An NMR spectroscopy body probe is comprised of at least one surface coil, each coil having at least one turn and positioned adjacent to a first surface of an insulative member; an electric-field-reducing shield is fabricated upon the other surface of the relatively flexible substrate. The shield surface of the probe is to be positioned closest to the sample. A plurality of surface coil-bearing substrates can be stacked, one adjacent to the other with the planes thereof substantially parallel to each other and to the plane of the electric-field shield, and with each individual surface coil being separately tunable to a different nuclei species resonance frequency. Each surface coil can be utilized for both transmission and reception, or can be used for only reception of the re-radiated signal from the sample, with a separate excitation coil being provided with a radius substantially greater than the average radius of the (receiver) surface coil and positioned in the plane of any of the at least one receiving surface coils.