Odd grounding problem.

[pgnbstrd]

I'm at a loss, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

I just completed putting together a bass from a body I built and a neck I had extra.

Simple wiring. V V T flush mount jack.
Pickups: bartolini x4 narrow soap bars.

Everything is wired up in typical order, but when I went to connect the ground wire from the bridge, it kills the signal completely. If I don't connect the bridge wire, everything works fine but I get a grounding buzz unless I touch one of the pots/knobs. Touch the knob, buzzing stops.
Here's what may be the cause, sadly the pick lead got torn in two( please don't ask, it's better if you don't know how it happened) I reconnected the two sections, then heat shrink tubed them back together. It seems like the pickup with the reconnected lead is the problem, but it tends to fade some what from time to time, so I'm not sure it is the culprit.

Is there another way that any one can think of ground the pots?
I tried putting a small screw in the control cavity and running a ground from that but it didn't make any difference.

Thanks.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by pgnbstrd

I'm at a loss, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

I just completed putting together a bass from a body I built and a neck I had extra.

Simple wiring. V V T flush mount jack.
Pickups: bartolini x4 narrow soap bars.

Everything is wired up in typical order, but when I went to connect the ground wire from the bridge, it kills the signal completely. If I don't connect the bridge wire, everything works fine but I get a grounding buzz unless I touch one of the pots/knobs. Touch the knob, buzzing stops.
Here's what may be the cause, sadly the pick lead got torn in two( please don't ask, it's better if you don't know how it happened) I reconnected the two sections, then heat shrink tubed them back together. It seems like the pickup with the reconnected lead is the problem, but it tends to fade some what from time to time, so I'm not sure it is the culprit.

Is there another way that any one can think of ground the pots?
I tried putting a small screw in the control cavity and running a ground from that but it didn't make any difference.

Thanks.

One way I can think of that that could happen is if there is another connection to ground for the bridge already in place and you have somehow swapped the hot and ground leads to your pickups. If that has happened, then when you connect the ground wire to the bridge, both hot and ground are grounded => no signal.

[pgnbstrd]

I went back through and switch the two leads coming from the pickups. Now if I touch the bridge ground wire. No hum. but if I attach it to the pot or jack ground, still getting hum. Any suggestions?