Note: Shield braid for output jack wire may be soldered to body of pot as shown or attached to a ring terminal under a pot shaft as described in text Another Note: Make sure the pot bodies (shells) are grounded to the foil via the shaft. I've never seen one that isn't, but there is a first time for everything especially as the manufacturers start using cheaper and cheaper components. In the event you find a pot that doesn't have a grounded shell, simply move the tremelo wire and output jack wire shield to ring terminals under the pots.I did Atchley's shielding/rewire on a Squire for my nephew, and it knocked the hum down to imperceptible, both high frequency and 60Hz. Didn't try it in a bar, though, just close to a computer monitor and near the floor -which is a second-story floor just over the fluorescent lights. No buzz or hum either place. I used copper shielding tape, soldered seams. Worked great for me. The 60 Hz seems to depend on the grounding path from control to control to jack, not on the shielding. Sheilding seems to be for buzz. 1.Stuff you will need: Soldering iron (30 watt pencil is fine) and resin-core electrical solder. Single edge razor blades or hobby razor knife. Small hand tools (screwdrivers, needle nose pliers, wire cutters, etc.) About 1' of "audio" cable which has two conducors inside a separate shield. A few feet of insulated 20 or 22 guage wire (you can use the inner conductors from the audio cable mentioned above). A few uninsulated "ring" terminals that will fit over the mounting shaft of the pots on your guitar. 1 set (male-female) insulated push-together connectors (for the tremelo wire -- so you can easily remove the pickguard without having to resolder the tremelo ground wire each time). Heavy duty aluminum foil. Craft spray trim adhesive. Electrical insulating tape (also nice to have some heat-shrink tubing but not critical). Either a small bottle of rubber cement or thin conductive copper self-stick tape or non-ferrous conductive paint. NOTE: Most copper foil tape has a non-conductive adhesive which means you need to fold over the edges and stick them down with tape or thumbtacks to electrically connect the various pieces. I have found a source of copper tape with conductive adhesive intended specifically for shielding. Allied Electronics (800-433-4700) part number 708-8092 (cat# 956) is copper tape with conductive adhesive -- 1/2" wide by 36 yards (enough for several guitars) -- and quite expensive ($64.59). If you use this kind of tape, you don't need to fold over the edges, but you do need to do a 50% overlap. Which method is "best?" For ease of use (easiest to hardest): 1.Conductive paint 2.Copper tape with conductive adhesive 3.Copper tape with non-conductive adhesive 4.Foil and glue For most effective shielding (though you probably won't be able to hear any difference between the first three): 1.Several coats of good conductive paint 2.Copper tape 3.Foil and glue 4.A skimpy coat of conductive paint A 1uf, 400V metal film capacitor (not a typo -- that's one microfarad -- not point-one microfarad). 2.Remove the plate that holds the input jack. Draw yourself a little sketch of where the wires went and then desolder them. 3.Remove the entire pickguard assembly. Snip the small wire that runs through the body to the tremelo (vibrato) approximately in the middle. Carefully pull the wires that went to the output jack through the hole in the body. 4.Carefully draw (and double-check) a complete diagram of the wiring of all the components on the pickguard -- there are minor variations in wiring from model to model so e-mailing me something like "help, where does this wire go" is probably not an option! We'll do as little changing of the existing wiring as possible, but some changes are needed. 5.Remove all the controls and pickups from the pickguard. You shouldn't need to desolder any wires, but if you do, make sure you tag them as to where they should be reconnected. 6.Lay the pickguard face down on a sheet of newspaper (you might want to use some other kind of paper with a white pickguard -- I've never had newsprint rub off onto the guard but there is a first time for everything). Spray the back of the pickguard with a light coat of 3M spray trim adhesive. Let the adhesive dry until it is tacky. Move the pickguard to a fresh sheet of paper. Lay a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil over the back of the pickguard and, working from the center outward, press it flat to the pickguard -- carefully working out creases and bubbles. 