bridge grounding question

[zibafu]

Hi there, I have been very slowly making a guitar, I bought a explorer style body and neck a while back, painted it etc etc, and now after a long time of it sitting there, I have been wiring it

now the wiring schematic I have been following says that I should wire it to the bridge pin, the bridge pin is deep inside the body of the guitar, I can see it if I shine a light down the hole where I must route some wires, but theres absolutely no way I could possibly reach it with a solder iron to wire it up.

so my questions are:

How important is grounding it to the bridge ? If I don't will I get an electric shock or something when playing?

If it is important to ground it to something, could I get around my problem by, I dunno, sticking a metal bar inside the wiring cavity, like against the inner wall of the cavity, and grounding to that ?

cheers in advance guys

[Stealth]

The best way is to lift the bridge out, pull a wire through the routed tunnel, then use the bridge or tailpiece's own pins to pin it down, that should be enough of a mechanical and contact to ensure the strings are grounded. Ungrounded instruments have a tendency to buzz until you touch the strings. If you really can't be bothered to tunnel to the bridge assembly you can use a strip of self-adhesive copper tape from the bridge to the nearest pot and let it connect with the pot itself there.

On the other hand, that introduces the chance of an electrical shock. To avoid that, solder a 220K resistor (at least 1/2 watt) and a 0.02 µF capacitor (rated to withstand 400VDC) together in parallel, then solder one end of that R-C circuit to the bridge wire, the other end to the nearest pot casing. In case of a shock, you won't get fully shocked (only by a fraction, enough to let you know something isn't right with the venue grounding). In extreme cases the capacitor will likely blow and unground the strings so you don't get shocked again.
If you went with the lazy route, to make sure you don't get shocked, don't connect it to the pot, but run the tape under the pickguard into the cavity. Then apply the 220K resistor and capacitor as above.

[zibafu]

even with the bridge off, theres still a pin visible, when I shine a light down there, the actual bridge it seems doesnt mount over the wire cavity, so its pretty much impossible to get at it.

However, after some extensive google searching, since noone answered right away and I was pretty much sat there with a solder iron waiting to finish it, lot of people on google searches were saying it doesnt really matter, so I havent actually grounded it to that pin, the wiring diagram I followed had me grounding to practically everything else in there tho. There isnt really any noticeable buzz either, which is a bonus.

Now I am no electrician by any means, I simply follow the diagram, and hope for the best, so forgive me but your talk about resistors, parallel and r-c circuits has just flown over my head and gone out the window :P

I do wonder tho, if I got a piece of metal and solder a grounding wire to that, and just attached it to one of the inner walls of the cavity, would this work in the same way that the bridge grounding does ?




Btw, the guitar works perfectly, well almost, looks good, sounds good, plays good.

however

it has 2 humbuckers, and 3 knobs - 2 vol, 1 tone, 1 vol per pickup, yet for some reason the neck pickup doesnt mute when I turn it down, it goes like slightly, slightly, quieter, bridge pickup mutes when I turn it down tho, they are both wired identically, so, well whilst I am no electrician by any means, I know I haven't wired that neck pickup wrong, so a bit of a random problem, possibly that the pot itself is slightly faulty in some way, but I really, really dont wanna replace it lol

[Plucky]

it has 2 humbuckers, and 3 knobs - 2 vol, 1 tone, 1 vol per pickup, yet for some reason the neck pickup doesnt mute when I turn it down, it goes like slightly, slightly, quieter, bridge pickup mutes when I turn it down tho, they are both wired identically, so, well whilst I am no electrician by any means, I know I haven't wired that neck pickup wrong, so a bit of a random problem, possibly that the pot itself is slightly faulty in some way, but I really, really dont wanna replace it lol

Pics or it didn't happen.

Also, you do need your strings to be grounded, unless you are using EMG pickups or something similar where it is not required.

[zibafu]

lol, I can upload pics if you like, but that wouldnt prove the 1 volume knob per humbucker thing :P

no they aint emg pickups lol, they are by a brand called wilkinson, I'd never heard of them before, but decided to give em ago, and they were really cheap, like £30 off ebay.

hmm, I don't know how I am gonna manage to ground the strings/bridge then,

I guess the only way, would be to somehow, drill a hole inside the main wiring cavity, towards the bridge mount myself, then wire a cable to it, but I dunno.
Might end up taking it to a guitar tech shop, see what they think.

[Jazz P Bass]

That is exactly how "most" all guitars ground the bridge.
A hole is drilled under the bridge, into the control cavity.
Then a wire is slipped down through the hole & grounded at the control pot ground point.
The wire insulation is stripped back & literally lays under the bridge.
Contact is made when the bridge is tightened down.

[soundguruman]

There are some who say that the bridge should not be grounded because it is a shock hazard.
You are holding on to ground with your fingers, and if your lips touch a microphone that is energized, it will shock you. (microphones should be grounded)
Improperly earthed (grounded) (microphone case energized) PA systems have caused plenty of shocks, some fatal. In many cases the ground involved was the bridge of the guitar.
You see, if the bridge is not grounded, then your body is not grounded, and you will not be shocked by an energized microphone case.
When you are shocked, it is ground that completes the circuit that is shocking you. Without ground you are not shocked...

Yes, grabbing on to the strings stops the ground buzz, from a single coil pickup. Other than that, there is no distinct advantage to grounding the bridge.

[zibafu]

There are some who say that the bridge should not be grounded because it is a shock hazard.
You are holding on to ground with your fingers, and if your lips touch a microphone that is energized, it will shock you. (microphones should be grounded)
Improperly earthed (grounded) (microphone case energized) PA systems have caused plenty of shocks, some fatal. In many cases the ground involved was the bridge of the guitar.
You see, if the bridge is not grounded, then your body is not grounded, and you will not be shocked by an energized microphone case.
When you are shocked, it is ground that completes the circuit that is shocking you. Without ground you are not shocked...

Yes, grabbing on to the strings stops the ground buzz, from a single coil pickup. Other than that, there is no distinct advantage to grounding the bridge.

yeah that seems to be the general consensus I got from google search results, I only really hear a slight "hum" or "buzz" if you will, when sat right near the amp, so I can easily just sit further away from the amp when playing.

My main concern now is the damn neck volume knob not muting when I turn it down, just goes slightly quieter, makes no sense, unless the pot is damaged somehow

and its annoying, cause I wired it purposely to have a volume knob per pickup, for a cutoff sort of feature, aka turn one volume right down, then quickly toggle between neck and bridge pickups for an on off on off effect, it works one way, cause the bridge will mute, but doesnt work the other way

[soundguruman]

the volume pot is probably bad if you are sure it's wired correctly.

[Stealth]

Yes, grabbing on to the strings stops the ground buzz, from a single coil pickup. Other than that, there is no distinct advantage to grounding the bridge.

A single-coil pickup on its own hums from the 50/60 Hz and harmonic cycle mains lines. The strings collect electrostatic noise which is a buzz. Those are differing causes with different-sounding noise and they should be treated differently, at least to my knowledge.