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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2022 7:00 pm 
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This question isn't directly related to pedals, but there are a lot of smart guitar people here so I thought I'd ask...

I'm making personalized guitar pickguards and back covers (for the elec/elex cavity) for a friend where I design the parts in Fusion 360 and 3D print the parts from plastic filament material. The design of the parts have his band logo.

Are there any issues around stray electrical behaviors with plastic pickguards or back covers that would make noise on the guitar or affect its tone? My friend claims that he had an aftermarket pickguard on his Gibson Les Paul that it seemed to cause noise on the guitar and sucked the tone. He re-installed the original pickguard and the problem went away.

Why are pickguards laminated and backcovers are not laminated. If there is an electrical issue, it seems like a laminated part would tend to act as a capacitor in the same way that a film capacitor works and make the problem even worse. Is the lamination on the pickguard just for aesthetic purposes?

If anybody has any guidance on electrical behavior of pickguards and backcovers, please share your thoughts.

Thanks.

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2022 7:46 pm 
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Location: Albany, NY
The only problem I've ever run into with pickguards is static buildup during the dry winter months up here in the Northeast. But since I put a good evaporative humidifier here in my man cave, that hasn't been a problem. Have also heard of people rubbing the surface of the pickguard with dryer sheets like Bounce because they're loaded with an antistatic compound.

I've never had nor even heard of problems with back covers.

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2022 9:24 pm 
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With back covers I cannot fathom any situation where material type makes a difference. With pickguards, the static electricity thing is interesting but again, it seems a little far fetched to suggest it has any impact on pickup performance without some concrete evidence. But, there's one easy way to ensure it doesn't - shielding.

It might be impossible to create a true Faraday cage for the electronics when you are mixing wood, plastic, magnets, wire, etc. But, shielding the pickup cavity and pickguard with copper tape or paint goes a long way towards keeping things quiet.

This is also a separate issue from reducing 60 cycle hum in single coils. For that, some people (like Suhr) use dummy coils integrated in the guitar body or back plate to minimize it.

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