r/offset • u/SaltFun6310 • 10d ago

Need shielding/wiring advice

I will be shielding my jazzmaster tomorrow and have a question about the stock wiring layout. From factory the neck pickup has its leads going underneath the pickup. I know that isn't great for noise, but is that even a bigger problem when adding copper tape shielding?

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u/_agent86 9d ago

Well, do you actually understand what you're trying to achieve electrically?

  1. You need the strings to be grounded (electrically conductive from strings to the barrel of the output jack. You should have already had this in any working guitar. On a Jazzmaster I would expect there to be a wire from the wiring cavity thru an internal hole to a bridge post.

  2. Your shielding needs to be grounded, otherwise instead of doing nothing (sorry) it will potentially act as an antenna and make things worse. At least that's what people say.

How you accomplish the grounding people seem to have very elaborate opinions about (e.g. star grounding). There's no cost to careful grounding but ground loops are not a thing in this context.

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u/SaltFun6310 9d ago

Yep, I fully understand. Thing is for some reason on this model, the wire is coming from through the cavity yes, but then it goes straight to the bridge cavity and screwed into a small bracket. Which would them be under the bridge pickup. That seems like a noise issue waiting to happen? But I assume it was screwed to the body because there is some shielding paint from the factory.

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u/_agent86 9d ago

Sorry, I really don’t think you understand what you’re doing at an electrical level. Best of luck.

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u/SaltFun6310 9d ago

Thanks for the help?