Embarrassing admission....Happy Number 38 guitar to me.

[Sonic Mountain]

Very nice!

[ozzbike]

I have done 4 coats of the paint now.....still NO continuity. I have to have the probes about 20mm apart to get some sort of reading on the multi-meter. I get great continuity from each little square of copper foil to the next...with a wire soldered to each point....duhhh.

So having a huge roll of the copper tape with me I attacked the pickup routs and the control cavity. This guitar will have the Rebel 90's from Tonerider in it. They are humbucker sized P 90's, so I was expecting some serious noise. Well now we have the best of both worlds I suppose.

Four coats of shielding paint and then a layer of copper foil tape. The continuity lights up across the board....nice. The wire in each pickup rout is under the tape...and the bridge earth wire is in through a tiny pin prick hole.

Neck time. Up to wet sand at 800 grit on the back of the neck and headstock to try and hide the "Head Case" decal there. The front took 1200, 1500, and then 2000 to work....so even though I am using a satin finish now, I still think it will be that many times to hide the thicker sticky tape.

Edit:- I think I will keep the paint as I have some older builds, basses in particular, that could benefit from it. I think I will water it down a little and drop in heaps more graphite.

Edit Edit:- Will the chrome metal control plate benefit from tape on its underside? I was thinking of just running a thin strip of foil around the lip of the cavity with a little tape on top and connecting down into the cavity. I would think that the chrome metal would act as an RF inhibitor....maybe it is copper etc that has the special ability?????

[jonwhitear]

Will the chrome metal control plate benefit from tape on its underside? I was thinking of just running a thin strip of foil around the lip of the cavity with a little tape on top and connecting down into the cavity. I would think that the chrome metal would act as an RF inhibitor....maybe it is copper etc that has the special ability?????

The control plate will act as a shield, as it's conductive. In theory, it will be grounded by the signal ground, i.e. the output jack ground is connected to the volume pot, which in turn is connected to the control plate through the pot's chassis. Having said that, I would run a strip of the copper tape over the lip of the control cavity so that it's in contact with the control plate. That might also be how you get continuity between the output jack ground and the rest of the shielding, if it isn't otherwise connected, though you're probably better off soldering a ground wire from the shielding to the volume pot chassis to ensure a good connection.

[ozzbike]

The control plate will act as a shield, as it's conductive. In theory, it will be grounded by the signal ground, i.e. the output jack ground is connected to the volume pot, which in turn is connected to the control plate through the pot's chassis. Having said that, I would run a strip of the copper tape over the lip of the control cavity so that it's in contact with the control plate. That might also be how you get continuity between the output jack ground and the rest of the shielding, if it isn't otherwise connected, though you're probably better off soldering a ground wire from the shielding to the volume pot chassis to ensure a good connection.

I have slid on a piece of heat shrink over the tip connector of the output jack. I have the contact side open....and the other side covered just in case it touches the inside of the hole. The jack socket will be a recessed tele style that will be square to the edge of the body at that point. I think the socket may stick across the hole a little.

I fully intend to solder a wire from one of the pots to the bottom of the control cavity. I think everything will then be connected from bridge through strings to pickups to pots to the cavities.

I use a nylon washer on the pots to shorten the amount of the pot shaft that protrudes and enable the metal knob a better fit. I don't know if anything actually touches the control cavity from the pots.....I suppose a multi meter will tell the tale.

I will not bother with tape on the under side of the cavity cover....but I did intend to put a little tape lip on the cavity to touch the control cover.

Thanks for the info.

[ozzbike]

Very nice!

Thank you...coming from you that is impressive.

[ozzbike]

Looks good Ozzie. You gotta be happy with that finish.

By coincidence I have been checking out some of the same Tubes as you and was ready to pull the trigger on the DIY conductive paint. But I think I have enough copper tape for my next project so I might do some more research first. Plus my next will be single coils so it will need good shielding.

Cant wait to see #38 when she is finished.

rob

I have to say I doubted the paint and have dropped back to tape...but over the paint.

I hope number 38 comes out nice...she is looking great right now.

[McCreed]

I use a nylon washer on the pots to shorten the amount of the pot shaft that protrudes and enable the metal knob a better fit.

You can use a second pot nut to achieve the same thing and still get conductivity via the control plate.
I periodically buy extra pot nuts from Realtone just for this purpose. In the "olden days" you used to get two nuts with each pot, that cuts into profit too much these days

Plus, a second nut makes the pot bushing height adjustable.

[ozzbike]

You can use a second pot nut to achieve the same thing and still get conductivity via the control plate.
I periodically buy extra pot nuts from Realtone just for this purpose. In the "olden days" you used to get two nuts with each pot, that cuts into profit too much these days

Plus, a second nut makes the pot bushing height adjustable.

OOOHHH very nice.

Edit. In this case the control cavity cover is metal....so would the mounting nut on the top provide connection for the pot? I think I will have to check it with a multi-meter. On other guitars/basses with the shaft of the pots coming up through the wooden top I think then some internal method of contact between the pots and the copper tape in the control cavity would help.

[phrozin]

Looking forward to seeing you get into it.

Nothing better than getting your hands dirty and creating to shake off anxiety and depression. I can relate the to Zoloft comment, that stuff robbed me of the good as well as the bad.

Like Frankie says a lot of us here have dealt with varying degrees of these issues, there's no shame in it, life can be really hard. I'm thankful for how wholesome and supportive this community is. It's a breath of fresh air in an increasingly murky online world.

I couldn't agree more Phil, its why I do them I'm at 62 I've done, and 7 I'm working on now, I've given up posting them, try sitting in a wheelchair all day can't work anymore because of head injuries apparently I'm now a danger, go figure you got to try to shake off depression I don't let it worry me anymore as I've met people far worse than me I don't post comments this is one by Phil is a good one as he said there's no shame admitting it, well said Phil😎👌

[McCreed]

In this case the control cavity cover is metal....so would the mounting nut on the top provide connection for the pot?

Yes, the nuts and pot bushings are both conductive, so if the nuts are making contact with the metal control plate, shielding paint in a wooden cavity or shielding on the back of a plastic pickguard, there will be continuity.