ES-335 (trini) kit grounding wire issue

[LexLuthier]

Hey everyone,

I got overly excited putting hardware into my guitar and hammered in the posts without running a ground wire. Is there a creative solution to fix this or a workaround?

Any help or advice would be awesome. I did not see a similar thread out there so I think I might be the first person to forget something so obvious. I assume the best solution is to run the ground wire from the pickup cavity and mount a hunk of metal (screw perhaps) into a free space but wanted to ask first.

Thanks everyone!

Edit: I should mention I am installing burstbuckers with braided wire. If so, can I skip the ground wire from the post and just solder the braided wire to the top of the top and run the inner wire through the pot terminal? Or do I need to do one or both?

[McCreed]

Unless you glued the posts in with CA, you should be able to extract the one you need for the ground wire without damaging the finish or timber. **

Rather than me typing a 2 page essay, Google "removing LP bridge post bushings" and watch some YT videos.

The only thing I do differently than many, is I use a short piece of hardwood dowel instead of a metal screw.
The timber used for the centre block in the kits can be soft so I prefer not risking metal again wood. Just my opinion.

**Edit to add:
You shouldn't have needed to glue the bushings, but it's a common mistake. If you did glue them, hopefully you use a wood glue versus an epoxy or CA. Wood glue should still be able to be extracted, the others will be more difficult.

[LexLuthier]

Thanks, McCreed! I did not glue it luckily. I will look into extracting the bushings. Before I do that, since I have braided Gibson pickups (with braided metal wire), do I still need to run a ground or can I rely on the metal braiding and solder the braiding of each pickup to the appropriate pot (and also separately wire the pickup wires to the terminals)?

Thanks

[McCreed]

Thanks, McCreed! I did not glue it luckily. I will look into extracting the bushings. Before I do that, since I have braided Gibson pickups (with braided metal wire), do I still need to run a ground or can I rely on the metal braiding and solder the braiding of each pickup to the appropriate pot (and also separately wire the pickup wires to the terminals)?

Thanks

You can use the metal braid for interconnecting the pot grounds, but there needs to be a dedicated ground wire to/from the bridge that ties it into the ground half of the circuit. If the bridge is not grounded, you will get buzz when you're not touching the strings or metal parts of the bridge (or anything else conductive within the ground half of the circuit).

[fender3x]

1+ to what Mcreed said.



I like the hardwood dowel approach better than what I did. I tried to pull it out by screwing the post in and pulling on that. That can get the post out, but can also strip the threads. Later I used the sophisticated device in the pic to pull it out. That was slow, but worked without stripping anything.

Brad Angove's video is the one I wish I had watched...

[LexLuthier]

Luckily I got it fixed. Now my problem seems to be a bad solder job. I haven't put the wiring harness in yet because I don't think it's quite right. This is an exceptionally sloppy solder job. Can anyone tell me if / where I may have gone wrong?



I suspect it's a poor connection or grounding issue. If I plug the jack into an amp and tap pickups with a screwdriver, it picks up noise but there's a constant buzz regardless.

Any tips? - also - if it matters, this is wired left handed. top row of hardware left to right is the switch, then the bridge volume. The pot directly below the switch is neck volume, to the right of that is the bridge tone, lowest pot is neck tone, and at the very bottom is the input jack.

I would describe my wiring as: connected the bridge pickup wire to the right bridge volume terminal, neck pickup in right terminal on the neck volume pot, earthed the mesh wires on the pickups to the corresponding pots, grounded input jack on bridge tone pot, grounded ground bridge wire to the neck volume pot.

Thanks again everyone

[fender3x]

I am dyslexic and not super reliable about such things... But when I move in close, it looks like there may be connections (eg with the caps) where they may be double connected?

Is the bridge connected to the ground? I am guessing that's the black wire coming out of the f-hole?

It's also possible that when you soldered the braid to the pots you may have melted through the insulation inside. You have so much solder on the back of some pots (neck volume and bridge tone particularly) that it's also possible that you might have cooked a pot. Rare but possible. As a check I would string the guitar and see if the how it sounds in all the various settings. If all the settings work as they are supposed to, but there is still a buzz it's most likely a bad ground.

You might also have a cold solder ground somewhere.

Of course it could be someone obvious to a less "neuro-diverse" person ...hopefully others will chime in.

[LexLuthier]

Fender3x - tried your advice to just string it up. Buzz almost entirely gone! I am going to fish the pots and hardware and see where this takes me. Sounded awesome on my Blues Jr despite some serious string buzz I still need to resolve. Gonna get it dressed up and set up!

Easily my sloppiest solder job (on a very short resume). It started clean and got progressively worse as my toddler needed my attention

[fender3x]

I had a funny feeling about the grounding issue. Weirdbits or DrNomis might be able to explain it. I have no EE background, but my understanding is that buzz is often the result of your unsheilded parts acting sort of like an antenna. That is particularly an issue with pickups. You ground the bridge primarily to ground the strings. Perhaps the strings act as sort of a shield for the pickups? In any case, glad to hear that the buzz went away ;-)

Any solder job that works is a good one IMHO. Also, good call attending to the toddler ;-)

[Barno]

I had a funny feeling about the grounding issue. Weirdbits or DrNomis might be able to explain it. I have no EE background, but my understanding is that buzz is often the result of your unsheilded parts acting sort of like an antenna. That is particularly an issue with pickups. You ground the bridge primarily to ground the strings. Perhaps the strings act as sort of a shield for the pickups? In any case, glad to hear that the buzz went away ;-)

Any solder job that works is a good one IMHO. Also, good call attending to the toddler ;-)

Hi there I'm just finishing my build. I have 3 of the 4 posts for the bridge etc. I have my ground wire stuck through into the hole where I'm going to hammer the last bridge screw mount....

....but do I just poke the wire through and hope some of it connects with the bridge post as I hammer it in?
Is there more to it than that?

I've attached a photo if that helps - suggestions / advice welcome!! thanks