An ES-1BT as a first build

[dmoose5835]

Question about black bridge grounding - Simon and others have advised I scrape some of the black off - down to bare metal - for grounding. I assume that means scraping each saddle slot, and either the screw or the bottom of the saddle and in the trough where they slide. Also the bottom of the bridge at the post holes and the parts of the post the bridge rides on, and then the post and ferrule threads, and finally the outside of the ferrule body where the ground wire sits.
Did I miss anything, or am I overdoing it?
OR, should I just ground the trapeze tailpiece as the scrapes will be easier to hide?

[Dikkybee007]

Before scrapping anything get a multi meter and check. All of my black bridges I have checked with a meter and I didn't find I needed to remove any of the finish. It also depends on what the finish is as well as some of the bridges I had looked like they were painted and the ones I used looked like they were plated. Of course the ones that looked painted didn't ground properly but were about a quarter of the price of the plated ones.

[Simon Barden]

^^^ what Dikky said.

The kit bridges are normally about the cheapest types you can get, but always worth double checking to see if you need to do anything. I know that some have certainly been insulating, but the kits come from several different factories, and the hardware they use will also come from different sources.

If you do need to scrape, then I'd scrape the bottom of the saddle notches first, so you've got some exposed metal to connect a meter probe to, and work back from there, e.g. saddles to base of bridge, then to the bridge posts, and then to the bridge posts in the post inserts.

[dmoose5835]

Thank you both, Dikky and Simon!