Shielding AGAIN I hear you say

[Tony B]

OK, sorry for more on shielding...

I am ready to set up my JB4. I have the copper tape coming (hopefully get it tomorrow) so I am preparing for the big event .

I understand from the various posts that I will be lining the cavities with the foil (get that) and that the foil should be earthed and I believe I saw that the control panel should be shielded as well.

So my questions are;

• Do I have to still apply the existing earth to the bridge (assume this is a must)?
• Do I have to earth the copper shielding to the bridge as well (with another shielded cable) or can I earth to one of the pots?
• Do I remove the pots from the control panel and stick the copper to the underside?
• Do I need to earth the underside (assume not given the pots grounding on the panel)?
• Do I shield the inside of the pickup cavities (assume you would)?
• If you shield the inside of the pickup cavities is it OK to earth then back onto the shielding in the control cavity (going all the way to the bridge would mean some longer cables and we all know cables are antennas)?

One final question not shielding related When fitting the pickups I see that the springs are supplied, is there no need to place some foam under the pickups? Are the springs adequate to stop them rattling?

Cheers
Tony

PS I don't know why I've waited 45 years to build a guitar and will be building more

[dingobass]

Hey Tony.
Yes you will need to earth the bridge.
The control plate should come pre shielded. If not, shield it.
If you shield the pup cavities, no need to earth that back. The copper acts as a filter to stop feed back from external sources such as florescent lights and inter planetary space modulators 😜

I always shove some high density foam under my pups, it stops the rattles.

[AndrewA]

Hi Tony,
Every guitar builder will have their own way of shielding and some will even leave it out completely. I'm no expert, but I can help with some of your questions.
* The bridge must have a connection to earth. Without it your guitar will pick up everything, including truck CB radio.
* As long as everything that needs to be earthed is connected somehow to the tab on the guitar jack, it should be fine. The pots are the easiest place to connect to. You don't need to connect the cavity shielding to the bridge if they are both already connected to an earth elsewhere.
* If you are applying shielding to the back of the scratch plate, its neater/easier to remove the pots, apply the foil, then put the pots in. It also creates a physical earth connection between this shielding and the body of the pots.
* You don't need to apply any shielding (but it will sound better if you do). Its up to you where you want to apply it. I like shielding the cavity behind the pots, the pickup cavities and the back of the scratch plate.
* Earth cables won't act like antennas (unless you get some wiring seriously wrong) but if you can find another closer earth point to join to, that should be fine. I like to join all my cavity foil together and only have one wire joining this to the back of a pot, less wires = neater and easier to fault find if needs be.
Lastly: the springs hold the pickups in a sort of floating tension, probably to stop body vibrations from affecting the pickups sound. Foam under the pickups would probably change the sound for the worse. At this stage, the best advice I can give is try it out, see what you think, you can always change it later.

... or what Dingo said.

[Muzza]

Is it still necessary to install shielding if you're using humbuckers?

[Gavin1393]

Short answer is that humbuckers 'buck' the hum....but can still benefit from shielding to get rid of any possible RF.....

[fender3x]

Is it still necessary to install shielding if you're using humbuckers?

Sort answer is yes. Humbuckers buck hum... basically the hum is the AC cycles from wall current. 60 cycles in the US. Not sure about Australia. Sheilding helps with that too, but also with radio and other "RF" that guitars pick up by being antennas.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[Tony B]

Thank you all for your responses.

Gotta say my Pitbull experience from day one has been top notch. It is so good to see the value add in Aus rather than the other way round.

This is what CLICKS and MORTAR is all about. If you can't beat the Chinese, use them to your advantage. Great work everyone. The way you guys have tailored this into your own product is fantastic.

A Pitbull devotee and I haven't even finished my first project ...

[Tony B]

Oh and damn the blocking of the interplanetary stuff DB... that's the stuff the Blues is made of...

[fender3x]

Oh and damn the blocking of the interplanetary stuff DB... that's the stuff the Blues is made of...

I thought he was talking about something else...so I can take off my aluminum foil hat?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[dingobass]

Oh and damn the blocking of the interplanetary stuff DB... that's the stuff the Blues is made of...

I always thought it was the flux capacitors......😆