GUITAR SHIELDING KITSReduce Hum, Buzz and Radio Interference in your Electric Guitar or Bass
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Our paint has a typical resistance of 8 ohms/sq, with excellent adhesion to most materials.
Shielding Kits and Materials 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!
DIY kits that will significantly reduce hum and noise from most electric guitars and basses, especially those fitted with single-coil pickups. Even guitars with humbucking pickups have unshielded wiring, pots and switches, and will benefit from shielding. The outward appearance of the guitar is unchanged. See the end of the listing for some background info on how this works, and why you might need it, regardless of how much you spent on your guitar......
Kit Contents:
KIT A : (ideal for single coil guitars with a plastic pickguard) contains:
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.
COPPER FOIL: 30cm x 20cm of self-adhesive copper foil for the pickguard / scratchplate - large enough to cover the pickup and control cavities on a Strat - going right to the edge of the pickguard isn't necessary and doesn't improve the shielding performance.
ACCESSORY PACK: all the extras you need to do the job
- insulation strip for the jackplate cavity - insulates the jack contacts from the conductive paint coating
- paintbrush
- stirrer
- alcohol cleaning wipes
- terminal block for reconnecting the wiring to the output jack without soldering
- copper foil strip for connecting the pickguard to the shield paint
INSTRUCTIONS - fully illustrated step-by-step instructions - four pages with colour photos
KIT B : (ideal for a LP type guitar or similar with rear control cover) contains: 30ml paint, accessory pack and instructions only (no foil)
KIT C : (ideal for 2 x LP or similar) contains: 60ml paint, accessory pack and instructions only (no foil)
EXTRA PACKS
You can add extra items to your kit (or just buy the extra packs on their own).
SHIELDING PAINT - in packs of 30ml, 60ml, or 90ml.
COPPER FOIL - 30cm x 20cm sheets in packs of 1, 2 or 3 sheets
ACCESSORY PACK - as supplied with KITS A, B & C
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 famous guitar with three single-coil pickups. 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 .....