Trying to "hum-proof" my latest build and read somewhere that the jack output leads should be shielded. Can't get shielded cable so am considering wrapping the wires with copper foil tape. I imagine the tape around the ground wire would itself have to be grounded. Does this sound reasonable? Would it be effective? Any comments/suggestions appreciated.
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Shielding the inside of the box can be necessary To help with feedback, electrical fields in a stage setting and RF issues.
A lot of musicians will shield the cavities of their guitars(solid and hollow body).
You can use the copper foil to cover the inside(has a sticky adhesive on one side) and you have to overlap the pieces and supply a ground to complete the process. Usually the bridge is grounded, so the shielding contact with the bridge helps make a good ground for the tape.
Other shielding tape is aluminum foil tape for HVAC. You can get it in the hardware store for little money. You can also buy shield paint(a lot of guitar companies use this).
For wiring, I always use coaxial wiring(hook up wires for CD,DVD players), it's a positive wire surrounded with a ground wire for shielding. It's cheap and works great.
Thanks to all for their suggestions.
If you’ve got an old guitar cable laying around, that’s shielded wire? A little bulky, but it works the same? Something to think about is that most of the hum people encounter, comes from bad soldering, so you can shield the heck out of it & still get hum? Cheers & good luck to you :)
I've never shielded a wire itself, but I have shielded the entire cavity (with both shielding paint and metal foil). Those techniques seemed to work pretty well but I'm not sure putting foil around a wire would do much. That said... you never know 'til you try.
You can twist the hot and ground wires together, and that provides some shielding.