Posted by Mark Werner on October 28, 2011 at 2:32pm
I have my lap-steel project about ready to assemble. The cavity for the single-coil pickup is just a hole cit inti the body, and the pickup and the rest of the electrics will be mounted on a pick guard made of 1/8" hardwood ply.
Do I need to sheild this pickup cavity?
Line it with tinfoil or something?
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It depends on if the pickup and your wires are already shielded or if you are getting hum once you put it together. If you don't have shielded wire, you can twist the wires to shield them.
I've had trouble the aluminum foil. I guess mainly handling it. You're supposed to overlap the layers then solder them together. I like Stew Mac's copper with adhesive. The adhesive is also conductive, so you just overlap and no soldering is necessary.
Connect a ground wire to the shield. Copper is a lot easier to solder to for connecting the ground wire.
You might be able to just connect a ground wire to the bridge (assuming it's metal). This is what they do on regular guitars.
Mark: I shield all my guitars with aluminum foil, and it works well. There is some thinking that copper is the only way to go, but I use the same Reynolds foil that we use in our kitchen with no problems. Line the cavity with foil, glue it in place, and play on.
Replies
It depends on if the pickup and your wires are already shielded or if you are getting hum once you put it together. If you don't have shielded wire, you can twist the wires to shield them.
I've had trouble the aluminum foil. I guess mainly handling it. You're supposed to overlap the layers then solder them together. I like Stew Mac's copper with adhesive. The adhesive is also conductive, so you just overlap and no soldering is necessary.
Connect a ground wire to the shield. Copper is a lot easier to solder to for connecting the ground wire.
You might be able to just connect a ground wire to the bridge (assuming it's metal). This is what they do on regular guitars.
Guitarnuts.com has a lot of info on shielding.