Unnecessary to wrap certain pickups in copper tape?

[max_overdrive]

Does it make sense to shield the pickups and pickup cavities with conductive copper foil tape if the pickups are encased in plastic without holes for the magnets? Image attached. Asking because this guy says not to.

 

[SamIAm]

I do not understand their logic.

 

Plastic does not shield against electromagnetic noise and all the onboard electronics (wires/pots/etc) will also be vulnurable unless their cavity (and inner surface of the cavity cover) is not shielded in some way (copper tape/graphite paint).  Having said that, his electronics cavity is seperate.

 

In the video he suggests that it might not bring much benefit ... he is also talking about pickups which are totally encased in a grounded metal housing ... not just a plastic one.

 

In my experience, the extra effort of copper tape (given you are replacing the pups and having to wire them in) is incremental ... I would do it ... of course ymmv 🤷‍♀️

 

S'manth x

Edited November 9, 2023 by Smanth

[max_overdrive]

2 minutes ago, Smanth said:

In the video he suggests that it might not bring much benefit ... he is also talking about pickups which are totally encased in a grounded metal housing ... not just a plastic one.

 

Right, he pretty much says that shielding pickups only makes sense when the pickups are totally encased in grounded metal.

[tauzero]

The main source of interference isn't the pickups themselves, it's the big bag of dirty water that the bass is hanging from. A shielding layer protecting the pickups from the human will help.