Confused about ground wire, need some feedback.

[Domz]

I am changing the pickups out on my Fender Prophecy II and when I removed the originals I found a ground wire screwed into the body under each. The P pickup ground was soldered to the one on the left and the one on the right was just sitting under the J pickup.

I checked with a multimeter to see if the black paint was conductive but it doesn't seem to be.

I am alil confused as to why it would be just sitting there under the J pickup, not doing anything.

Am I missing something?

Wouldn't it make sense to line the cavitys with copper shielding and then connect both together?

Here is a pic of the patient.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

The black paint is for shielding. It's supposed to be conductive. It's not the best way to shield things, but it's fast. If you check it with an ohm meter, you should get a reading.

 

[Domz]

thats what I figured but I checked continuity with my multimeter and got nothing. Does the paint go bad with time?

 

[SGD Lutherie]

thats what I figured but I checked continuity with my multimeter and got nothing. Does the paint go bad with time?

Don't check continuity, check resistance.

 

[Domz]

I get some resistance but if I dont get anything on continuity I dont see how it can be conductive.

The cavitys of my jazz bass are copper shielded and I was told to connect them together with a ground wire. I get continuity when I touch the probes to the seperate cavitys.

Shouldnt that stand true here as well?

Isn't it essential to create a Faraday cage?

 

[SGD Lutherie]

I get some resistance but if I dont get anything on continuity I dont see how it can be conductive.

Resistance means conductive. Continuity checks for less than an ohm or two. This is higher than that.

The shielding paint is carbon based, like a resistor. So it does offer a path to ground for noise. However, copper foil or nickel based paint works better.

 

[Domz]

ahhh ok...

thank you very much for taking the time to help!

I have copper shielding left over so ill go that route.

 

[OmegaZ27]

Can we see some more pics of your Prophecy??? (BTW, you should join the Heartfield/Fender club on these forums )

I would agree that copper shielding is way better than the conductive paint. I did that to my main Prophecy II. It helped quiet down the stock pickups, but now I have an active EMG set with a BQC Preamp, so I don't have to worry about hum at all.