Where is the ground wire channel?

that thing coming out of the bridge and going to the bridge pickup is your ground. that was like that on vintage instruments I guess.

 

I had an 80's Korean made squire that was just like this on my bench a few weeks ago. originally in the 60's this ugly thing was hidden by the bridge cover. but on the 80's and 90's it was common to see these on certain models. the brass strap folds down onto the pickup cavity and is soldered to the earth plate under the pickup. unless you are using active emg pickups, you should reinstate a bridge earth wire. you'll need a long series drill bit. it looks a simple job, but there are a few pitfalls. the drill is at a very shallow angle. make sure you mark the drill for depth as it can flex and wander, missing the bottom of the pickup route, then potentially emerging through the back...

 

"What's that?"

Looks like a grounding strap.
Flat, wide.
Perhaps cut from a piece of adhesive backed shielding copper?

 

Only half right. See the post above yours.
Stock grounding on tens of thousands of J basses. Solid metal ribbon.

 

Before Fender could drill out channels for bridge grounds, they used a strip of copper over the top of the body, between the bridge and bridge pickup cavity. (As the picture that Iz4005 posted shows.) This practice stopped once it became cost effective to ground bridges the "normal" way that we do today. If you look at Jazz basses from the early 1960s, they had copper strips. Some people still choose to ground their bridges that old fashioned way, in order to chase after vintage-correctness.

 

Well, you could go with EMG active pickups, then wouldn't have bother with any type of bridge ground.
Don't need it with those,,,

 

Back then Fender basses weren't given immediate Excalibur status in the ridiculous way we do now. It was a tool to get a job done. Leo Fender barely played. He made tools for workers who did a job. He didn't make pieces of art to be doated over and copied to the inth degree. Never mind that he never figured anyone would take the covers off. To him, I'm sure the pickups themselves (and bridges with all their screws and springs) were too utilitarian looking and needed to be covered.

Relax. Ground your bass however you want. Fender wasn't being a hack or a slacker. That metal strip didn't bother him like it does you. End of story.

 

I like the green color btw. would look great with a red tort

 

It was done when long drill bits were bloody expensive and the only industry that could really afford them was the one they were originally developed and manufactured for, airplane manufacture. It was a time when precision drilling to a depth of more than 4 times diameter was a specialized art unto itself so it was more a practical thing that allowed Fender to produce instruments rather than piles of scrapped bodies as he trained his workforce how to angle drill with a bit made from unobtainium.

Kinda like titanium, before the fall of the Soviet union, titanium was also known as unobtainium, but it was because the only customer allowed to legally purchase it in the US was contractors working for our Uncle on projects that specifically required it. It was produced in (relatively) small batches to make it easier to keep up with and scrap from production had to be accounted for. Some small amounts slipped into the civilian world, usually from overseas suppliers, but the per ounce price was more than 4 times the per ounce cost of gold. Once carbon fiber was fully developed and integrated into defense, restrictions were relaxed a bit, but it was not until the the fall of the USSR that Uncle Sam removed restrictions on who could buy it and amounts manufactured. These days it's cheap enough to be found in a plethora of consumer goods where lightweight and strength are big selling points.

 

In the modern day, I agree that it's a very mickey mouse solution. Too tacky for my taste, and I don't see why people still do it. But it made sense in its time.

 

Ya know, I'm a bit baffled by all the BS floating around in this thread. Bits made of unobtainium? Too expensive to drill a hole? WHAT?!? Go check out the images on this site and see if you find any ground straps running from the bridge to the pickup. Nope! And keep in mind - you're looking at original instruments made in '51 & '52. They drilled plenty of holes at an angle and quite long ones at that.

Granted, on the early J basses they were most likely trying to save a few bucks, but it wasn't due to it not being possible to drill a hole. They already had a hubcap over the bridge & pickup, so why drill a hole when you can recoup a few bucks in the process with a cheesy ground strap?

 

There are ways to ground, and then there are ways to ground.

1965 Magnatone Hurricane X-10 Bass | Musician's Enemy

It would be instructive to know when bridge grounding became SOP. I have seen many fifties, and even sixties, basses with no grounding whatsoever.