Shielding tape advice needed

[meterman]

Hi everyone, hope you’re all well and warm and doing alright 👍 Just wanted to ask the BC collective hive mind about shielding tape.

 

I need to add some shielding to my Jazz bass and my Mustang bass, but it’s not something I’ve ever done before. I admit I am very very lo-fi when it comes to maintenance and setups and anything technical so I apologise in advance if this sounds daft but is it really just a case of ‘buy some copper tape / stick it down in the cavities and on the back of the pickguards / screw the pickguards back on / job done’?

 

And is all shielding tape much of a muchness or is there a best brand to go for? I appreciate any advice anyone’s got on this cause I’ve no idea🙏

 

Many thanks - Lee 

[SamIAm]

The process is pretty much that simple, just need to ensure it is connected to the guitars ground. I’ve used this tape from Amazon.

Copper Foil Tape for Guitar and EMI Shielding, Slug Repellent, Crafts, Electrical Repairs, Grounding - Conductive Adhesive - 2.6 Mil Total Thickness (51mm x 5.5M) https://amzn.eu/d/bmQb3uC

 

It has done the job nicely, nice durable thickness, good adhesive (which is conductive) and cuts well, has great reviews from others and will also keep slugs away from your pups.

 

S’manth x
 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Smanth

[DTB]

Does the noise you are trying to eliminate stop when you are touching the metal parts on the bass?

[KingBollock]

It helps if you’ve got a multimeter to make sure that it is all connected and conducting.
 

Sometimes the stuff with conductive adhesive doesn’t always conduct through the adhesive. What I like to do, when it’s all done, is add a strip of tape across the lot with the very edges of the tape folded underneath. Or you can stick down a length of stripped copper wire. If this makes any sense? I’m not sure I’m describing it very well.

[meterman]

2 hours ago, DTB said:

Does the noise you are trying to eliminate stop when you are touching the metal parts on the bass?

Yes, exactly this. Mostly when I’m recording it can be an issue.

[meterman]

2 hours ago, KingBollock said:

It helps if you’ve got a multimeter to make sure that it is all connected and conducting.
 

Sometimes the stuff with conductive adhesive doesn’t always conduct through the adhesive. What I like to do, when it’s all done, is add a strip of tape across the lot with the very edges of the tape folded underneath. Or you can stick down a length of stripped copper wire. If this makes any sense? I’m not sure I’m describing it very well.

I don’t have a multimeter or know anyone near me who has one.

 

The strip of tape / copper wire thing makes zero sense to me, but then admittedly I do have learning difficulties! 
 

Never had to do this before and I haven’t managed to find a YT tutorial that I can actually make sense of. I only want to do this once, properly, and not balls it up like I usually do with anything maintenance related 😂

[meterman]

2 hours ago, Smanth said:

The process is pretty much that simple, just need to ensure it is connected to the guitars ground. I’ve used this tape from Amazon.

Copper Foil Tape for Guitar and EMI Shielding, Slug Repellent, Crafts, Electrical Repairs, Grounding - Conductive Adhesive - 2.6 Mil Total Thickness (51mm x 5.5M) https://amzn.eu/d/bmQb3uC

 

It has done the job nicely, nice durable thickness, good adhesive (which is conductive) and cuts well, has great reviews from others and will also keep slugs away from your pups.

 

S’manth x
 

Thank you 🙏 I’ve no idea where the ground is on either of my basses but hopefully they’re not fiendishly tucked away somewhere unobtainable.

 

 

[ezbass]

Make sure that the shielding is earthed (a strip in contact with the metal control plates should do the trick) otherwise it won’t work as well as it should/at all.

[rmorris]

Just now, meterman said:

I don’t have a multimeter or know anyone near me who has one.

 

The strip of tape / copper wire thing makes zero sense to me, but then admittedly I do have learning difficulties! 
 

Never had to do this before and I haven’t managed to find a YT tutorial that I can actually make sense of. I only want to do this once, properly, and not balls it up like I usually do with anything maintenance related 😂

 

Okay. So you can buy a multimeter with continuity test for something aroun £10. Often from Lidl etc or CPC online. Best also check actual resistance with it as continuity may be indicated at anything less than, say 100 Ohms, although in reality that would be fine.

[Dad3353]

3 hours ago, meterman said:

Hi everyone, hope you’re all well and warm and doing alright 👍 Just wanted to ask the BC collective hive mind about shielding tape....

 

Bring it to us (we're just up the road from you...) and Our Luthier Eldest will do it for you, and show you how it's done.

 

No..? OK, do as the Good Lady S'manth said, using the stuff she recommended (we use the same...). The glue that sticks it together is conductive, enough for shielding purposes. If you can firstly remove the pots, it makes things easier and tidier, and when they're put back in, they'll make the metal shielding contact required to the ground point. The easy way to do it is to firstly empty the cavity, cut the tape to the shape of the sides, top and bottom, making slits for the p/wires and stuff. Once it's all glued down, pop the electrics back in. If in doubt, give us a ring and we'll do it together, here, with a pot of tea and some biscuits. 

 

... or look here (turn the sound down, though...)...

 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Dad3353

[SamIAm]

16 minutes ago, meterman said:

Thank you 🙏 I’ve no idea where the ground is on either of my basses but hopefully they’re not fiendishly tucked away somewhere unobtainable.

 

 

You will remove the potentiometers when shielding the cavity, make sure the shielding tape runs all the way up to the edge of the holes (and even into the hole) … when you put the pots back in, their metal casing will be in contact with the shielding and should provide a ground connection.

Make sure alll the tape strips you apply have an overlap with one next to it. Make sure the tape in the cavities wraps a little onto the front of the body, when you put the cover back on this will make connect the cavity shielding with the cover shielding.

