Sheilding

What is it?
How is it done?
Is it easy? as in DIY or...???

Why would I want to shield my Guitar?
Is it mainly for Strat (Single coil) like guitars or Humbucker too?

Please, this inquiring mind wants to know :):):):):):)

This should answer all your questions. Shielding

This page covers more than just shielding but does cover it. There may be other articles of interest for Strats and Teles. It is not too difficult once you find all the stuff. The reason you would want to do it is if you don't like the hum you get with single coils. Really does not do too much for humbuckers since they are already pretty quiet.

Thanks Nils
So in essence the intent in Shielding is to negate or cancel any extraneous noise that singles are famous for?

Thanks Nils
So in essence the intent in Shielding is to negate or cancel any extraneous noise that singles are famous for?
Yup, the single coils tend to pick up a lot of frequencies from the air. The combination of the shielding and some of the other techniques on GuitarNuts are meant to reduce that.

By the way, it really does help. People swear by it.

So in essence the intent in Shielding is to negate or cancel any extraneous noise that singles are famous for?
Not noise from the pickups themselves, but noise that might get in through the wiring in the control cavities. It should help a bit with pickup noise though, since at least one side of them will be shielded.

There are two types of interference: magnetic field and electric field. Humbuckers are designed to reject magnetic field interference -- this is the interference to which single coils are inherently more susceptible. All pickups and electronics are vulnerable to electric field interference -- 'buckers don't have any special advantage here. While traditional* shielding can be very effective in reducing electric field interference, it is only slightly effective against magnetic interference. So shielding useful for all types of pups and electronics, and guitars with humbuckers plus proper shielding will be the 'quietest.'

*Mu-metal shielding works against magnetic interference, but are expensive and difficult to apply, so no one uses this.

Thanks you guys.

I guess my next question is:

Are there any tall-tell signs and symptoms that would indicate the need to get ones guitar shielded? If so what are they?

(if they're on the GuitarNut site, sorry Nils I haven't read it in detail yet but I will)

Would getting better/upgraded pickups be another solution?

The answer to the question is an an question. Do you have a hum and if so is it bothering you and/or your sound. Most people live with the little bit of noise they get and accept it as normal. It is not necessarily just the pickups themselves causing the problem so just upgrading the pickups may not solve it. All of the electronics kind of acts like an antenna.

I was talking with my guitar tech last night and he said that shielding did not work as well as I might hope on my single coil SDs. He recommended I replace them with Fender noiseless pickups.

Anyone have experience with these and what tehy do to reduce interference through the sigle coil positions?

The best test, for electrical interference, is to take your guitar (plugged into your amp, which must be switched on) and stand near to a fluorescent light fitting. If you get a lot of interference, that goes away, when you switch to light off, you need better shielding.
I'd think that Fender noiseless pickups would help, but they are expensive and may not do all the salesman claims. As I understand it (I may be wrong here), they are a form of humbucker, with the two sets of pole pieces mounted vertically rather than horizontally. I can't see how they would eradicate electrical interference in a badly shielded guitar.
You need shielding, with or without fancy pickups IMHO.

I did this process on my Mexican Standard Strat, and it has reduced the hum somewhat. I bought a kit and shielded the inside cavities, beneath the pickups and controls, but I didnt do anything with the pickups and their covers themselves. The interference has not completely gone though, there is still an audible hum, especially near computer monitors. Either, I didnt shield the controls properly (ground loops and so on), or I need to shield the pickup covers themselves as well. Shielding the covers is delicate work due to the thin pickup wire - I may risk trying it sometime though! I have also heard that shielding the pickup covers also makes the tone somewhat different to what it was without the shielding, but it does a very good job of removing hum. As with most things, it's a trade-off.

Doug

My guitar hums terribly when near the TV when switched to the single coils mid and neck PUs. THe humbucker at teh bridge is silent. I agree based on the read that the Fender noiseless are a humbucker which cancels the noise but in a single coil standard. They say they worked very hard to replicate the single coil sound in a quite HB.

They cost $150 for the set which is ok with me to get a cool blues noiseless sound.

My guitar hums terribly when near the TV when switched to the single coils mid and neck PUs. THe humbucker at teh bridge is silent. I agree based on the read that the Fender noiseless are a humbucker which cancels the noise but in a single coil standard. They say they worked very hard to replicate the single coil sound in a quite HB.

They cost $150 for the set which is ok with me to get a cool blues noiseless sound.

I shielded my '51 so that I could sit near the computer and record myself. I had the same problem with hum near the monitor, but shielding helped.

If you do want a humbucker in a single-coil size, check out the GFS Lil Killer and Lil Puncher pups: http://store.guitarfetish.com/singlecoil.html
Excellent product for the price!

Thanks Mitch,

I'm looking to get a SRV texas strat sort of sound out of them do these produce that warm sound?

Check out the mp3 sample for the neck pickup: http://store.guitarfetish.com/casetcvililp.html

Sounds sort of Texas-ish to me, but I would email them (Jay is very responsive to questions) and tell them what you are trying to achieve tonally, and they'll tell you which pups come closest to getting that tone.