Hi - I just bought my 2nd Strat. The first was when I was 12 - 39 years ago. I don't own that anymore, dammit, but when I decided to take up guitar again after a 35 year break a Strat was on the list.

I bought a 1980 last weekend - all original, love the tone and feel, but it is a little noisy at rest. I'm used to fairly quiet Gibsons with humbuckers.

So, what can I do to quiet this baby down? Would lining the PU cavity with copper foil help? I don't want to change the PUs - they sound great.

Any ideas?

Thanks[/img]

Shielding always helps.

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-Classic 50's Strat.
-Std. Telecaster.
-Mike Dirnt P-bass.
-Custody of SE Strat.
-Peavey Predator/Dean Evo/Epiphone DR150/Gibson Slide (much older than me).

Rellik Productions Inc.

hi archer,

the hum won't go 0 but shielding helps to reduce. alu and copper foil are ok.
for the mills also special shield laquer.

cheers

Archer, welcome back to the world of the Stratocaster! Depending on your model, your middle pickup may be reverse-wound/reverse-polarity (RWRP). If so, choosing settings 2 & 4 on your pickup selector will give you a quasi-humbucking noise cancellation. Try and see. Failing that, some copper shielding should help quite a bit.

Welcome to the forum!

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

Thanks guys. I did reference a thread on shielding and I'll line the guitar with removable tape. Thanks for the welcome.

You're also going to want to shield the cable jack cavity. If you can, I'd also put some copper webbing shilding on the wires coming from the jack, and shield the control cavities. If you're going to buy a roll of shielding tape, get two, one wont be enough for the job. You can use foil, but you'll have to solder it all together, the shielding tape has conductive adhesive, so as long as all the shielding is touching, you'll be fine.

Thanks. As it stands now there are no braided cables and no shielding anywhere. Stewart MacDonald has a kit which I ordered along with an extra roll of 2" tape. You wonder why Fender wouldn't do that - 1980 isn't exactly the dark ages.

The braided cable shield you'd have to get at an electronics repair store, they wont have it at a music supplier, the tape should be at musicians friend.

I find that if I stand in a lead-lined vault, with no electrical devices of any knid, I can eliminate 100% of hum. But then again, there is no amp in my vault either......hhmmmmmm
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, doea it still make a noise?
If a man speaks in the forest, and there are no women around to hear him, is he still wrong?
If a Strat is plugged in in the forest, and there is no one around to hear it, does it still have 60 cycle hum?
I think about these things....in the forest. lol

If it ain't hummin, It ain't a Fender

Don't be too disappointed if after all this shielding, your guitar still has more hum than you expected. This is due to the fact that the pickups themselves (which usually don't get shielded) are the chief 'antenna' on a guitar for unwanted noise (premising everything else in the entire circuit is right and proper). And here's the great paradox: If you do shield the pickups themselves, their tonality will change. And still, even after this, your guitar will have more hum than you expected. All the aforementioned merely treats symptoms and not causes as the nature of non-humbucking pickups is to hum. Nor can they withstand conducting various and assorted noise rather than suppressing it like a humbucker is designed to do (to varying extents).

I'm not trying to pop your bubble here, but in addition to all the aforementioned, there is a widespread placebo effect among those who do shield their guitars. The true results usually vary from no difference to a marginal difference. Believe it or not, a superior patch cord will do more.

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You dig?

For cheap and easily found copper tape go to a garden center and buy some slug tape. You wrap a band of it round the bottom of a plant pot and it stops slugs getting to the plant. I pay £3 a roll so its fairly cheap.

Other users are correct on its own it wont eliminate all the hum but it will get you somewhere nearer your goal. It may be worth checking your cable too. Some transfer more noise than others. I've a planet waves that seems quieter than any of my others, including another planet waves cable i own

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No no and no

If you use a cheap patch cord, you'll pick up radio stations too.
A good quality cord should be first on the list. Way before adding shielding.

I also have a 1980 strat and have been working on it recently. You will find that the underside of the pickguard is 100% shielded (assuming it's the original pickguard) so I don't think you'll be making any improvements there. Personally I have played single coil pickups all my life and I don't really notice the humming most of the time because it's always been there. I guess if you're used to humbuckers it might be more noticeable.

Unless there is something wrong with your guitar's wiring, missing ground connection, etc., just get used to the hum. You won't hear it when you're actually playing anyway.

Try the pickguard shield that comes with the '62 Reissues. You can buy them separately.

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