Shielding Strat scratchplate

lincolnblue

I'm going to be changing pickups, pots and switch in my "strat" copy. 

Is it worth getting any self-adhesive copper insulation to cover the inside of the scratchplate or does it not really matter?

Headphones

Most scratchplates (pickguards in F speak) have a foil screen fitted; depends on what you have, but it's probably there already.

Screening the cavities with copper or conductive paint can make a difference, though the real source of pick up is those big coils of copper...

lincolnblue

Headphones said:

Most scratchplates (pickguards in F speak) have a foil screen fitted; depends on what you have, but it's probably there already.

Screening the cavities with copper or conductive paint can make a difference, though the real source of pick up is those big coils of copper...

My strat has foil where the pots and switch is. Just trying to decide if it's worth spending £7ish on copper adhesive like this https://www.axesrus.co.uk/High-Grade-Copper-insulation-Foil-p/ws1-copper.htm ?Or will it be more hassle than it's worth

ICBM

Most have an aluminium foil at least round the controls, so you don't need to duplicate that. If it has a larger one that covers the pickup area as well then you don't need any extra on the pickguard, but if it doesn't then it's worth adding some at least over the wiring channel and around each pickup hole.

To do better than that you will need to shield the sides and walls of the cavities.

lincolnblue

ICBM said:

Most have an aluminium foil at least round the controls, so you don't need to duplicate that. If it has a larger one that covers the pickup area as well then you don't need any extra on the pickguard, but if it doesn't then it's worth adding some at least over the wiring channel and around each pickup hole.

To do better than that you will need to shield the sides and walls of the cavities.

It literally just has some foil by the pots and switches. 

Is the best thing then to get the copper adhesive and line the actual cavities rather than the scratchplate?

ICBM

lincolnblue said:

Is the best thing then to get the copper adhesive and line the actual cavities rather than the scratchplate?

You need both really.

Also, and possibly the most important of the lot given that the pickup wires are actually shielded cable already, is to replace the white and black wires that go to the jack with a piece of shielded cable. This is often the single worst contributor to noise in a Strat.

If you're replacing the pickups with better ones which typically *don't* come with shielded cable, then tape on the pickguard and in the cavities becomes more important.

lincolnblue

ICBM said:

lincolnblue said:

Is the best thing then to get the copper adhesive and line the actual cavities rather than the scratchplate?

You need both really.

Also, and possibly the most important of the lot given that the pickup wires are actually shielded cable already, is to replace the white and black wires that go to the jack with a piece of shielded cable. This is often the single worst contributor to noise in a Strat.

If you're replacing the pickups with better ones which typically *don't* come with shielded cable, then tape on the pickguard and in the cavities becomes more important.

I was going to get some new insulated cable to wire everything up https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Vintage-Wire-60-Cloth-covered-Cable-p/vintagewire-cr-bk.htm?1=1&CartID=15

I think I read something about ground issues is you use copper insulation on both scratchplate and cavities - is that an issue?

ICBM

lincolnblue said:

I was going to get some new insulated cable to wire everything up https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Vintage-Wire-60-Cloth-covered-Cable-p/vintagewire-cr-bk.htm?1=1&CartID=15

You need shielded cable between the volume pot and the jack - if necessary and you don't have another source, you could re-use some from one of the old pickups, although it's not great quality. You *can* use that plain insulated cable, but it will always be noisier even if you make a tightly twisted pair - as you should, including with the wire to the pickups.

lincolnblue said:

I think I read something about ground issues is you use copper insulation on both scratchplate and cavities - is that an issue?

No, that's a myth .

Wolfetone

I copper shielded mine a month or so ago and it's totally silent and I mean, absolutely silent. B&Q slug repellant tape is your friend here.

lincolnblue

Wolfetone said:

I copper shielded mine a month or so ago and it's totally silent and I mean, absolutely silent. B&Q slug repellant tape is your friend here.

Looks good. Did you have to solder a link between the main cavity and the jack cavity? I read on one article that it was needed.

lincolnblue

ICBM said:

lincolnblue said:

I was going to get some new insulated cable to wire everything up https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Vintage-Wire-60-Cloth-covered-Cable-p/vintagewire-cr-bk.htm?1=1&CartID=15

You need shielded cable between the volume pot and the jack - if necessary and you don't have another source, you could re-use some from one of the old pickups, although it's not great quality. You *can* use that plain insulated cable, but it will always be noisier even if you make a tightly twisted pair - as you should, including with the wire to the pickups.

lincolnblue said:

I think I read something about ground issues is you use copper insulation on both scratchplate and cavities - is that an issue?

No, that's a myth .

Thank you for your help - I've now placed an order for all the parts - switch, pots, wire, copper tape and a 47uf orange drop capacitor from Axesrus so looking forward to getting my old cheap, chinese made strat sounding much better.

Wolfetone

lincolnblue said:

Wolfetone said:

I copper shielded mine a month or so ago and it's totally silent and I mean, absolutely silent. B&Q slug repellant tape is your friend here.

Looks good. Did you have to solder a link between the main cavity and the jack cavity? I read on one article that it was needed.

I don't think I did as the wire to the jack socket was braided.

Wolfetone

Duff link - see video further down....sorry!

ICBM

Wolfetone said:

I don't think I did as the wire to the jack socket was braided.

You don't need to as long as the jack cavity shielding comes up over the body so the teardrop plate touches it, as it does here.

You'd also get a good contact to the pickguard shielding both next to the bottom tone control and at the bass end of the middle pickup, since there are pickguard screws very close by. You can guarantee it if you deliberately extend the foil over the body so one of the screws has to go through it.

I do prefer to spot-solder across the joints though - over time when a bit of surface corrosion happens, you can end up with bad contacts between the individual pieces of tape.

Wolfetone

lincolnblue

ICBM said:

Wolfetone said:

I don't think I did as the wire to the jack socket was braided.

You don't need to as long as the jack cavity shielding comes up over the body so the teardrop plate touches it, as it does here.

You'd also get a good contact to the pickguard shielding both next to the bottom tone control and at the bass end of the middle pickup, since there are pickguard screws very close by. You can guarantee it if you deliberately extend the foil over the body so one of the screws has to go through it.

I do prefer to spot-solder across the joints though - over time when a bit of surface corrosion happens, you can end up with bad contacts between the individual pieces of tape.

Forgive the no doubt obvious but how do you do the spot solder? How many joints do you need to do it on? Is it literally just a small blob of solder at each joint?

ICBM

lincolnblue said:

Forgive the no doubt obvious but how do you do the spot solder? How many joints do you need to do it on? Is it literally just a small blob of solder at each joint?

Yes, just a single spot across the join between any two pieces.

Wolfetone

It's probably best to solder but my multimeter told me that I didn't need to so I didn't.

ICBM

Wolfetone said:

It's probably best to solder but my multimeter told me that I didn't need to so I didn't.

You won't initially - the problem is that over time the surfaces oxidise and they stop making a good contact. Even the specific shielding tape which has conductive adhesive starts to fail eventually.

You can easily spot-solder it if you start getting noise back though.

lincolnblue

ICBM said:

Wolfetone said:

It's probably best to solder but my multimeter told me that I didn't need to so I didn't.

You won't initially - the problem is that over time the surfaces oxidise and they stop making a good contact. Even the specific shielding tape which has conductive adhesive starts to fail eventually.

You can easily spot-solder it if you start getting noise back though.

I guess those is why so many people and companies don't do this as it's labour intensive. Shows its not "necessary," but worth doing.

lincolnblue

@ICBM in terms of grounding do I literally just need to solder a piece of wire between the main cavity and the jack cavity? Anything else needed?