Except it never can be, unless you find a way of shielding the pickups too. I fail to see how a minute hole can make that much of a difference when you have 3, 5/8x2" holes in there anyway.

_________________
No no and no

i put a full sized pickguard copper shield on my cp 60s that i got from monteallums.
and to my ears it did affect the tone a bit, but it did remove most of the static which was my reason for doing it. but in mine it did quiet the hum to a noticable degree.
nonetheless, im contemplating removing the shield.
next string change i guess.

_________________
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

Could some one explain to me how shielding a guitar changes the tone?

Also the comment that if the pickguard and the cavity are shielded it does not work? (if I understand that statement right?) Because most 1990 Strats had shielded pickguards and painted cavities with a ground screw running to the volume pot.

I have owned a lot of guitars and some I played for a long time, only to take them apart to find a lot of that self adhesive copper foil pasted all over inside the cavity. The guitar sounded great and I didn't even know the stuff was there.

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

I followed a friend's way of shielding and did NOT notice any change in tone :

http://myfolder.se/?m=7

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Mr X, copper tape, can change the magnetic field of the pickups. I haven't looked to see how it typically affects the field. I expect it would widen it.
Shielding in itself increases capacitance within the circuit thereby causing high end loss to a certain degree.

As mentioned in a previous post, the Faraday cage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage worth looking at). Well shielding operates on exactly that principle. Which makes it ineffective for a guitar. A Faraday cage needs to completely enclose without any gaps, whatever it shields. How can that happen when you have 3 slots cut out for the pickups to sit in? One break is enough to render the system useless, yet lots believe it is effective with 3 gaping holes in the front of it.
Further throw into the mix that most interference comes from the front of the guitar anyway, lights and display screens and such things, straight into the pickups. Yet the pickups aren't shielded, they are grounded to the shielding but theres still big gaps of plastic that interference will and does get in through.

_________________
No no and no

Thanks Niki, that is interesting. I remember hearing the name Michael Faraday somewhere, maybe in some sci-fi or the series called Lost. This area dealing with magnetics is a bit of a mystery to me. Seems like the 1990's Strats have a Faraday Cage due to the whole cavity being shielded all the way around - pick guard on top and cavity all around.

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

I was planning on shielding one of my strats. After reading this thread, I'm gonna leave it alone. What nikininja said all makes pretty good sense and I definately don't wanna mess with the tone in a negative way. I best leave well enough alone.

_________________
"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

Isn't that what the comic George Carlin said about words and their complete different meanings when switched in the course of a sentence

_________________
"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Love these last posts, Point and Counterpoint.
Thanks Xhefri and to you also Niki,
You made me think about my current project I have completed the logo on the headstock and the next phase was to figure out my electronics and to shield or not to shield, while awaiting the polycrylic to dry on the neck.

_________________
"C'est parti mon Kiki "

just a thought but your cavity might already be coated with shielding paint. If you have a ground wire, fastened directly to the surface of the cavity than it has shielding already. Myself,.. I will spend the 32 bucks on the paint, the other seems like an incredible pain in the $@!. If you are getting noise using humbuckers, it could very well be a grounding issue, rather than a shielding issue....

SSS configuration, the body was completely stripped and repainted, it is finally cured enough to be handled and there was no shielding paint in the cavities.
The configuration of pups is going to be NM, NB, MB, N, B. Mstr Vol and 2 TBX Tone control which will include the bridge pup.

_________________
"C'est parti mon Kiki "

i was posting to the original question of the thread

I wouldn't say don't do it, Shane. I'd just go at it with a open mind. You may love it, you may hate it. Make your own mind up. You may like me, find it to be a band aid rather than a cure.
Personaly I didn't know there was a problem till somebody told me there was a problem. When the solution doesn't fully cure the problem, then I ask cynical questions.

You may love any tonal change it could bring about. We assume because it changes something it makes it worse and that is not always the case, it could make it better. You may prefer it. It may be so slight that a tiny eq adjustment sorts it out. Find out for yourself, thats the only way you'll know.

I used Slug Tape to do my old Mexican body.
http://www.greengardener.co.uk/product.asp?id_pc=3&cat=27&id_product=1
Whilst it's not as easy as slapping some paint in there. You can get it out should you wish to. If need be, you can even solder across the stuff. Though I didn't find a need to do that.

As far as I know, All Fender guitars except AVRI's and Mexican Standards do have a coat of shielding paint in the cavity. My deluxe does, despite having humbuckers. (thats all Vintage/hot noiseless, N3's or SCN's are).

_________________
No no and no

I'm on the no shielding side of this conversation. I've always found hum to be a non-issue. The only time it's very noticeable is if you're not playing, and then you can easily just turn the volume to zero, and...no hum. Just my 2 cents.

_________________
Check out my new FB music page!

https://www.facebook.com/TheDevilandMe.Music

There IS another option .... I've never tried it myself but I've read others say it delivers as promised. A product made by John Suhr Called BPSSC. Here's the link:


http://www.suhrguitars.com/pickups.aspx#bpssc

_________________

Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.