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Bridge Ground

ericw

ericw

Aug 19, 2009
620
13
39
Greencastle, PA
#1
How is the bridge ground wire actually attached to the bridge? You don't actually solder to the bridge do you? I just stuck the bare wire down into one of the screw holes for the bridge and screwed the bridge down. Sufficient?

I need to resolder a good portion of my project (because I SUCK :bawl:) so, if I need to change this, now is the time...
 
#2
That'll work. On many instruments I've seen, the ground wire is simply placed under the bridge, and when the bridge is screwed to the body, the wire is captured between the bridge and the body. The ground wire just needs to be firmly pressed and/or attached to the bridge. What you did should work just fine.
 
#3
Solder will not stick to the bridge.

Most people just fan out the strands of the ground wire and then screw the bridge down over it so that it gets sandwiched in between the body and bridge, but I prefer to ground my bridges with a strip of copper tape.

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#11
The point is... the ground wire simply needs to:

(1) Make good contact with the metal portion of the bridge. If for some reason you're working on a painted (not plated) bridge then yes, scrape some paint off so the ground wire makes good contact with the metal portion of the bridge.

(2) Be reasonably firmly held in place. Squished between the bottom of the bridge and top of the body is just fine. It ain't going anywhere. If you can/want to solder it, great. It simply wants to be held in place where the typical movements made during playing the instrument won't cause the ground wire to loose contact with the bridge.

All of this is common sense simple stuff... not rocket science need a degree to do it stuff.
 
#13
Slowgypsy said:
The point is... the ground wire simply needs to:

(1) Make good contact with the metal portion of the bridge. If for some reason you're working on a painted (not plated) bridge then yes, scrape some paint off so the ground wire makes good contact with the metal portion of the bridge.
Click to expand...

The purpose of a bridge ground is not so much to ground the base of the bridge, but to also ground the strings.

If you are having to scrape off some of the plating or paint on the bottom of the bridge, you need to also be sure to file the saddle grooves a bit and be sure that the saddles are grounded.
 

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