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Post subject: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 12:15 pm
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Well I found some time to do some shielding on my MIM Tele, it did reduced the humming some 30%, quick job solid result.

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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 1:39 pm
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I don't see any wires / connections between each shielded cavity, ( do you have some ? ).

You should read zero ohms between each cavity and guitar ground if not job is not finish and may not work properly.

Best is to drop a solder between each piece of copper shields for good contact over the years. Copper on copper is not enough.


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 7:29 pm
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stratele52 wrote:
I don't see any wires / connections between each shielded cavity, ( do you have some ? ).
You should read zero ohms between each cavity and guitar ground if not job is not finish and may not work properly.
Best is to drop a solder between each piece of copper shields for good contact over the years. Copper on copper is not enough.

Hi Waymore,
It appears that you grounded the bridge pickup cavity with a screw and the connector that is used to grounds the bridge.

Image
Two possible problems.
First, your bridge may not be adequately grounded.
Second you may ground out your pickup, by grounding the copper shield with the bridge ground and a screw.

I would take your guitar apart and add a dedicated wire soldered to the copper, extending into the control cavity, and soldered to a ground.
I would then place the bridge ground back on top of the rubber tube or spring at the adjustment screw, contacting the bridge at the adjustment screw, and remove the dry wall screw that you inserted in the cavity.

I agree with stratele52, that you should solder each separate piece of the copper shield where the copper overlaps, to assure a consistent ground.
I also recommend covering the floor of the pickup cavity copper shielding with electrical tape, to assure that the pickup does not ground out.

As for the neck pickup cavity, it does not appear to be grounded.

Image

I would again add a dedicated wire soldered to the copper, extending into the control cavity, soldered to a ground; I would solder each separate piece of the copper shield where the copper overlaps; and I would cover the floor of the pickup cavity copper shielding with electrical tape so the pickup does not ground out.

Your pictures do not show whether you shielded the control cavity.
If you did not shield the control cavity, you should do so and ground it accordingly.

Here are some pictures that illustrate the above recommendations:

A ground wire is soldered into all of the cavities to ground the copper shielding.
Only two pieces of copper were used in each pickup cavity, so only one drop of solder was necessary between the copper on the floor and walls of the pickup cavities.
The ground wire is soldered onto the copper in each cavity, which at times cannot be seen in the picture.

Image

Electrical tape covers the copper tape on the floors to assure that the pickups will not ground-out.

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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 12:24 am
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Thanks guys,
First, pics are taken during the process not finished,
I did solder the pieces together.
However the ground screws you see (and there's one in the neck pickup cavity too) were there, it surprised me when I opened my Tele that each pickup was grounded in its own cavity by factory, cause the shielding paint is exposed, so I put the ground back where it was since I used copper strips with conductive adhesive.
The control plate is also grounded to the body and paint in the same way as each pickup, so I didn't add wire to connect cavities since they are all grounded already and connected by shielding paint.
So since all cavities were factory grounded to shielding paint I guess it was already shielded damn well, but since I was already there why not add some copper shielding...
Morning post...


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 1:23 am
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WaymoreProta wrote:
Tele that each pickup was grounded in its own cavity by factory, cause the shielding paint is exposed,
..

If your guitar have already conductive paint why do you put copper ? The conductive paint do the job very well.


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 1:26 am
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stratele52 wrote:
WaymoreProta wrote:
Tele that each pickup was grounded in its own cavity by factory, cause the shielding paint is exposed,
..

If your guitar have already conductive paint why do you put copper ? The conductive paint do the job very well.


Lol I know, but I opened it, I had copper tape in one hand dismantled guitar in other, so why not :lol:
These Mexican Teles are build well...and yeah a lot of shielding paint nicely done...and cavities connected with ground, surprised me but I carried on just to fiddle a bit....

But to be serious it did noticeably removed some humm when cracked up so it's win-win situation


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 1:33 am
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WaymoreProta wrote:
stratele52 wrote:
WaymoreProta wrote:
Tele that each pickup was grounded in its own cavity by factory, cause the shielding paint is exposed,
..

If your guitar have already conductive paint why do you put copper ? The conductive paint do the job very well.


Lol I know, but I opened it, I had copper tape in one hand dismantled guitar in other, so why not :lol:

But to be serious I'd did noticeably removed some humm when cracked up so it's win-win situation



Why not ? Because you may use copper on another guitar with no conductive paint and ask what to do to the forum before.


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 1:40 am
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stratele52 wrote:
WaymoreProta wrote:
stratele52 wrote:
WaymoreProta wrote:
Tele that each pickup was grounded in its own cavity by factory, cause the shielding paint is exposed,
..

If your guitar have already conductive paint why do you put copper ? The conductive paint do the job very well.


Lol I know, but I opened it, I had copper tape in one hand dismantled guitar in other, so why not :lol:

But to be serious I'd did noticeably removed some humm when cracked up so it's win-win situation



Why not ? Because you may use copper on another guitar with no conductive paint and ask what to do to the forum before.


Oh my other electric is AmSpcl Stratocaster so it's shielded very well, so I had copper tape just laying around...and some humm in Tele so why not.
And what exactly should I have asked? I know the conductive paint is great, I know that cavities are already grounded? And I know how to shield a guitar... So I did it cause I wanted to...


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 2:44 am
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Why the hum. That is you have to ask to the forum.


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 2:50 am
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stratele52 wrote:
Why the hum. That is you have to ask to the forum.


Well more shielding cured it...


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 12:01 pm
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WaymoreProta wrote:
Well more shielding cured it...

The hum can't be cured if you experienced a 30% reduction as you have described.

