Mylar vs Metal Film (and other questions)

[electronjunkie]

Hey everyone...
Wow..what a great message board ;D. This site, along with guitarnuts, pretty much takes care of everything.

I just did a complete rewiring on my strat, and followed Mr. Atchley's QtB shielding protocol. I have a couple of questions.

First...I searched ALL OVER for the 400V metal film cap he recommends for the grounding, and couldn't find one. So I came across a 0.33 600V Mylar Cap and used it instead. From my quick web search, I found that Mylar is a polyester derivative. Does this even matter in this application?

Second...I used a copper pickguard shield I picked up on e-bay for $10, and shielded the cavity/control area with conductive copper tape (turns out the 91 Strat Plus Deluxe already had conductive paint covered by the clearcoat). Anyways, I ran all pickup and tone control cap grounds, along with a ground from the volume pot, to the ring terminal. This terminal was then wired, via the 600V cap, to the pickguard shield (I used the 5-way switch mounting screw (under the pickguard, in contact with the copper shiled) as an attachment point as I didn't have a ring terminal large enough to go around a pot shaft). The star ground is wrapped in electrical tape and resides between the middle and bridge pickups, as my strat has a bathtub routing. The tremelo ground, which is treated separately from all other grounds, was screwed into the cavity via a ring terminal and is in direct contact with the copper tape. Having said all that...did I do this correctly (wiring of the 600V cap)?

The shielding worked incredibly well. I have virtually ZERO noise on a cranked tube amp with vintage (Lollar Blondes) single coils. This is with fluorescent lights, a furnace/blower motor, and a dehudifier all within about 8 feet of the amp. I guess my concern is mainly if I wired the star ground correctly, and with the correct cap.

Thanks!

[UnklMickey]

hi Electronjunkie,


welcome to GuitarNuts2.

metal film or mylar.... mox nix.

the value is the same, and it can handle even higher voltage before breaking down.

-- done.




sounds like from your description the rest is according to Hoyle.

signal grounds, separate from string and shielding ground, connected together by the capacitor.

-- done and done.



sounds like it's time to think about a different switching arrangement, so you have a different pallette of sounds available.

then you can dismantle half of what you have now, and start again.

we're not called GuitarNUTS for nuthin' ya know.



seriously though, congratulations. it sounds like you did just fine.


unk

[electronjunkie]

Thanks for the info and the pat on the back, unk.

Actually, I did make a couple of modifications. First was a neck-on switch, which I'm really enjoying now that I can get the N+B combo. I also now have a master tone, and I have a midrange shaper I got from Rothstien guitars
www.guitar-mod.com/rg_passive.html

I was going out on a limb trying this modded tone control, and I'm glad I did. The mid-cut feature is really nice, especially on a clean channel with chorus.

For my first soldering job I was pretty pleased. Really hurt to yank all that stuff out for the first time, and the sweat wasn't from being to close to the iron. But like you said, I think I might be hooked. I'm already thinking about in-series wiring for the pickups.


Thanks again!
e- Junkie

[sumgai]

ej,

Hey everyone......
This is with fluorescent lights, a furnace/blower motor, and a dehudifier all within about 8 feet of the amp. I guess my concern is mainly if I wired the star ground correctly, and with the correct cap.

Thanks!

I'd be concerned too! You really need the all hud's you can get, so don't go overboard on dehudding the room, OK? ;D


And to the forums!


sumgai

[electronjunkie]

Well...I had a hud infestation about a year ago and had a guy come out and install one for me. Yeah...you'd think a few huds would be good, but believe me, get a mess of 'em around and they take the place over. Trust me, I've been there. And that dehudifier is pretty noisy. But then again, its chock full o' huds and needs to emptied.

In any case, the guitar is pretty quiet. ;D

[tacobobbo]

Good idea using the switch as a grounding location, gives a few more options. When I shielded my guitar I ran a jumper between switch contacts to use the bottom tone pot to control both my mid and bridge pups (ala Am Std Strat), which brings up a question : would having those
jumpered cause any extraneous noise? ???Thanks for the input.
Bob

[tacobobbo]

Oh, almost forgot...Up here in the Tacoma, Washout, we bbq our huds. Yup. Nothing like the saturday nite hud ,Bud & spud in the mud. ;D

[sumgai]

tb,

Oh, almost forgot...Up here in the Tacoma, Washout, we bbq our huds. Yup. Nothing like the saturday nite hud ,Bud & spud in the mud. ;D

You've got PM!


sumgai

[UnklMickey]

sumgai said:

...You've got PM!...

it's a good thing you didn't send him more than one!

[tacobobbo]

Its ok unk,......I'm married so I still suffer from pm's ;D

[UnklMickey]

thanks Bob,

i wasn't sure if anyone was gonna get that one.


unk