Direct mounted pickups... SD natural series

[J .]

Hi, quite a special question... I've been looking at The Music Zoo San Dimas natural series, there are some awesome guitars in that line. However, I'm not very much a Floyd-kind of player, or any other tremolo bar-kind anymore, I'm more into fixed bridge. So I thought I'd put together similar guitar but with a fixed bridge and different pickups. Scored a *sweet* tele body made of koa, flame top and all... Now that I'm about to put the thing together, I started wondering one thing: do the SD naturals have shielding paint in the pu cavities? Yes, most have humbuckers with mounting rings, but what about the ones with neck position single coils? The reason I'm wondering about this is purely esthetical, would it look stupid to have the pickup cavities painted with black shielding paint when the guitar is finished natural (oil or wax)? Anybody have one of these guitars? Any opinions on the look of bare wood vs black?

Yes I know this is a minor detail, but hey, minor details matter!

[GuerillaPete]

I would paint definitely paint the PU cavities with shielding paint. Since you're using a koa body (which is normally a dark wood) you won't see the paint in the cavities. Plus, once the pickups go in you won't see a thing.

[Learn Guitars]

The shielding paint is really much more effective when you run a lead from the pick up cavaty and terminate that ground leg to a common ground. You will not notice the black as Pete mentions.

[J .]

Thanks for opinions and advice, both of you! Still, looking at my Fusion Deluxe, I can see the violet paint in the front singlesize dual blade pickup cavity. Hmmmm... I'm just wondering how does the shielded/painted wood actually look like next to the au naturel koa. Anybody have any pics (I think mahogany would do as well)?

[Newc]

You can get black/dark grey shielding paint. Not sure why your fusion has violet shielding paint.

I had a natural-colored Ash-bodied KV that had direct-mounted pickups with painted cavities, and the effect with black pickups is just like they were casting a shadow in the cavity.

Really I don't think you'll be able to tell from 3 feet away if it was painted or not. Obviously if you've got your nose against the pickup, you'll see the paint.