Guitarnuts wiring: Is it worth it?

The guitarnuts website has instructions for wiring and shielding a strat so the hum and noise with single coil pickups is almost eliminated.

Has anyone here tried it? Does it deliver?

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.html

Yes it works! A Strat with the grounding loops removed and with a full pickuard shield and body shielded correctly can be about 75% less 60 cycle hum than before.

It really makes a difference. While your at it wire the bridge pickup to a tone control. That doesnt help with the hum but will make your bridge pickup sound way less shrill.

I've never done the full treatment, but I do star ground, have eliminated ground loops, and I do use a copper pickguard shield, which I would say cuts hum in half. Not 75% mind you, but half is good, and it's less than half the work. Shielding the body cavities sounds like a real bain in the buttocks. I also removed the ground wire from the trem claw, so my person does not act as a shield. Still has significant hum reduction! I don't use a lot of gain though, so if you are someone who likes lots of crunch, or syrupy wet solo's, then you will want the whole nine yards (trust me).

Javacody,

Everytime I've played my strat with the ground disconnected from the trem claw there was a big increase in noise. Maybe it would work even better if you connected it.

What about the capacitor that'f put in for shock protection? Does that affect the tone at all?

I've shielded my new Highway 1 strat (standard pups) and I have a '80s American Standard strat with lace sensors and they are both similarly quiet.

My question is this: both guitars hum when I approach my tube amp. I can eliminate the hum by positioning the guitar at a certain angle. I think this is transformer-related (magnetic) interference that no amount of regular shielding will reduce. Can anyone comment?

BTW, I have the shock protection 0.33uF (400V) cap between "chassis" and "signal" ground and I've noticed no difference in tone.

Shielding the body & PUP cavities of a single coil guitar will make it more directional but won't significantly reduce noise picked up from the front. It's been a while since I did the math but there's something like 6,000 feet of wire wrapped around each PUP and ~2 feet between the PUPs and output jack! You can shield the PUP covers, but that will reduce highs - may or may not be an issue depending on PUPs, amp, music style, etc. EMI is harder to shield against than RFI and non-ferrous materials such as copper and aluminum aren't that effective against stong sources of EMI.

The acid test for shielding is playing a guitar within ~3 feet of a CRT-type computer monitor. I have a Ric 6 string with Ric mini-buckers, coax from the PUPs to the 3-way switch, but unshielded vintage wiring for everything else with NO body or pickguard shielding. The Ric mini's do have a metal ring around the sides. This guitar easily passes the CRT test - hardly any noise at all. I also have a Strat with single coils that has the cavities shielded, a full-sized NOS 60s-style aluminum plate under the pickguard, and is star-grounded. Buzzes like a banshee in front of a CRT except in the 2 & 4 positions(middle PUP is RW/RP). With uncovered humbuckers & stacks, if one coil is picking up significantly more noise than the other, they'll hum somewhat. Both my LP(unshielded but all coax) and stack-equiped Tele(body cavities shielded & star-grounded) will do that.

I'm not suggesting shielding isn't worthwhile as a more directional guitar is much more usefull in many situations. The cap you mentioned is intended to block 60 cycle AC but pass higher frequencies(buzz,static, etc.). This should prevent ground-loop shocks when touching mics, etc., but you may get slightly more hum. I'd rather have the AC wired right, but that isn't always possible.

Thanks for the reply.

I thought as much (about the EMI).

I've applied John Atchley's shielding/star ground approach on 3 strats and it works. You also never need to worry about cooking a pot when trying to re-solder ground connections.

Just FYI, Elmer's spray adhesive & heavy duty aluminum foil works fine for the back of the pickguard - don't pay up for a copper shield there. Copper foil or 3 coats of shielding paint work great in the control and pup cavities. I use the foil all over the control cavity and where it's easy for the rest, then use paint for the corners, etc. Just make sure you use a multimeter to test electrical continuity of all of your shielding. A drop of solder between strips of foil helps, and slathering (yeah, I know that's not a word...) the shielding paint over and under the edges where you transition from paint to foil does the trick.

Chip

Actually Chip, I think that slathering is a word, but one use more in the sense of "slathering rich and zesty barbecue sauce on the moist, tender baby back ribs". Dang, now you made me hungry.

Aww man... me too. It's finally warming up here in Toronto. Gonna get me some ribs and stoke up the barbecue!!

Cody - you got me laughing out loud :) needed it today!

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=slathering

Nice K. ;)

You all are killing me! ;)

I got some quick questions on this. I am also going to attempt the GuitarNuts sheliding, but from scratch as I am building a Strat from new parts.

Firstly, I can't find a single source for the '400V 0.33 uF Metal Film' capacitor.

Secondly, where the Star Grounds all meet at 'Signal Return', is this left floating in the cavity or is this secured to the shielded cavity somewhere?

Thirdly, Why does the GuitarNuts instruct you to reattach the Bridge ground wire to the newly-shielded cavity, when later he suggests not having it at all in order to prevent AC shock?

I'll have to think this through a bit, but, long ago, in my other life as an engineer, We had problems with RFI/EMI effecting our new version digital keyboards. What we did then was use diodes from component grounds to system ground points (chassis). I wonder if using diodes in this case will do any good.
Like I said, I haven't thought it through yet.

Quieting the Beast, Shielding a Strat

I don't remember all of what i did to my 2003 squire bullet, but I followed his instructions the best i could seeing as I don't have a Strat but a heavily modded chunk of plywood with a carvin twinblade tbh-60 in the neck, tone controll for the stock bridge humbucker, pickup selector, and coil splitter for the TBH-60.

Yes noise got really silent, but only if there is good grounding in the building you get the electricity from. Other wise, it is slightly louder then before.

There is also a strange hum every time i touch the pole pieces of the carvin pup and the hight adjustment screws of the stock bridge fender humbucker.

this is isn't usually a problem and goes away or is lessened by proper grounding in the outlet. But it can be fun to tap out morse code or a rhythm while your playing.

yes I put a cap in for shock protection.

Well I did the guitar nuts thing once and it did nuthin, f#*@!% nuthin. What does work better for noise in singles is to shield the pickup coils. But most o you guys will probably find that a bit scary so send yer p/ups over to me here in Oz an I'll do em fer ya.