Marky L Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I need to shield the pick up cavity (mumble..in a guitar..mumble) and was wondering why not use aluminium cooking foil? The back of many pickguards use what I imagine is aluminium foil, so is there any reason not to use it for a cavity? I don't have any copper foil and just want to get on with my upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 [quote name='Marky L' post='1286736' date='Jun 29 2011, 05:52 PM']I need to shield the pick up cavity (mumble..in a guitar..mumble) and was wondering why not use aluminium cooking foil? The back of many pickguards use what I imagine is aluminium foil, so is there any reason not to use it for a cavity? I don't have any copper foil and just want to get on with my upgrades.[/quote] I'd go for copper tape to be honest. Tinfoil is hard to get a good electrical contact to and the overlaps won't be conductive (because of whatever glue you are using). Copper tape comes with conductive glue, is solderable and is a far better conductor than aluminium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I agree with icastle. The reasons not to use aluminium foil are mainly physical rather than electrical. Sure, aluminium can provide a electrical shielding, but only if you can make good electrical connections, which will be difficult for the reasons cited above. I guess you could give it a try if you've no copper tape to hand and are in a rush to try something, but ships and ha-porth's of tar spring to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepbass5 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I did successfully use Aluminium foil But I bought a pie tray from Makro, well had to buy a few actually, gave the rest to the wife who looked puzzled. It worked fine as it was thick enough to solder earths onto. I used ordinary cooking foil to glue to the cover. But I did re- do this a year later when I changed the preamp and purchased the proper copper tape along with my order for Pots and string ferrules. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky L Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 Thanks guys. I like the idea of a pie tray.. shove it in your pie hole!! Anyway, this is for a Les Paul Junior copy, single P90. The earth lead is from the bridge and runs into the control cavity where it's contected to one of the pots. If I do shield the cavities, will I need to take a lead off the earth wire to connect directly to the shielding material? I would keep the earth connecting to a pot too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Yeah you'd need to connect all the foil together and connect it to a ground. +1 for copper foil, and even though is has conductive glue, solder it anyway incase the glue dries out. Take your time and make a neat job of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky L Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby K Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Is it absolutely necessary to solder a wire direct from the copper to the back of a pot? I was wondering whether it would suffice that the copper hanging over the top of the cavities is in direct contact with the copper on the back of the pickguard and this copper on the back of the pickguard is in contact with the earth of the jack socket (the sleeve) anyway. I've just done this very process (exactly as above) on my Squier CV P and there seem to be no issues... Tried the process with my other P bass last year and was assisted by a few members on here (Ou7shined and a few others, ta chaps!) - but i messed it up. I was convinced the copper had severely altered my sound and i'd lost the very top end (through the capacitance added by the copper). I then realised that it was my own sh*te soldering that was the prob With the Squier P, I've just installed one of john's (Kiogon) fine harnesses with screw terminals, so no bodged soldering occured this time No loss of top end and seems to be all well. Just need to know whether I [i]absolutely should've[/i] soldered a wire from the copper to a pot.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 [quote name='Bobby K' post='1288332' date='Jun 30 2011, 10:43 PM']Is it absolutely necessary to solder a wire direct from the copper to the back of a pot? I was wondering whether it would suffice that the copper hanging over the top of the cavities is in direct contact with the copper on the back of the pickguard and this copper on the back of the pickguard is in contact with the earth of the jack socket (the sleeve) anyway. I've just done this very process (exactly as above) on my Squier CV P and there seem to be no issues... Tried the process with my other P bass last year and was assisted by a few members on here (Ou7shined and a few others, ta chaps!) - but i messed it up. I was convinced the copper had severely altered my sound and i'd lost the very top end (through the capacitance added by the copper). I then realised that it was my own sh*te soldering that was the prob With the Squier P, I've just installed one of john's (Kiogon) fine harnesses with screw terminals, so no bodged soldering occured this time No loss of top end and seems to be all well. Just need to know whether I [i]absolutely should've[/i] soldered a wire from the copper to a pot.... [/quote] Using a 'contact connection' is ok but it has a potential drawback. As the copper tarnishes it's conductivity is going to be impaired - tarnishing could be from moisture (condensation\sweat) or just oxidisation from contact with the air. Having a soldered connection provides a connection that will be both mechanically and electrically sound regardless of what happens around it (within reason of course!). I suppose the best analogy would be car airbags - I've never had one go off, but I wouldn't want to be driving a car without one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby K Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) Ahh, I gotcha. Well explained. Rather than solder to back of pot, could I solder a wire from the copper to the sleeve of the jack socket? I can solder to the jack terminals confidently but I'm scared of damaging pots with my crap soldering and losing top end again Edited June 30, 2011 by Bobby K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 [quote name='Bobby K' post='1288371' date='Jun 30 2011, 11:20 PM']Ahh, I gotcha. Well explained. Rather than solder to back of pot, could I solder a wire from the copper to the sleeve of the jack socket? I can solder to the jack terminals confidently but I'm scared of damaging pots with my crap soldering and losing top end again [/quote] Yep that'll do exactly the same job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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