Help! How do I solder the ground to the Bridge?

[anthonyc007]

I am building a Parts-o-caster right now and I am trying to solder a ground wire to the bridge, bu it won't stick! What am I doing wrong? Help! :dead

[anthonyc007]

Can I screw it into a hole instead of solder?

[Jim Collins]

Is this a Tele or a Strat? If it is a Strat, solder a wire between the spring claw and the volume pot casing.

In the case of a Tele, it works best if the wire is multi-strand. Strip about an inch or so of the insulation from one end. Splay the strands out, and lay them down on the top of the body, underneath the bridgeplate. Bolt the bridgeplate in place. Solder the other end of this wire to the volume pot casing.

[Kap'n]

Does a tele even need a ground wire on the bridge? I thought that was the initial intended function of the baseplate.

[Don]

If it's a Tele and the pickup has a baseplate you don't need a ground. If the pickup doesn't have a baseplate, like an Am. Series, a piece of bare wire trapped between the body and bridge plate is all that's needed, you would do the same on a hard tail Strat.

[grandturk]

You're probably having trouble because the soldering iron is not heating up the spring claw enough. You need a fairly hot soldering iron 35-50W to get those large metal pieces hot enough. You might try scratching the surface of the claw to get more surface area for the solder to flow. That sometimes helps. Otherwise, leave the heat on the claw to get it good and hot, then apply the solder... but if your only working with a 15W iron, the claw is going to dissipate the heat faster than you can apply it.

[anthonyc007]

By the way, it is a Tele that I'm building with a SD Lil 59 bridge pup. I tried to pin the ground wire between the bridge and the body. I think it works. However, my setup is not working.

HELP!

If I touch the strings or the pickups, I get a hum from the amp. But no response if I strum the strings. What is my problem? Anyone have any trouble shooting tips for this?

?

[grandturk]

Can you post a picture or diagram of how you have everything wired up? You may have some cold solder joints in there, or have forgotten to ground something.

[photoweborama]

The way I ground the bridge is I solder the bridge ground wire to a pieced of flat sheet copper and then put that under the bridge. Lays nice and flat. then since I shield my guitars, if I used copper, I solder the strip to the pup shield. If I use anything else, like metal tape, I firmly tape it inside so it grounds both.

[anthonyc007]

Here are some pics of the wiring. It is the Stew-Mac wiring kit. Anything look bad?

[Jim Collins]

A couple of things. First, those capacitors are not clipped short enough. The treble bypass cap should be clipped just long enough to be soldered to the two volume pot lugs. There is too much bare wiring hanging out -- things could easily short out when you put the control strip back in place. The tone cap is too long, too. The usual way Teles are wired is to extend one tone cap though the rightmost volume pot lug, all the way onto the volume pot casing, and solder that cap leg in both places. There is nothing wrong with the way you did it, though, except that leaving the legs so long creates the opportunity to short out.

What material is that control strip made of? It looks as if it is non-conductive, but I can't tell. A Tele's control strip should be made of conductive material. If it isn't, you will have to ground the tone pot casing and the switch. If the control strip is conductive, this is automatic.

The pictures don't really show how the switch is wired.

[photoweborama]

What Jim said. I'm not a fan of disc caps...

[Don]

I'll just give my version of what other's have stated above-

I'll bet the leads on those caps touch as soon as you put the control plate in the guitar. Shorten the leads or put heat shrink tubing over them.

The control plate looks like it's painted black. Scrape the paint off where the two pots contact it or run a ground from pot to pot.