'nother noob electronics thread: ground wire?

ishouldbeking · #1 11-17-2007, 12:00 AM

my recently purchased wiring harness came with a diagram explaining how everything gets connected (which wires to pickup, etc). but the ground wire coming off of the tone pot just says "ground wire to bridge".

how do i wire it to the bridge? i did a quick search and found that on strats you solder it to a trem claw. well, this is a p-bass and i'm replacing the junk SX stock bridge with a gotoh 201. do i just put the stripped wire in contact with the bridge somewhere and screw it down? do i solder it somewhere? for whatever reason wiring instructions never seem to explain this, they just say "ground always goes to ground."

of course it does, but how do i do that?

knuckle_head · #2 11-17-2007, 06:59 AM

There is generally a hole drilled beneath the bridge that is a chase for a ground wire. In the pot cavity there should be a wire leading into the free space from the direction of the bridge. Solder the specified wire from your harness to that wire - another wire in your harness is likely connected to the negative terminal on your jack.

ishouldbeking · #3 11-17-2007, 12:14 PM

I'll take a look at the guts of my SX to confirm later, but since I'm swapping out bridges will i need to solder the ground wire (I'm replacing every single piece of junk wire that came stock in the SX) to the bridge or do i just screw the bridge down on top of the exposed tip of the ground wire?

For some reason all instructions I've found are really vague about this.

ToneRanger · #4 11-17-2007, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ishouldbeking

will i need to solder the ground wire to the bridge or do i just screw the bridge down on top of the exposed tip of the ground wire?

I generally just make sure there's plenty of bared wire under the bridge and screw the bridge in place. Make sure the bridge is clean of any finish or oily residue. Check for continuity with a multimeter.

ishouldbeking · #5 11-17-2007, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToneRanger

I generally just make sure there's plenty of bared wire under the bridge and screw the bridge in place. Make sure the bridge is clean of any finish or oily residue. Check for continuity with a multimeter.

Perfect, i was hoping it was gonna be that simple. thanks!