Blade Pickup Question Du Jour: Grounding Blades?

[PoorMan]

I was making good progress on my blade humbucker...until I tried to ground the blades.

I can't get solder to bond to the blades. It's acting very much like my iron isn't hot enough--it's almost certainly not (40 watt). I don't mind buying a hotter iron...just don't want to fry the coils in the process.

The blades are pretty big (Charlie Christian sized). I roughed them up with sand paper and wiped them down with flux...no dice.

1. Must/should the blades be grounded?
2. Do the blade winders here ground the blades?
3. Suggestions?

Thanks

[Stealth]

It's usually a good idea to ground the pole-pieces to insure there's no buzz in case the strings hit the blades or someone touches the blades.

You can always go about it the way Nordstrand does, and use copper tape on the bottom of the pickup. Just use a strip of self-adhesive copper foil and stick a strip across the bottom of the blade, then you can solder the ground wire to the copper strip. Just make sure the copper foil's adhesive is conducive; check the front and back side with a continuity tester or multimeter to see if there's continuity between the glued side and the copper side.

[David Schwab]

Yes, ground the blades. On a regular humbucker the poles are usually grounded to the baseplate.

[copperheadroads]

I've been thinking the same thing ,Using copper foil but this might be an alternative ,If this is the stuff , I remember seeing a thread about it (I can't remember for sure)
ThinkGeek :: "Wire Glue" Conductive Glue
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t29961/

[David Schwab]

I just use copper foil. It's easy to do and you can solder your ground wire to it.

[jason lollar]

I keep a roll of conductive adhesive copper tape around but there is also a conductive epoxy I have seen but never used.

[PoorMan]

I like the idea of copper foil. I think that would work great in this application. But the tape I have does not have conductive adhesive.

EDIT: I have Stewmac tape and It does appear to work. Some spots on the adhesive are non conductive but it must have thin enough adhesive that the foil makes contact in some places...I think this will work!