WaymoreProta wrote:
....each pickup was grounded in its own cavity by factory, cause the shielding paint is exposed.....
.....These Mexican Teles are build well...and yeah a lot of shielding paint nicely done...and cavities connected with ground, surprised me but I carried on just to fiddle a bit....

I think it would be very unusual to find "that each pickup was grounded in its own cavity by factory" as I have never seen that in a Fender guitar.
Based on your pictures below, the bridge ground was disconnected in the first picture, and you attached it to the body with a screw.
If you unscrew a Fender "factory" shielding paint ground screw, that eliminates any grounding properties that the screw will have with the grounding paint.

However, if your guitar actually had the ground connector attached to the body with a screw when you took the guitar apart, as your photo illustrates, it is almost certain that somebody did that who did not know what they were doing.
Any Fender "factory ground" connected to shielding paint will have the ground wire and the connector covered in shielding paint, often topped by any paint color applied to the body.
The screw and connector on your guitar are not painted, because that ground wire and connector should be grounding the bridge plate, not any shielding paint.

Image
Image

I'm assuming that if you have a MIM Standard Telecaster with shielding paint, that it was made quite a while ago, as I don't believe that Fender has been shielding these guitars with paint for some time now.
In fact, I believe that Fender has even stopped shielding their MIA guitars.

In any event, the pictured ground connector is for grounding the bridge plate, not shielding paint.
You should remove the screw, and place the ground wire and connector on top of the rubber tube or adjustment spring, that is on the bottom adjustment screw of the bridge pickup, under the bridge plate; -- the bridge pickup adjustment screw that is closest to the control panel.
This is so that the ground wire connector contacts the bridge plate, under the pressure or spring load of the spring or rubber hose pickup height adjuster that is on the adjustment screw.

You should then copper shield your control cavity and run dedicated ground wires to all of the shielded cavities, which are then soldered to the copper tape, as was shown in my previous post.
That should resolve any hum that is not coming from your pickups, assuming that you are not playing next to a light dimmer switch or an electrical appliance, which is able to affect the magnetic field in front of the guitar.


Last edited by MickJagger on Sat May 28, 2016 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 12:10 pm
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MickJagger wrote:
WaymoreProta wrote:
Well more shielding cured it...

The hum can't be cured if you experienced a 30% reduction as you have described.

WaymoreProta wrote:
....each pickup was grounded in its own cavity by factory, cause the shielding paint is exposed.....
.....These Mexican Teles are build well...and yeah a lot of shielding paint nicely done...and cavities connected with ground, surprised me but I carried on just to fiddle a bit....

I think it would be very unusual to find "that each pickup was grounded in its own cavity by factory" as I have never seen that in a Fender guitar.
Based on your pictures below, the bridge ground was disconnected in the first picture, and you attached it to the body with a screw.
If you unscrew a Fender "factory" shielding paint ground screw, that eliminates any grounding properties that the screw will have with the grounding paint.

However, if your guitar actually had the ground connector attached to the body with a screw when you took the guitar apart, as your photo illustrates, it is almost certain that somebody did that who did not know what they were doing.
Any Fender "factory ground" connected to shielding paint will have the ground wire and the connector covered in shielding paint, often topped by any paint color applied to the body.
The screw and connector on your guitar are not painted, because that ground wire and connector should be grounding the bridge plate, not any shielding paint.

Image
Image

I'm assuming that if you have a MIM Standard Telecaster with shielding paint, that it was made quite a while ago, as I don't believe that Fender has been shielding these guitars with paint for some time now.
In fact, I believe that Fender has even stopped shielding their MIA guitars.

In any event, the pictured ground connector is for grounding the bridge plate, not shielding paint.
You should remove the screw, and the ground wire and connector should be placed on top of the rubber tube or spring, that is on the bottom pickup adjustment screw, under the bridge plate; -- on the bridge pickup adjustment screw that is closest to the control panel.
This is so that the ground wire connector contacts the bridge plate, under the pressure or spring load of the spring or rubber hose pickup height adjuster that is on the adjustment screw.

You should then copper shield your control cavity and run dedicated ground wires to all of the shielded cavities, which are then soldered to the copper tape, as was shown in my previous post.
That should generally resolve any hum that is not coming from your pickups, assuming that you are not playing next to a light dimmer switch or an electrical appliance, which is able to affect the magnetic field in front of the guitar.



It's 2014 MIM
And the ground is on the adjustment screw on the tube and on the body/paint, notice two wires going from the connector,.one goes where you mentioned on adjustment screw and one goes in control cavity.
I didn't not put those screws into body it was factory.


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 12:13 pm
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Quote:
In any event, the pictured ground connector is for grounding the bridge plate, not shielding paint.


Take a better look, it goes from bridge to paint shielding than to main ground in control cavity.
And there's same grounding on neck pickup cavity, the ground is bolted in the wood to make contact with shielding paint and one in thebcontrol cavity, all three are connected from the factory.


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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 12:24 pm
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WaymoreProta wrote:
It's 2014 MIM
And the ground is on the adjustment screw on the tube and on the body/paint, notice two wires going from the connector,.one goes where you mentioned on adjustment screw and one goes in control cavity.
I didn't not put those screws into body it was factory.

And you are saying that the neck pickup also has a connection to the body paint??


Last edited by MickJagger on Sat May 28, 2016 12:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Did some copper shielding
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 12:27 pm
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MickJagger wrote:
WaymoreProta wrote:
It's 2014 MIM
And the ground is on the adjustment screw on the tube and on the body/paint, notice two wires going from the connector,.one goes where you mentioned on adjustment screw and one goes in control cavity.
I didn't not put those screws into body it was factory.

And you are saying that the neck pickup also has a connection to the body paint??


No, I say the neck pickup cavity is grounded too.


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