P-Bass shielding question

[Walker]

I spent some time this weekend shielding my P bass with copper tape.

Possibly a daft question, so forgive me... as my pickguard is aluminium, do I still need to put copper tape on the underside or will the aluminium do the job?

Cheers

[rmorris]

First thing is to makke sure the aluminium of the pickguard is in good contact with the copper tape - ideally all the way around so it forms closest you can get to complete enclosure.

Second - Copper is a technically better screening material than aluminium but aluminium will do a good job too.

[Walker]

Thanks for that!

[Geek99]

Do you actually need to shield a p bass ?

[dannybuoy]

I'm not sure if it needs to be shielded (or since it has a humbucker, just needs to be grounded properly) but I have certainly played some that are noise free and some that are very buzzy. I still need to get my head around why my Yamaha BB is totally silent (on the P pup at least, the J pup adds a tiny bit of hum) yet my Fender P can buzz a bit - reduced by touching the strings, but then coming back again if my hand hovers over the pickup.

Edited December 4, 2017 by dannybuoy

[Geek99]

Sounds like poor earthing rather than EM interference 

[Walker]

Was playing through a Kemper next to my computer and it was unusable. Shielded it and moved it away from the computer (about 4 feet!) and it's quiet as a mouse.

So not sure if shielding or moving did the job!

 

[rmorris]

On 12/4/2017 at 16:14, Geek99 said:

Do you actually need to shield a p bass ?

Shielding - and grounding the shield well - will improve rejection of radiated noise.

Whether you can hear any difference in a given environment is a different matter.