Shielding Kit for Electric Guitar and Bass
Reduces mains hum, buzz from lighting dimmers, radio interference and static clicks.Especially effective on guitars with single-coil pickups. Search "guitar shielding kit demo" on youtube for an audio demo.Our
shielding paint has a typical resistance of 8 ohms/sq with excellent
adhesion to most materials and is easy to apply, unlike cheaper watery
alternatives!
Easy to
fit - you will need only a few basic tools like screwdrivers, scissors
etc. No special skills are needed, no soldering is necessary.Help and advice available by email - if you're not sure what you need, send us a message and we'll be happy to help!1000's sold. It works!
Kit Contents:
shielding paint - 30ml for pickup and control cavities - special additives reduce the resistance of the painted surface to just 8 ohms/sq, for effective audio frequency shielding. Many shielding paints are designed only to combat radio frequency interference (mobile phones etc.) and aren't very effective at audio frequencies. Recently some cheaper "paints" have appeared that are basically just carbon in water - very thin and difficult to apply accurately, and often needing several coats. They also lack a preservative, which is necessary in any water-based paint to ensure a good shelf life. Our paint has a high quality natural acrylic base; it's water based and goes on smoothly, two coats give the optimum shielding effect. Brushes and spills clean up with water, shelf-life unopened is minimum 24 months.
30 micron copper foil - 30 x 20 cm for the pick-guard or control covers - thick enough for effective shielding, but easy to cut with scissors - performs better than aluminium
insulation strip - for the jackplate cavity - on many guitars there's not much distance between the hot connection on the output jack and the guitar body; the insulation strip ensures that the jack doesn't short to the conductive paint coating and mute the signal
accessories - paintbrush, stirrer, and alcohol cleaning wipes - the only extras you need to provide are basic tools like screwdrivers, scissors etc.
terminal block - for reconnecting the wiring to the output jack without the need for soldering, although you can solder if you wish
step-by-step instructions - four pages with colour photos.
email support - contact us as often as you need for help and advice
The components of the kit are all available separately in our other listings.
How It Works
You probably spent more than the price of this kit on a decent cable to plug your guitar or bass into your amp. That cable will have a heavy copper shield to prevent the central "hot" wire (that carries the guitar signal) from picking up noise in the form of hum, buzz and radio transmissions etc. Unfortunately, it's very likely that on the inside of the the guitar the hot wire, pickups and controls will be completely unshielded. This kit enables you to continue the screening effect of the cable inside the guitar, greatly reducing the background noise - especially on guitars fitted with single coil pickups.
This is achieved by coating the pickup and control cavities with a specially formulated conductive paint, and covering the underside of the pickguard or control cover with self-adhesive copper foil. These are both connected to the cable screen. This has the effect of enclosing all of the guitar’s electronics in a conductive box which is connected to ground. Any noise that would previously have been picked up and amplified along with the guitar signal is now mostly shunted to ground, giving a much cleaner signal.
In a live situation, buzzes from lighting dimmers are greatly reduced. In the studio, the improved signal to noise ratio makes everything easier— you'll spend less time walking around the room or spinning on a chair trying to find the sweet-spot where the noise nulls out. And the guitar just sounds better - low level harmonics that were previously buried in the mains hum and noise are now audible, making the overall sound richer and more dynamic.
Don't assume that expensive guitars will be shielded properly - many mainstream manufacturers do little or nothing to shield their guitars regardless of price. The screening on some £1000+ guitars really is almost non-existent, and you can probably guess which manufacturer is the worst off-ender ;-)
The Test
The recording (search youtube for "catmusic99 guitar shielding kit demo") and the graph in the last image of this listing are the results of a test to measure the effect of applying the shielding kit to a stock famous three-single-coil-pickups guitar. For a £750 guitar, the level of screening fitted as standard is very poor indeed - just a small piece of aluminium foil stuck to the pickguard around the the controls - virtually useless.
The guitar was set on a stand 1m from a 1980's valve combo. All of the controls on the guitar were set to maximum, with the pickup selector set to the mid position. The amp controls were all set to "flat", with the volume at minimum. To simulate stage conditions, some thyristor dimmer controlled lighting (the type used in stage lighting rigs) was switched on and set to 50% dim (the noisiest setting) 2m from the guitar.
The guitar amp was then switched on and the volume increased to a typical playing level. A recording of the background noise was made, and a 3D plot of this recording can be seen in the "mountain range" on the far side of the graph. The yellow peak to the left is 50Hz mains hum, and the following green peaks are harmonics of this. The blue peak is the buzz and associated harmonics from the dimmer.
The guitar was then removed, and everything else was left exactly as it was, including mic position, pre-amp settings etc.. The screening kit was applied to the guitar, and it was put back in the stand. The amp was switched on again and another recording of the noise was made. This can be seen on the near side of the graph (separated from the first recording by a short silence, which appears flat). As you can see, the noise at all frequencies is considerably reduced, especially the really annoying buzz from the lighting dimmer. Some mains hum remains. This is unavoidable with single coil pickups. The only way to reduce it further is by shielding the pickup covers, but most people would find this unacceptable as it will change the sound of the guitar - some of the top-end clarity and attack will be lost. (This is why you often see the front pickup cover removed). And the hiss? Well, hiss is usually due to the electronics in the signal chain, not interference. In this case the hiss is my 30 year old valve combo. Sounds great when you actually play something though .....