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I was considering shielding my Mustang and wondering if anyone has done this and whether it improved any noise problems?

It seems compared to a Strat, there is one additional challenge, which is to shield the wire between the pickup cavity and the control plate cavity. This would be taken care of by running a shielded cables and grounding the shield on both ends (instead of running a pair of wires).

Beyond that, it would be using conductive copper tape (with conductive adhesive) making sure it makes contact to the existing cavity shields (which should already be grounded) and overhang the top of the body so it touches the pickguard (which will also be covered in copper tape). And do the same with the control cavity.

It would involve a little rewiring as well as adhering copper tape to the body and pickguard. Is this a bad idea to do to an all-original, vintage Mustang?

Well I'm no expert, but I say do it. If this is a player's guitar, and not some keep-it-in-the-closet collector thing, some conductive tape couldn't do anything but make the guitar better.

To my mind, as long as the work is done well and it makes the guitar more playable, there's nothing wrong with modifying any vintage guitar.

thanks yea i am seriously thinking of doing this. i am currently trying to locate a pickguard shield plate. They make it for Teles and Strats, but hard to find for other styles. If i can find one that would at least keep me from having to tape up this pickguard.

glitchathon wrote:I was considering shielding my Mustang and wondering if anyone has done this and whether it improved any noise problems?

It seems compared to a Strat, there is one additional challenge, which is to shield the wire between the pickup cavity and the control plate cavity. This would be taken care of by running a shielded cables and grounding the shield on both ends (instead of running a pair of wires).

Beyond that, it would be using conductive copper tape (with conductive adhesive) making sure it makes contact to the existing cavity shields (which should already be grounded) and overhang the top of the body so it touches the pickguard (which will also be covered in copper tape). And do the same with the control cavity.

It would involve a little rewiring as well as adhering copper tape to the body and pickguard. Is this a bad idea to do to an all-original, vintage Mustang?

That's practically what I did to my mustang. The new CIJ reissues come without shieliding plates in cavities, so shielding is recommended. I used aluminium non-conductive tape, but I did wrap it at the edges so layers of tape overlap in a way that they are electrically connected.

Regarding pg shield plate - use the same copper tape for pickguard and you will be fine.

blacktaxi wrote: That's practically what I did to my mustang. The new CIJ reissues come without shieliding plates in cavities, so shielding is recommended. I used aluminium non-conductive tape, but I did wrap it at the edges so layers of tape overlap in a way that they are electrically connected.

Regarding pg shield plate - use the same copper tape for pickguard and you will be fine.

Cool, did you notice an improvement in noise? did you shield the wire going between the two cavities or did you feel it is short enough not to bother?

glitchathon wrote:

blacktaxi wrote: That's practically what I did to my mustang. The new CIJ reissues come without shieliding plates in cavities, so shielding is recommended. I used aluminium non-conductive tape, but I did wrap it at the edges so layers of tape overlap in a way that they are electrically connected.

Regarding pg shield plate - use the same copper tape for pickguard and you will be fine.

Cool, did you notice an improvement in noise? did you shield the wire going between the two cavities or did you feel it is short enough not to bother?

I had kind of wierd schematic and had like 5 or 6 wires going through the inter-cavity hole, so I tangled them together and wrapped with aluminium foil, which I then grounded with another wire. I'm almost certain that it was unnecessary, but at the time I was paranoid about all that stuff

Yeah, I noticed significant improvement, but that could've been caused by wiring change.

blacktaxi wrote: I had kind of wierd schematic and had like 5 or 6 wires going through the inter-cavity hole, so I tangled them together and wrapped with aluminium foil, which I then grounded with another wire. I'm almost certain that it was unnecessary, but at the time I was paranoid about all that stuff

Yeah, I noticed significant improvement, but that could've been caused by wiring change.

yea if i do this, i probably will go all out and use shielded cable between the cavities. wrapping in foil is not a bad idea either!