7.Next we'll work on the guitar body. Note -- it is not necessary to shield the tremelo cavity on the back of the guitar -- only the control/pickup cavity on the front of the body. First, pull the loose end of the tremelo ground wire (the one snipped when you removed the pickguard) through the body into the tremelo cavity on the back. Clean all of the sawdust, dirt, and polishing compound residue out of the body cavity. Shield the body cavity using one of the three methods outlined below. Regardless of the method used, we want the shielding to "roll" onto the face of the guitar (but only where it will be covered by the pickguard) particularly at the points where the pickguard mounting screws enter the body. Use one of these methods: Conductive paint -- paint the entire body cavity. Not all conductive paints are really suitable. You want a paint that is non-ferrous (aluminum or copper) and that has a very high metal content (good conductivity). To test for suitability, paint a scrap of wood a couple of inches across. After the paint has dried, test with an ohm meter. With the two leads at opposite ends of the painted patch, you want a dead short or at most a few ohms. Higher resistances mean your shielding won't be as good. Aluminum foil -- Use rubber cement to make the foil stick to the body. Let the cement dry to tackiness before pressing the foil to it. Cover the bottom of the cavity first, then use strips an inch or so wide that overlap the bottom foil and run up and roll over to the face of the guitar. Rubber cement is non-conductive, and we want the shield to be "solid," so tape the overlapped end of each strip down to the foil on the bottom of the cavity with electrical tape. Copper tape -- Use much like the aluminum foil, but you don't need rubber cement. Since the adhesive on the tape is not conductive, fold the bottom end of each strip over and tape it down to the copper tape in the bottom of the cavity. Poke a hole through the shielding and push the tremelo ground wire back through. Attach a male insulated connector to the loose end of the wire. 8.Returning to the pickguard -- trim the excess foil around the pickguard and from within the cutouts. Be careful not to cut the plastic of the guard itself -- that is very easy to do, especially around the beveled edges. 9.Crimp and solder one lead of the 1uf, 400V capacitor to a large ring connector. 10.Prepare a two-foot piece of twin-conductor shielded (two conductors plus shield) audio cable as follows: Strip back about two inches of outer insulation. Separate the braided shield from the inner conductors all the way back to the outer insulation -- twist the braid into a wire. Crimp and solder the end of the braid to a large, uninsulated ring terminal. Insulate the twisted braid with electrical tape. Strip about 1/4" of insulation off each inner conductor. Solder one of the inner conductors to the circuit point where the negative (or shield) of the original output jack wire was attached (remove original wire). Solder the other inner conductor to the circuit point where the positive (or inner conductor) of the original output jack wire was attached (remove original wire). 11.Reinstall the pickups and controls to the pickguard. When you do this, slip the ring terminal that has the capacitor attached over the threaded shaft of one of the pots, between the body of the pot and the foil on the back of the pickguard. Keep in mind that the capacitor is fairly large and has to fit into the body cavity so experiment a little to find the best place to position the capacitor (which pot and which direction it should be "pointing") before tightening down the controls. Slip the ring connector that is attached to the shield braid of the output jack cable under one of the other controls. 12.Now, we are going to straighten out the screwy factory wiring. A little judgement is called for here because the wiring differs slightly from model to model. What we want to achieve is a circuit with two "grounds" -- one of which is wired directly to the negative side of the output jack and will be refered to as "signal return" from here on out, and the other which is the shield or "chassis ground" which will be attached to the signal return only through the 1uf 400V capacitor you installed in the previous step. Assuming a standard "single ground" Strat, we achieve this by ensuring that all of the wires (except the tremelo ground wire) that were originally attached to "ground" remain attached to a common point (a ring terminal with the shank cut off) but isolated from the shield or chassis ground. This part can be a little confusing, but if you take your time and follow these steps in order it is not at all difficult. Find the loose end of the tremelo ground wire we cut earlier (it should be a black wire soldered to a pot body). Attach the female half of the insulated slip-together connector to the loose end. Cut the "shank" off of an uninsulated ring connector -- we'll use the ring as a convenient mechanism for soldering all of our signal return wires at a single point. Use a bit of sandpaper or steel wool to clean the ring. Holding the ring with a pair of pliers (it's going to get hot) tin it with a thin coat of solder. Remove any wires which are soldered from the body of one pot or switch to the body of another. It is not necessary to replace these wires, just get these ground loops out of the circuit! Remove any wire which runs from a control (pot or switch) terminal to a control body. In it's place, run a 20 guage insulated