Shielding cavities before finishing?

[Tommy Tourbus]

would it work to paint the cavities of a raw wood body with shielding paint before the guitar is painted? So that the shielding paint is under the final color. Would it's shielding effect be effective?

[bluesrules]

As long as you have a wire hooked to a screw or something before you apply the paint it should be fine. Then solder the wire to the electrical ground on the controls after.

[testing1two]

Fender uses this exact practice. They put a screw into the body to in order to break through the lacquer and make contact with the shielding paint.

[Tommy Tourbus]

wha...?? a screw?? are there instructions w/pics for this anywhere?

[Jagsound]

Any shielding has to be grounded or it don't work - that means there has to be an electrical connection between the shield and, say the back of a pot in the guitar. Were you talking about just painting the inside of the cavities with shielding paint or the whole guitar?

Seems like you just meant the cavities, and it should work fine as long as you have the layer of shielding paint connected to ground, hence the reason for driving a screw into it, then you can solder a wire from the back of the screw to the closest ground point available.

[bluesrules]

Originally Posted by Jagsound

then you can solder a wire from the back of the screw to the closest ground point available.

I just want to add that "star grounding" is the best way to avoid unessecary ground loops.

Star grounding is taking all the ground wires and soldering them to one point, like the back of the volume knob.

To OP: I would put the screw with wire in the body before you start the shielding paint, that way it get's the best connection to ground. Also put shielding paint on the screw as you paint the area around it just to make sure.

[Tommy Tourbus]

Originally Posted by bluesrules

I just want to add that "star grounding" is the best way to avoid unessecary ground loops.

Star grounding is taking all the ground wires and soldering them to one point, like the back of the volume knob.

To OP: I would put the screw with wire in the body before you start the shielding paint, that way it get's the best connection to ground. Also put shielding paint on the screw as you paint the area around it just to make sure.

I'm going to be doing a tele body routed just like that one. will i have to ground each cavity with the screw/wire?

[Jagsound]

Originally Posted by bluesrules

I just want to add that "star grounding" is the best way to avoid unessecary ground loops.

Star grounding is taking all the ground wires and soldering them to one point, like the back of the volume knob.

Very good advice - if you have the opportunity to star ground it then it is definitely worth doing.

[bluesrules]

Originally Posted by Tommy Tourbus

I'm going to be doing a tele body routed just like that one. will i have to ground each cavity with the screw/wire?

Yes, since the cavities are not connected like a Strat.

If you have a Tele with a pickguard with copper foil on the whole back of the pickguard. You can use that as a jumper with out using wires. As long as you put a strip of foil from the guitar top, making sure that the guards foil touches it good, like at a pickguard screw point and down into the cavities on top of the shielding paint (one at neck rout and one at countrol rout). STILL WOULD NEED A WIRE FROM BRIDGE PICKUP ROUT THOUGH

I sould have foiled the wire rout also for a 100% job, but hey...it works!

I use seperate wires on that Flame burst Tele above cuz I'm not using a pickguard.

ALWAYS CHECK CONTINIATY WITH OHM METER BEFORE FINISHING

Also it takes at least 3-4 coats of shielding paint to do it right. Otherwise use copper foil for everything, takes I little more time in the long run, but the foil is thick enough to solder a wire to it.

[Tommy Tourbus]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm not adept to soldering, so I'm going to have a tech do that part of it when I have the guitar put together. I will be applying the shielding paint myself and I guess installing the grounding screws myself before sending the body off to the painter.

2 questions: my understanding is after the sheilding paint dries I will want to install a screw into each cavity (before sending the guitar off for finishing) that the tech will later solder the grounding wire too. Is this correct? And where is the best spot inside each cavity to install the screw (standard tele body with statndard tele routes)? Next, what should my instructions to the painter be? He needs to cover/mask the screws so they are not painted over, correct?