rumblejohn
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Post by rumblejohn on Sept 13, 2006 23:03:21 GMT -5
First post, so be gentle.
I am contemplating shielding my MIM standard Jazz.
1. Do I need to use shielded cable for the neck pick up as it will shielded by the control cavity and cover and the pick guard?
2. My pickups are grounded to the volume pots, the bridge is gounded to the tone pot, can I just move the pickup gounds to the tone pot?
3. If I use shielded cable for the bridge pickup, do I solder the shield to the control cavity shielding and the pickup cavity shielding, or run a separate wire for the pickup cavity?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated
John
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Post by sumgai on Sept 14, 2006 4:21:01 GMT -5
rj, Hi, and to the forums. Have you read this article yet? "Quieting the Beast" Take some time to soak that up...... We'll be here if you have any questions, either about grounds and shielding, or whatever else you need to know. sumgai
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rumblejohn
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Post by rumblejohn on Sept 14, 2006 21:55:44 GMT -5
rj, Have you read this article yet? "Quieting the Beast" Take some time to soak that up...... We'll be here if you have any questions, either about grounds and shielding, or whatever else you need to know. sumgai Yes, but my electronics are a bit hit or miss, single phase eletrical is not a problem though. I was just afraid of creating as much of a ground loop as the Fender factory did. I'm pretty sure this thing works by voo-doo anyway. I'm suprised that there is not more specific info on the jazz bass, because it is such a popular instrument, and also needs shielding badly. I think I have a rough idea of how it works, but I'm a little sketchy on some things. With the shielding itself, continuity is the primary concern, and with signal ground, a single path to ground is the main concern? I've got my StewMac kit, some aluminum foil, 15w iron, butane iron, and a 375w gun and I'm reday to start ;D Thanks for the quick reply, John
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Post by sumgai on Sept 15, 2006 3:46:27 GMT -5
rj, Holy Heaters, Batman! That thing'll give you sunburn if you aren't careful! ;D
First things first. What your read over at GN1 was applicable for all solid body guitars, but the example was a Strat, for obvious reasons. But it shouldn't be too hard to imagine how to apply those lessons to your Jazz Bass, eh?
You'll open up each cavity (remove stuff from it, clearing the area for work), and line it with shielding material. In those cases where there is a small hole that the pickup wires run through to get to the control cavity, you can use a piece of shielded cable. (aka coax cable.) As you might expect, the important thing here is that you do NOT use that cable's braided shield wire to connect the foil/tape from the pickup cavity back to the star ground in the main control area. You'll have to run another piece of regular hook-up wire, but it can be fairly small in diameter (a higher gauge number, like 24 or 26). If the hole is too small, either find smaller shielded cable, or drill it out to the next size drill bit you've got on hand.
Take your time. Use the 15watt iron to solder each piece of shielding together, and the hook-up wires from each remote cavity back to the star ground lug. You don't need to solder each seam all the way down the line, doing only a short stretch will get the job done.
HTH
sumgai
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rumblejohn
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Post by rumblejohn on Sept 15, 2006 6:45:41 GMT -5
Thanks Sumgai, my biggest concern was whether using the shielded cable to ground the bridge pick shielding would create a grd loop and you cleared that up. I may not even use shielded cable for the pick up, as some here question it's effectivity anyway.
Thanks again,
John
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Post by sumgai on Sept 15, 2006 21:43:36 GMT -5
John, The question arises when someone has used it inside of an already shielded cavity. (!) Where shielding with foil and/or tape is impossible, certainly coax cable is acceptable, and it may make that last little bit of difference between "pretty quiet" and "d4mn, is that thing even on?!". And just think, all those ES-335 and similar models, they need something like this, right? It works for them, in their situation, so it isn't all bad to use coax, believe me. ;D BTW, what's the difference between effectivity and effectiveness? sumgai
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Post by UnklMickey on Sept 15, 2006 22:04:32 GMT -5
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rumblejohn
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Post by rumblejohn on Sept 15, 2006 22:07:50 GMT -5
. BTW, what's the difference between effectivity and effectiveness? One is less effective And thanks for sticking up for the new guy Unklmickey. sumgai [/quote]
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Post by UnklMickey on Sept 15, 2006 22:14:47 GMT -5
and we haven't even mentioned efficacy ......................................... yet.
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rumblejohn
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Post by rumblejohn on Sept 15, 2006 22:24:20 GMT -5
I think I will use coax to run from the control cavity to the bridge, just the drilled hole, then ground to the lug in the control cavity only, That way it would seem that everything would be shielded, but nothing double grounded or double shielded. You guys have helped a great deal, it is starting to make some sense to me. I have 40 yrs experience as a diesel mechanic, but almost everything I work with can be seen and measured with simple hand tools. Some of the bits of information I pick up here helps at work also, it helps explain why some of the electronic controls get stupid on there own. Something as simple as a bad diode in an alternator can drive the system nuts.
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Post by sumgai on Sept 16, 2006 4:57:57 GMT -5
Sounds to me like another case of "utilize" when "use" would have done the job. ;D
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Post by JohnH on Sept 16, 2006 16:13:04 GMT -5
One watch-it:
Aluminium foil is impossible to solder. The hot solder just beads up like rain drops on a new car.. I use Al foil however, since its available and I haven't found a reasonably priced source of copper foil. What I do with it is:
- Stick a layer all over the inside of the pick guard, using spray contact glue. This works very neatly. - Fold and glue some foil into a treble thickness strip, with a width a bit more than the depth of the cavity and stick it around the inside, bent over at the edges to overlap a few mm at the base and over the top - Make a template in paper for the cavity base shape, and spray contact Al foil both sides to it. This gets dropped in and glued down to the base, with contact to the sides which are overlapping beneath it.
The result is neat enough, and it works, but copper foil with soldered joints would probably be more durable if the wiring gets more work in the future.
John
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rumblejohn
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Post by rumblejohn on Sept 16, 2006 22:58:50 GMT -5
One watch-it: Aluminium foil is impossible to solder. The hot solder just beads up like rain drops on a new car.. I use Al foil however, since its available and I haven't found a reasonably priced source of copper foil. What I do with it is: - Stick a layer all over the inside of the pick guard, using spray contact glue. This works very neatly. - Fold and glue some foil into a treble thickness strip, with a width a bit more than the depth of the cavity and stick it around the inside, bent over at the edges to overlap a few mm at the base and over the top - Make a template in paper for the cavity base shape, and spray contact Al foil both sides to it. This gets dropped in and glued down to the base, with contact to the sides which are overlapping beneath it. The result is neat enough, and it works, but copper foil with soldered joints would probably be more durable if the wiring gets more work in the future. John Hey John, I heard you on the expense of copper foil. The Stewart McDonald shielding kit I bought was $19.95 incl s/h. I'm using heavy duty aluminum foil contact glued to the back of the pick guard only. It will get it's electrical connection by overlapping the metal control plate
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Post by ccoleman on Sept 17, 2006 11:00:01 GMT -5
hey guys, if it helps, i saw a copper + aluminum shielding kit on ebay for $5 .. it was about $4 shipping. i bought from the guy before and he was legit.. check it out. his ebay name is microcomponents.llc
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rumblejohn
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Post by rumblejohn on Sept 17, 2006 17:22:08 GMT -5
Thanks for all the help guys. It is finished, everything still works, no damage to the finish, and the beast is more quiet.
John
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