocker]

Re: Shielding Paint

The Stew-Mac stuff works great. You do need to put several coats on, though, over the course of a couple of days. After it's dried, I'd strongly recommend testing conductivity with a multimeter. I kept adding coats until every spot I checked was concudtive.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Shielding Paint

I've heard that boating and marine stores sell a type of paint for boats which works well for shielding purposes, but I've never tried that.

I've seen a few offerings that have a high copper content to them but I can't get anyone to tell me that they'll conduct.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Shielding Paint

If it's a top routed guitar with a pickguard, you may want to consider foil instead of paint, as the paint does make a huge mess, even when it's dry. Try putting your hand on dried shielding paint...your hand will be totally black.

Ryan

I've done 3 strats with Stew-mac paint and have had no problems with it. Even if it did have a residue what difference does it make? You will never see it let alone be touching it. Its under the pickguard.

 

[Arkitkt]

Re: Shielding Paint

I've done 3 strats with Stew-mac paint and have had no problems with it. Even if it did have a residue what difference does it make? You will never see it let alone be touching it. Its under the pickguard.

same here

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Shielding Paint

So I pulled the trigger and anted up the $25 for a spray can. The stuff is essentially "nickel in a spray can".

Last night i removed the neck and electronics from the 73' and used madking tape and newspaper to cover the rest of the body. At 11 AM I went out to the garage and added the first coat. At 1:30 I added the second coat.

A couple of minutes ago I went out to survey my work; it looks like there's some great coverage. Although the dpray is a bit thicker than typical paint it does a fantastic job of covering the area well but still focusing decently.

I grabbed the multimeter and to my amazement it was conductive in almost every place that had paint on it.....and were not talking semi-conductive here either!

I'm wondering if I need to add more coats or whether I'll be ready to put it all back together tomorrow. Is there any good litmus test for how much I should have on there?

I need to bring the neck to the tanning salon for some "aging" (bad refinish after a great fret job) and shield the back of the pickguard, so I've got some time.

 

[rspst14]

Re: Shielding Paint

Generally, you should use three coats to be safe. Make sure you ground the shielding when you wire up the guitar.

Ryan