Not sure if you’ve seen this page which has some good instructions. https://sixstringsupplies.co.uk/pages/copper-shielding-how-to-shield-a-guitar

A cheap multimeter would be a good investment, several on Amazon for about £10.

S’manth x

Edited February 4, 2023 by Smanth

[rmorris]

2 hours ago, KingBollock said:

It helps if you’ve got a multimeter to make sure that it is all connected and conducting.
 

Sometimes the stuff with conductive adhesive doesn’t always conduct through the adhesive. What I like to do, when it’s all done, is add a strip of tape across the lot with the very edges of the tape folded underneath. Or you can stick down a length of stripped copper wire. If this makes any sense? I’m not sure I’m describing it very well.

 

Yes. The thing with the conductive adhesive is that you should "squeegee" it down ie apply a lot of pressure. 

And be aware that 'slug tape" is unlikely to have conductive adhesive as it doesn't need it.

 

[meterman]

5 minutes ago, rmorris said:

 

Okay. So you can buy a multimeter with continuity test for something aroun £10. Often from Lidl etc or CPC online. Best also check actual resistance with it as continuity may be indicated at anything less than, say 100 Ohms, although in reality that would be fine.

Thank you for the info. I have no idea about continuity or resistance or what I’d be doing with a multimeter, but I appreciate the advice, thank you 🙏 

[SamIAm]

3 minutes ago, rmorris said:

 

Yes. The thing with the conductive adhesive is that you should "squeegee" it down ie apply a lot of pressure. 

And be aware that 'slug tape" is unlikely to have conductive adhesive as it doesn't need it.

 

Nods, I firmly rub over the tape with the end of a cheap bic pen (or similar), the APT tape I linked to above does have conductive adhesive and gave great connectivity when I used it, I overlapped tape strips by about 10mm.

S’manth x

[Dad3353]

8 minutes ago, rmorris said:

Yes. The thing with the conductive adhesive is that you should "squeegee" it down ie apply a lot of pressure. 

And be aware that 'slug tape" is unlikely to have conductive adhesive as it doesn't need it.

 

 

The tape recommended above is specifically for emf (electrical...) shielding, with conductive adhesive. As a bonus, it will repel slugs, if the bass has such a problem, as slugs don't like copper. No, it's not the same tape as the copper tape sold in garden centres. 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Dad3353

[DTB]

28 minutes ago, meterman said:

Yes, exactly this. Mostly when I’m recording it can be an issue.

There’s a very simple fix to this. You don’t need to bother with shielding anything. Simply earth yourself to the bass. I had a similar problem with a  PRS guitar ( not a cheap instrument) which was fully shielded already. I used an adhesive pad, the sort used on tens machine  for pain relief which I stuck on my arm and used a crocodile clip to run the wire from the pad to the trem springs in the rear cavity. So I was doing no more than “touching the guitar” all the time. Noise gone. 
Problem solved. 
 

[meterman]

21 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Bring it to us (we're just up the road from you...) and Our Luthier Eldest will do it for you, and show you how it's done.

 

No..? If in doubt, give us a ring and we'll do it together, here, with a pot of tea and some biscuits. 

 

Cheers  @Dad3353 yeah, it’ll only take me about 15 hours to get over to your place 😂 I’ll have a look at the video and see how I get on 👍

Edited February 4, 2023 by meterman
fat finger typos

[Dad3353]

3 minutes ago, meterman said:

 it’ll only take me about 15 hours to get over to your place 😂 

 

Yes, of course, but it's worth it for the Earl Grey alone, with biscuits the cherry on the cake (just an expression of course; I don't have cake on hand...). Still, given 15 hours notice, I could bake one. Hmm, where's my egg whisk and flour..? 

[meterman]

10 minutes ago, DTB said:

There’s a very simple fix to this. You don’t need to bother with shielding anything. Simply earth yourself to the bass. I had a similar problem with a  PRS guitar ( not a cheap instrument) which was fully shielded already. I used an adhesive pad, the sort used on tens machine  for pain relief which I stuck on my arm and used a crocodile clip to run the wire from the pad to the trem springs in the rear cavity. So I was doing no more than “touching the guitar” all the time. Noise gone. 
Problem solved. 
 

I did a session for a producer about 10 years ago who wanted me to use one of his basses (a Japanese Jazz copy that buzzed like crazy) and he had a long wire coming from the bass with a teaspoon attached to the end of it tucked into my sock. I found this pretty weird, but it worked as the playing ended up on a release. 
 

Would prefer a non-teaspoon solution if possible

[Dad3353]

8 minutes ago, meterman said:

...a long wire coming from the bass with a teaspoon attached to the end of it tucked into my sock ...

 

It doesn't help against slugs, though. 

[SamIAm]

2 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

It doesn't help against slugs, though. 

I cannot imagine someone with a spoon down their sock being overrun by slugs.

[Dad3353]

7 minutes ago, Smanth said:

I cannot imagine someone with a spoon down their sock being overrun by slugs.

 

Nor I a Jazz bass, but one can never be too careful.

 

Well, I say 'Never', but that's one heck of a long time, so, maybe...) 

[PaulThePlug]

I don't mind slugs up to say, my knees... So the spoon goes down my pants

Edited February 4, 2023 by PaulThePlug

[Dad3353]

47 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

I don't mind slugs up to say, my knees... So the spoon goes down my pants

 

You're not a copper, then..? 

[nikon F]

7 hours ago, rmorris said:

 

Yes. The thing with the conductive adhesive is that you should "squeegee" it down ie apply a lot of pressure. 

And be aware that 'slug tape" is unlikely to have conductive adhesive as it doesn't need it.

 

the slug tape i used from homebase did,,