Stray Strat Strut. Shielding a Stratocaster

I found this shielding method to work with varying results on stratocasters. First I want to recommend if you have the option of using copper foil tape instead of aluminum foil tape, do so. Soldering aluminum is a real chore. It can be done, but it almost requires voodoo and some harry potter magic to finally make a weld take. Copper is a blessing and and your soldering will take in one shot, instead of looking like balls of mercury rolling over the surface. The other problem with soldering on the backside of a pickguard is if you spend too much time soldering a spot, it will discolor the gloss on the face of the pickguard. That being said, fender uses aluminum.

As you switch through your pickup selectors on a strat, especially on poorly shielded ones (you shall see), it goes BZZZZ (-_-) BZZZZZ (-_-) BZZZZZZ!!! Single coils buzz (hum), but with better shielding it's a lot less. I got to screw around with the guitar for a couple days now, and i will attest this HAS reduced the amount of hum the thing makes.

First, let's see what Fender does with a basic MIM pickguard.



Only over the volume and tone pots. nowhere else. Solution- foil tape over all of it and connect the foil with electrical solder. Didn't take a photo of the final pickguard, but you can imagine. Next. .



Fender used masking tape to bind the wires. It's a good measure to replace that with electrical tape. Next. . .



Shield the entire body cavity, again connecting all the foil with solder and allowing the foil to overlap the body so it connects to the pickguard. ALUMINUM IS A BITCH TO SOLDER so you're better off using copper foil, which is what's recommended. I ordered some. I couldn't find copper foil tape at Home Depot Next. . .



On the volume pot is a collection of ground leads. The one i'm interested in has a ground wire going back to the spring claw on the other side of the body. Solder a piece of wire that (in this photo it's the lowest weld on that volume pot), and then. . .



Run that new ground wire out of the body cavity to connect with the pickguard when it's put back in place. The whole thing becomes a big grounded metal box.

Additionally, here's another thing i thought made sense. . .



I had to buy these on e-bay (again, home depot doesn't give a crap about you and your guitar). Surgical rubber tubing to replace the metal mounting springs on your pickups. Theres a lot of strat voodoo going around that the springs interfere with the sound and the rubber won't, because its little vibrating metal springs. I also noticed the mount seemed sturdier.

And now for one more bonus. You can age the plastic parts by boiling them in coffee/tea. I dumped some old coffee and a bag of earl grey tea in a pot and boiled it on the stove. The parts simmered for roughly 5 minutes for light browning.



The strat is kickin'. I recommend getting a cheap standard and shielding it. Additionally, i'd like to know if more care is put into the shielding on an American Standard Stratocaster. This is an easy upgrade to make.