Quote Originally Posted by neverwas View Post
Simon, think you have misinterpreted my question. not looking to separate screen wire from baseplate/cover, only to confirm the black wire from neck pickup is not directly connected to the screen, as the schematic requires. Wasn't sure so asked the question.
In my mind they are one and the same thing, which was why I said what I said. The four coloured wires come from the ends of the two coil windings. The screen is there to obviously provide screening for the signal wires but also to provide a ground for the baseplate and cover (if a cover is fitted).

Whilst you want to connect at least one of the four conductor wires to ground, you would do that at the control cavity end.

And whilst manufacturers tell you what wire they think should be connected to ground and hot, there's a good chance that if you mixed the pickup with one from another manufacturer, you'd have to swap the ground and hot connections over for them to be the same polarity in the 'both on' position. They obviously don't all agree on magnet polarity and what constitutes the coil 'start' and 'finish' wires.

Which definitely means you don't want any signal wires connected to ground/baseplate/cover at the pickup end.