I wonder if anyone else has  experimented with making shielding paint.

@rocknroller912 I haven’t actually made any or experimented with making any but I have looked into it before. It is all inexpensive and the graphite could be suspended in anything really, so long as it will dry, paint, glue etc. Let us know how you get on, you need to find the right ratio mix and test it for conductivity. 👍

. I wonder if anyone else has  experimented with making shielding paint.

I've got an ancient tin of Galvafroid paint, I painted some on a peice of wood as a test,  but it wasn't conductive.

I bought some from Cat Music on eBay - seems to work - once applied and burnished it has a metallic sheen - conducts well - it was quite expensive for the volume but as I didn’t need a large quantity and didn’t want to risk the unused stuff going off that was fine.

I did look at making some but unless you were going to sell it the outlay would been too much....

Discussed this with my chemist friend yesterday and he suggested using graphite powder in acrylic paint or lacquer

If that works @rocknroller912, you’ll find a ready market.

All the “proper” stuff is incredibly expensive.

@tv101

I'm hoping to record some quantities as I go along, weight of powder and paint but not sure if my scales are good enough for small sizes. Maplin Electronics was a good source until it closed. I still have an old spray can with lots of paint but no air pressure and have seen Halfords stores putting air into a can, but don't think I'm brave enough to try it. Can't find a suitable adapter for my compressor anyway.

I had forgotten about this project and remembered it at the weekend. Mixing graphite powder sourced from Amazon with a lacquer works well but it does need to be mixed and applied thickly with a few coats. I used nitro cellulose as it’s quick drying and I had some in a jar left over from a spray job last year. The quantities were too small to record but I managed to get a photo of the meter reading with difficulty only having one set of hands, and one of them not working very well.

I also managed to find a UK source for the spray cans of Nickel Screening Compound that I used to buy from Maplin Electronics before it closed, so the home made stuff will take a back seat. RS online are one of the retail sellers which is easy. It’s got to be more convenient than Stew Mac, for UK based people anyway. If you’re worried about using spray cans to get into a control cavity it’s possible to spray into the can lid then use a brush.

https://electrolube.com/product/nscpnickel-screening-compound-plus/

Forgot to add that the NSC is available in 5L bulk for trade use so it will be a brush can.

Thanks for the update @rocknroller912.

Looks like its Farnell have it too;

https://uk.farnell.com/electrolube/nscp400h/coating-nickel-can-400ml/dp/1675347?CMP=grhb

I was thinking about this only today, is shielding paint necessary/ advised? 

@cheesewhisk - it really depends on how noisy (in terms of electrical interference) an environment the player is going to be playing in.

It's a nice touch, a good sign of "I'm a proper guitar builder" and not hard to do.

 There's no real downside to doing it, just takes a bit more time (inconsequential in the context of the total build time) and needs some more build material (inconsequential in the context of the total build cost).

@cheesewhisk

Yes it’s pretty much standard in quality guitars these days and Mark uses the Stew Mac brand. A while ago there was a discussion on the live stream about finding cheaper alternatives to buying from USA. 

Famous players from the 70s have had their guitars retro fitted with screening to improve the sound. Mark did cover it on utube and discusses all the aspects.

Some people use adhesive copper foil but it can fall off and cause a short circuit. I’m not sure of your electrical knowledge. It screens out radio interference (RFI) from the air and takes it to ground/earth stopping it from getting into the pick up signal. It doesn’t stop RFI which gets in through mains wiring.

I’m not sure of your electrical knowledge.

Mine is minimal @rocknroller912 - thanks for the correction/clarification!

I was thinking about this only today, is shielding paint necessary/ advised? 

None of my factory guitars have any shielding, except on the pickguards.
None of my partscasters or kit guitars have any shielding either (with the exception of a small strip of aluminium around the controls area of the pickguard).
I did put it on one of my telecasters , because its pickguard suffered from statics pretty badly, not because of interference.
On my own build guitars I am doing it just because it is just a minor effort.

@tv101

@koendb

I wouldn’t call it a correction your point of view is just as valid as mine and I think you are better qualified in electronics than me. In factory guitars it’s probably just cost. 70s amplifiers weren’t good enough to show pick up interference noise so it didn’t matter, but old guitars played through modern amps show all the faults and need up grades.

I was given a 70s WEM (Watkins Electronic Music) mixer amp a long time ago where the power amp was totally burned and blown so I replaced it with a modern high spec power module, stereo spec but for guitars. Auxiliary 50v + and - power supply with a centre ground tap and thought it would do. The sound was terrible all treble hiss. I managed to track down the designer Arthur Watkins and phoned him. Guess what he just laughed and said those old designs were good at the time but terrible by modern standards - so buy a new one.

I wouldn’t call it a correction your point of view is just as valid as mine

Oh @rocknroller912, my comment was not meant as a correction to any other opinion either! I think you are 100% correct about older equipment. I just responded to the original question if it is necessary or advised. So perhaps I should have pointed out that it is not necessary but could be advisable in certain conditions:

1. If I would build a guitar for a customer, I would do it

2. If you experienced issues with RFI or statics, I would do it

@koendb

Its hard to chat on the web without getting comments and people mixed up, maybe we should organise a zoom meeting or something.

@rocknroller912 I would love to do that sometimes.

Just got think link from a friend who is an industrial chemist 

https://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/g-shield-emi-shielding-paint-125ml/

Just got think link from a friend who is an industrial chemist 

@rocknroller912 Excellent, that’s new from NWG 👍