Install copper shield on pickguard

[Octoguitarian70]

Need to show step by step process

[rexanater]

I'm glad I watched this video, because I'm working on a guitar project, and just had a telecaster pickguard custom made from TX mesquite wood. I couldn't understand the name of the website though.

[chessyang]

all in one take. well done. no after pic?

[willyredeemed]

@chessyang sorry, chess...no after pic. actually sold the guitar a while back

[chessyang]

@willyredeemed ok. post some more vids

[willyredeemed]

@chessyang will try, hopefully when i get my iphone 4 or htc evo?

[SunnyCool]

where's the ground? got a little confused when you were pointing at something within the cavity... You mean the bottom of the cavity is the "ground"?

[willyredeemed]

@SunnyCool what type of guitar are you playing? most telecasters made by fender should have a ground for the pickups. in the vid, i was pointing to a metal tab in the cavity.

[SunnyCool]

@willyredeemed yeah fairly new to grounding my guitar, see I got a Strat, I got a slight hum... Narrowed it down to the guitar after checking all cables, pedals and surrounding electrical appliances heh. thanks for this vid

[willyredeemed]

@SunnyCool single coil pickups for teles and strats naturally have what they call 60-cycle hum. this is accentuated if your guitar or amp is plugged in near computers, florescent lights, dimmers, bad electrical wiring in house, no electrical outlet ground, etc. no tele or strat will be completely quiet and you'll always hear some sort of hum from single coil pickups. the exception is if you have humbuckers...these are two pickups that are wired together in series to cancel out hum.

[SunnyCool]

@willyredeemed cool thanks for the info man, yeah I guess it's something that can be lived with so it's cool...

[tennisnewbie121]

can i just like put tin foil on a guitar cavity cover and just put a wire to the cover and one of the nobs ? or the "ground".

What do you mean by ground? just like the bottom of the cavity?

[willyredeemed]

i've read on forums of people who have used aluminum foil and have had success. i've not tried it, but i imagine that it would work so long as you ensure that it is connected to the ground.

you can apply copper (or aluminum) to the back of the pickguard, the pick up cavities, and the control cavity if you want. i notice that for me, shielding the pickguard was enough to eliminate buzzing.

the ground is typically a black wire with a metal tab, and should be found in your pickup cavity

[posiedonpowertrio]

should i use copper or metal tape

[willyredeemed]

i just used scotch tape

[arrisfilms]

Could I use candy wrapper foil?

[willyredeemed]

possibly...but i would recommend getting copper sheets from your local guitar shop or visiting monte allums website

[Zickzackyo]

Thanks for the instruction. I just plan to shield my Strat.

One question: Don't You have to ground the Pickups, too?

[willyredeemed]

my pickups were already grounded...are yours not?

[Zickzackyo]

Your right!

I just read a guide about shielding singecoils and they did wrap the copper-foil around the pickup, too, and then soldered the grounding to the copper-foil on the pickup. Propably they' ve overdone the shielding. Thanks, anyway.

[elementskater510]

yours cost 17 bucks

[rnich35180]

My guitar buzzes/hums. When I touch the strings, bridge, or knobs, the buzz goes away. If I repeatedly tap the strings, bridge, or knobs with my finger, it makes a popping sound. Does anybody know what the problem is?

[willyredeemed]

sounds like a bad ground somewhere. make sure your solder connections are good and that the ground wires make good contact. a more detailed description of what you did to you guitar will help us out more.

[ygshngi]

You need to shield your guitar

[bomix]

Hacker!  nice walk through

[ovocopter]

do i have to disconect every cable?, i got a tele to.

[willyredeemed]

no, you just solder a connection to the metal ground tab, there should be plenty of room. you do not need to disconnect any cables.

[ovocopter]

do the shielding can produce electric damages to gear or to the guitarrist?

[willyredeemed]

no, naturally the player is grounded. the shielding transfers static from the pickguard to the ground via the copper wire.