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Post subject: Pickup buzz
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:41 am
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What's up everyone! I'm new here and I'm sure this is a repeat question so please forgive me............I have an 05 Strat - Mexican made. It's a beautiful guitar and plays as well as some of the high end American Strats I've played, but it has a TERRIBLE buzz when I'm playing w/distortion with only the bridge pickup. Any other combination of the pickups is fine. Is there any way to remedy this other than replacing the pickups with better ones? Any info would be greatly appreciated! Rock on Fenderholics!


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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:44 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:25 pm
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You may have a shielding problem. WWW.STEWMAC.COM for materials.
Single-coil pickups are noisy by nature. They’re sensitive to electromagnetic interference radiated by lights, TVs and appliances. The magnetic coil is an antenna, and it picks up 60 cycle hum. It gets worse on stage, with your guitar picking up neon bar signs, fluorescent lights and the beer cooler kicking on and off throughout your set. At high volumes it gets worse, compounded by the high gain settings on your amp.

The answer is shielding. Here’s how to block those signals out with copper foil and shielding paint.

They offer shielding paint, a shielding kit, and rolls of copper tape in three widths. The kit contains a variety of copper tape plus shielded and insulated wire. I used the kit, supplemented by the 2” roll of tape which can be cut down to any size needed. You don’t need many tools: I use a good pair of scissors, an X-Acto knife, and a multimeter to test for continuity.

Start by cleaning the control cavity. Get rid of any sawdust, buffing compound or other debris. Use the 5” x 7” copper sheet from the shielding kit, trimming it to fit the bottom of the cavity. Cut the foil slightly oversize so it laps up onto the side walls.

Conductive Shielding Paint

Trim your tape so it overlaps the pieces already installed in the bottom of the cavities to ensure continuity. Make sure you also let the foil overlap the top slightly so it makes good contact with the pickguard (as well as the bridge and control cover in the case of this custom Tele) once it’s shielded.Then use your X-Acto handle to smooth out the foil.

After shielding all of the cavities, you’ll have something that looks like this. Notice that all the shielding extends out of the cavity a little, creating a lip on the top. This lip makes contact with the shielded pickguard and control cavity cover when they’re screwed in place.

Self-adhesive Shielding Kit



Now for the pickguard
Make sure the back of the guard is clear of anything that could keep the adhesive copper from sticking. Use the 2” roll to shield the pickguard, making sure the pieces overlap for electrical contact. With your X-Acto knife, work slowly and carefully to trim away any excess and cut out the pickup holes.

Shielding the entire pickguard this way reduces the annoying static some players get when they touch their pickguards.

TIP! Use an old credit card as a squeegee to smooth out the foil.


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