shielding tips?

[cjj]

my luthier's been using bone for nut material for a long time,last year someone gave him several deer antlers,and being the creative kind of guy he is,he tried making a few nuts out of it and really liked the results. when cut,the material kinda resembles a cream/tan marbled look-which should look nice with the creamy off white of the bass. the material is great-i have one on my jazz bass already.....i don't really think it makes a huge difference sound wise,but i could be wrong....

ps i am not sure from where bone nut material comes......c.j.--maybe i should have you ship my friend all of your antler "yard trash".....

OK, I know it's on a J Bass, but could you post a picture of the antler nut? Sounds really interesting.

[jamespaul71]

thanks for the info,everyone. the old girl's getting an overhaul this week,shielding,new frets and a new nut made out of deer antler,along with a set-up for a set of nos 60's maxima flatwounds.....will keep ya posted!

Did you say you actually have a set of 60s Maximas? You must post clips of its sound for comparisons sake. Oh, or donate them to macca and maybe he'll play THE ric on his new tour!!

[jps]

...could you post a picture of the antler nut? Sounds really interesting.

Yes, quite interesting!

[woodyng]

the jazz is in oregon,i just booked a trip to go there next month,i might have to wait till then to post a pic. or maybe i will have my rick back in a week or 2--i told the luthier to take his time with all the work. yeah i purchased the maxima strings over a year ago,(british ebay) and just wasn't ready to put them on...this seems like a good time to try flats on there again.

[jamespaul71]

Well when you get a chance please put up some samples with the strings... not many left I would assume.

[nukebass]

When soldering the overlapped section of the copper tape, do you solder it when it is on the pickguard? I need to try to shield my DCM again, and I don't want to damage its pickguard. I did invest in a noisegate (the electroharmonix pedal), but I'd rather not have to use it if I don't have to.

[jingle_jangle]

A DCM? I would hesitate to solder the shielding, due to the engraved, back-painted guards. The plexi can take the heat of soldering just fine, but the special gold paint can possibly be affected by the heat. Copper tape, yes; soldering, no; not even tiny spots.

[nukebass]

A DCM? I would hesitate to solder the shielding, due to the engraved, back-painted guards. The plexi can take the heat of soldering just fine, but the special gold paint can possibly be affected by the heat. Copper tape, yes; soldering, no; not even tiny spots.

Thanks! It's good to know the regular guard can take the heat I've thought about switching guards on it at some point to try to protect the gold one, anyway, and this may be a good reason to do it.

[cjj]

Of course, you can always piece together your copper tape to something close to the right size, off of the plexi and solder it before you apply it. Yeah, a pain in the butt, bot certainly possible to do...

[jingle_jangle]

Any gold guard, not just the DCM, will have painted, "second-surface" color, so take care. I've found that soldering is not critical as long as there is 1/16" overlap on the copper tape, and it's burnished down tight.

[cassius987]

my luthier's been using bone for nut material for a long time,last year someone gave him several deer antlers,and being the creative kind of guy he is,he tried making a few nuts out of it and really liked the results. when cut,the material kinda resembles a cream/tan marbled look-which should look nice with the creamy off white of the bass. the material is great-i have one on my jazz bass already.....i don't really think it makes a huge difference sound wise,but i could be wrong....

ps i am not sure from where bone nut material comes......c.j.--maybe i should have you ship my friend all of your antler "yard trash".....

Frankly if he can make them for stock Rics I'd love it if I could buy one of those antler nuts from him. It's a great solution to the "bone dilemma".

[jingle_jangle]

Antler nuts? Bone dilemma? Am I in the right place?

[windchimp]

If you need to solder, you're using the wrong tape. Get some 3M with conductive adhesive. We used this all the time for EMI shielding and it works fine without soldering. As Paul said, just make sure you seal the edges (no gaps allowed). The most important aspect to shielding is maintaining a single-point ground; all shielded surfaces should be electically connected and only one connection to ground, otherwise you've made an antenna. To be totally shielded the entire cavity should be sealed, although for low frequency noise such as being discussed here it is not as important.

I use an E-H HumDeBugger pedal. Solves any problems I've had without fiddling with tape - I've had my fill of that in a past life.

[Bighouse]

"No Deers were harmed in the making of this thread"

[kiramdear]

Someone did a nice job of shielding the cavity of my '75 430. No solder involved, and it sounds very quiet. Can't tell you how it was before.

I know it was a very popular trend in the Seventies to do this mod, during the dawning of the Age of the Brass Nut.