Clint Green wrote:
Or is the shielding of the pup cavites a non-issue?
It's a very small issue, not really needed in most cases where screened wire are used and ineffectual against single-coil hum anyway. If humming is really an issue with your humbuckers (like at really high gain), then covers are the best cure.
With the single-coil, wrapping the coil in earthed copper foil changes the sound, bleeding off some treble, which can kill some sparkle - some pickups/setups can spare it, others can't. If screening the single-coil cavity is needed and tape will be ugly, make a metal plate for the bottom of the cavity - I use brass for that and if you have a look at the upper left corner of the pic I posted, you will see the plate I use under the control cavity cover, which is the same stuff. In fact it works pretty well in a control cavity too, if you've got the patience to hand shape a plate to fit (the '70s Les Pauls used a similar plate and had a can over the controls and another that the jack socket lived in - very nice actually.
I see that it looks like you've used standard, unshielded wire here; did shielding the cavity alone make a major difference?
A properly shielded cavity meant I could use unshielded hookup wire, which is a blessing in a complex layout like that guitar. Anyway, a lot of the wiring you see there is running low impedance signal for the piezos or 13-pin, so less of an issue than it appears.
Any thoughts on just using aluminium foil?
Hate the stuff with a passion: impossible to solder, so it needs mechanical connections; tears easily over edges and with contact from controls; and messes with eddy currents if you get it too close to pickups. If you're going to pay the price of the self-adhesive stuff, you might as well buy the copper tape with the conductive adhesive.
