Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

[TheArchitect]

How it was a few days ago. Blue 2002 MIA Strat.

The assembled pickguard. This was completed friday night and includes Suhr V60LP pups, Dimarzio 250k pots and vintage style Fender 5 way switch. The only change from traditional wiring is moving tone 2 from the middle pickup to the bridge.

The shielded body. Done 2 summers ago and includes 3 heavy layers of Shielding paint under the copper tape.

The completed instrument.

 

[Artie]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

Man . . . thats one of the neatest wiring jobs I've seen. So many beautiful axe pics lately. It looked sharp with the single 'bucker in there too. Nice job.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

For a moment, I thought that you were shielding a BC Rich Beast.

No, not really.

How's it do now? Big difference?

 

[RevJToad]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

I concur, nice job there. I'm also curious as to how effective it was - I actually shielded my Strat last month, and the difference was negligible. But, I may well have done it wrong. I seem to be cursed with buzzy guitars, even with humbuckers... :>

 

[ankalar]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

I want that Strat body! What color is it, do you know?

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

Thank you to everyone for the kind words.

The shielding is actually quite effective. When your dealing with single coils no shielding is going to completely eliminate all hum. The exposed pickup will always be susceptable to some interference. However, The difference more than justifies the effort. How much difference you will see depends on the instrument you start with. MIA strats for example have shielding paint in the cavities under the color coats and have foil on the guard. I don't find it to be completely effective which is why I did the additional shielding but the improvement in my case won't be as obvious as it would be in a guitar that was completely unshielding.

RevJ,

If you are having problems with hum even with humbuckers there is likely a grounding issue in the guitar's circuit or the noise is in fact coming through your amp from the AC lines. A shielded, properly wired humbucker equipped instrument should have no noise issue of any kind.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

I want that Strat body! What color is it, do you know?

I'm not sure what color that is. Its a 2002 MIA strat so you should be able to find it on fenders site or elsewhere on the web.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

I tried using the copper foil with the adhesive back but I couldn't make it stick and it often wrinkled up and curled away from the surface it was on. Is there a trick to applying it?

 

[ErikH]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

I'm with Artie, that is one of the neatest wiring jobs I've ever seen. Excellent job.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

Looks like he used shrink tube to keep the pickup leads tight together. Good idea. I just use garbage bag twisty ties. Not as neat-looking but it works.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

Looks like he used shrink tube to keep the pickup leads tight together. Good idea. I just use garbage bag twisty ties. Not as neat-looking but it works.

I've been using duct tape and taping them down to the pickguard. I think I need to change my wiring habits. :laugh2:

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

I plan to do that to my strat in the next couple of weeks. Except that I planned to use the full copper shielding pickguard. Great wiring example to follow. Thanks for the pics.

 

[loudriver23]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

WOW,
Looking at your beautiful wiring/shielding job it looks so simple. Nice and clean work to be sure.
I just wonder how I can take such a simple circuit and make such a mess out of it.
:bowdown: :bowdown:

Great work.

 

[Dave Z]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

Yeah I used the copper foil a couple times but found it a PITA (lose the stickiness and it's useless)...and expensive. Now I use heavy-duty Reynolds wrap & rubber cement...works pretty well. Does not look as impressive though!

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

I tried using the copper foil with the adhesive back but I couldn't make it stick and it often wrinkled up and curled away from the surface it was on. Is there a trick to applying it?

No, not really any tricks. Strat cavities are usually filled with polishing compound dust that you need to clean out. In my case I put down several coats of shielding paint under the copper that provided a nice dry, uniform surface. Its also possible some makes use adhesive that isn't up to the task. Its hard for me to speculate as I didn't come across that issue.

Beyond that I cut templates for the bottoms of each cavity. When working on round areas be sure to cut "v" shape reliefs into the bottom section that will fold up and connect to the bottom to allow it to bend around corners without tearing. When placing the piece in place try to start in the center and work yourway out smoothing any wrinkles as you go.

The best advice is to take your time. The 3 coats of shielding paint took about an hour per coat plus a full day of dry time. The copper tape in the body was also about a 3-4 hour process of making templetes, dry fitting pieces etc. Assembling that pickguard, installing it and reassembling the guitar took me about 3 1/2 hours. Thats a long time even for my slow poke self but I approached all 3 of my strats with the idea that they wouldn't be opened up again for decades. So everything was cut to length, all wires/connections tinned and fluxed and attention paid to every detail. I've been working on my own instruments for 15 years so there is quite a bit of experience and learning opportunities that made this possible also. I think its worth the effort. A clean, simple, well executed circuit equals the best tone whether its a guitar, amp or anything else

And now, to be purely a show off on this one occasion. These are the other two strats done like this one:

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Shielding the Beast (With sizable pics)

Looks like he used shrink tube to keep the pickup leads tight together. Good idea. I just use garbage bag twisty ties. Not as neat-looking but it works.

I am using shrink tubing but I don't shrink it. There is no advantage and several disadvantages if you ever need to disassemble things.