wire from the control terminal to the ring connector with the shank cut off (signal return). In cases where a pot terminal is bent back and soldered to the body, desolder the terminal and straighten it out. Then run a 20 guage wire from the terminal to the ring connector (signal return). Any remaining wires which are attached to a control body will be either an original "ground" side of a pickup, the tremelo ground wire, a separate shield for a pickup wire (aftermarket pickups with multi-conductor wires with a separate shield such as some Seymour Duncan pickups), or the "negative" wire from our new audio cable for the output jack. If the tremelo ground wire is soldered to the body of a pot, leave it there. If it is soldered to a pot terminal, move it to the pot body. For wires which are the "ground" side of a pickup (may or may not be a "shield" braid) - simply move them to the ring connector with the shank cut off (signal return). For wires which are a separate shield for an aftermarket pickup wire, leave them alone. NOTE: There must be at least three wires (counting the braid) from a pickup for there to be any possibility that the braid is a separate shield! Even if there are three or more wires, there is no guarantee that the braid is not either tied to the negative wire of the pickup (at the pickup) or is even serving as the negative conductor of a split-coil pickup. If the "negative" side of the new output jack cable is attached to a control body, move it to the ring connector with the shank cut off (signal return). In most cases, there should now be exactly one wire soldered to a pot body -- the tremelo ground wire. In a few isolated instances where aftermarket pickups have been installed, you might also have shield wires attached to the body of a pot. 13.If you have an ohm meter available, check the continuity between the ring connector with the shank cut off (signal return) and the foil on the back of the pickguard. This must be an open circuit. If it is not, find out why! First, check that the only wire remaining soldered to the body of a control is the tremelo ground wire. If you left the shield braid of an aftermarket pickup wire attached to a body, chances are you've just discovered that the shield braid is actually attached to the "negative" side of the pickup, try moving the braid to the ring connector with the cut off shank (signal return). 14.Solder the unconnected end of the 1uf 400V capacitor to the ring connector with the shank cut off (signal return). 15.Insulate the ring connector with the shank cut off (signal return) and any wires or control terminals that might touch the inside of the body when the pickguard is installed. Remember, the body cavity is now our chassis ground and we don't want any part of the circuit to touch it. 16.Feed the loose end of the new output jack cable through the hole to the jack cavity. 17.Hold the pickguard over the body cavity, close enough that the connectors on the tremelo ground wire can be fitted together. Push the connector halves together snuggly. 18.Reinstall the pickguard, gently pulling the excess output jack cable and tremelo ground wire through the holes in the body. There should be room to coil the tremelo ground wire in the rear body cavity. 19.Cut the output jack cable so that there is just enough "slack" to work with the output jack plate removed. Strip back about 1" of outer insulation. Remove the braid from this 1" as well, and use a little electrical tape to ensure that the exposed bits of the braid can't come in contact with the jack or mounting plate. Solder the inner conductors to the output jack and reinstall the output jack mounting plate. Why a 400V capacitor? I've had a few people ask why I specify a 400V capacitor when guitar circuits usually only have a few millivolts on them. The reason is simple, that capacitor is what stands between you (via the grounded strings) and your amplifier. Some vintage tube amps, in particular, could fail such that they put a potentially lethal DC voltage on the "ground" side of the jack. This type of failure is extremely rare, but why take the chance? The 400V capacitor won't break down like a 35V capacitor would in the admittedly extremely unusual case where you might plug into a "killer" amp. Note that the OEMs don't seem all that worried, most guitars have the strings grounded directly without any isolation. Also note that, on most guitars, the jack is a non-insulating type which means that the jack plate will be directly grounded even after this modification. The 1 microfarad (yes, 1, as in one, not point one) designation is a little less critical. You could easily get away with a 0.47 or 0.68uf capacitor. The larger the value the better, up to a point. If your control cavity is tighter than normal, you might want to go with a 0.47uf 400V because it will be physically smaller. I wouldn't go much lower than that though or you might start suffering noise. If you can't find a 1uf 400V capacitor, try Allied Electronics (800) 433-5700 -- stock number 998-0425.