Another question about shielding.

[stratattack]

Hello everyone,


I have been searching on the form and site and couldn't find an answer for my question. I have a Mexican Stratocaster that I have been ordering parts for and upgrading so here's the story.

I bought a completely wired John Mayer pickguard off ebay and a new bridge from Callaham Guitars and I decided to shield it as well. When the pickguard came it already had metal covering the backside, tin I think, and I had already sheilded the Strat with conductive adhesive copper tape. I chose to skip the star grounding because I am new to soldering and I didn't want to mess with any of the wiring in the pickguard. I just soldered the grounds from the tremolo cavity and the output jack to the volume pot and connected the jack. When I hooked it up, it played and sounded wonderful; but every few minutes it would just cut off and not play for a few seconds and then come back on again.

My question is should I ground the shielding somehow and if so how do I go about doing it.

I'll try and get some pictures posted tomorrow if that would help you guys.
Thanks for your time.

[sumgai]

stratattack,

Hi, and to the forums!

When you notice the signal cutting out, are you doing anything at the time? I mean, are you moving slowly, or quickly, or what? If you're just sitting there, strumming a little ditty and not jumping around like a frog in a frying pan, then it shouldn't be doing that. If you're gettting your daily exercise, put your guitar down and go outside before you damage your axe! ;D

We can't assume anything here, because you installed a complete new kit into your guitar, minus the jack. So, since you said you aren't big on soldering, have you gone back inside, and taken a close look at your work? After that, take a close look at the assembly you bought. Wiggle things around, looking for looseness where there shouldn't be any. Do the controls rotate smoothly, and without noise coming out the amp's speakers?

And last, don't forget to check your cable itself, or just try another one. Sometimes, while waiting for you to finish your project, they'll get p.o.'ed about not being used, and then they'll go bad on you, just for revenge! 'Struth, I swear! ;D

HTH


sumgai

[UnklMickey]

hi Stratattack,

welcome to GuitarNuts2.


i'm gonna talk about you now, don't be offended.

"I am new to soldering and I didn't want to mess with any of the wiring in the pickguard. I just soldered the grounds from the tremolo cavity and the output jack to the volume pot"

like you Sumgai, the newbie issue sent up a warning flag.


if Stratattack has a low wattage iron and soldered to the back of the volume pot, it might have taken a long time to melt the solder.

that allows the temperature of everything inside to reach nearly the same temperature as the joint that is being soldered.

this may have lead to partial failure of any plastic parts inside, as well as gooping up any lubricant that may have been inside (some manufacturers do use lubricants).


so, while i'm not saying this IS what happened........

i suggest that, in addition to the possibility of a cold solder joint, loose bits of solder or foil occasionally shorting things out, an intermittent contact inside the volume control could also be the culprit.



Stratattack,

grounding of cavity shielding to a foil lined pickguard, is usually best accomplished by having the cavity tape or foil, roll up over the front of the body.

then trim it, so it can't be seen with the pickguard in place.

that way the pickguard foil and the cavity foil will be sandwiched between the pickguard and the body.



as long as you have a good connection between the bushing of the volume pot, and the pickguard foil,
the back of the pot, where you presently have your common connection, will be connected to all the shielding with the pickguard in place.


unk

[stratattack]

Wow thanks for all the helpful answers you gais. I think a cold joint may be the problem because I made sure that the foil covered all the screw holes and even laid it on the flat part covered by the pickguard. As for the volume pot, I tried not to let it get too hot and soldered it by placing the iron on top of the wire which was on top of the preexisting blob of solder that was already there. So I'm going to go back through and resolder everything, after a bit of practice that is.

And by the way, this forum is awesome.

[UnklMickey]

stratattack said:

.... So I'm going to go back through and resolder everything, after a bit of practice that is....

be sure while you are in there to look for anyplace,
where a bare solder joint or switch lug might almost touch the cavity foil.

if it does, that might be why the sound occasionally quits.

it might be sometimes touching the foil, shorting out the signal.

covering any bare connections with a piece of electrician's tape could be good insurance against this.


unk

[stratattack]

ALRIGHT!!

I opened it back up and resoldered the jack to the volume pot with a good mechanical connection and strenghtened the ground wires. No solder problems anymore.

But the real reason it was shorting out was because my stupid self decided that it would be a good idea to shield the jack cavity. The prongs on the jack kept touching the foil everytime I moved a certain way.

Now my simple mexican stratocaster growls with the best of em!

[sumgai]

stratattack,

Ah, simple visual inspection.... works everytime! ;D

Nice going. Keeping a cool head is a good thing.



sumgai