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Where to ground a hardtail strat?


Yavin

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I have a hardtail strat body with no hole drilled to ground to the bridge. Can I ground it somewhere else? I have seen guitars with grounds to the body of the guitar via a screw and a loop style end on the ground wire. Will this work? Where else could I ground it instead of drilling the bridge hole?

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You have to drill a hole, no way around it unless you want it to buzz like crazy. The ground must make contact with the strings via the bridge. Your body then acts as a EMF shield.

 

Its pretty simple actually. The distance isnt that far to the cavity. Go in from the top and over to the cavity on an angle.

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Grounds to the body that you've noticed are for grounding shielding or shielding paint inside the cavity. I guarantee those guitars had a bridge ground as well. Just drill a hole the the cavity and pop a wire through. Many times the wire is just held against the bridge plate by compression.

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On a tremolo unit, it is much easier, but the hardtail makes it more complicated to drill.

 

So drill at an angle and try to go from top all the way across right? As simple as this sounds, it just wreaks of EPIC FAIL! lol

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The hole doesnt have to start in the center of the bridge, it can be a bit on the trebble side. Then just get your angle right and drill. An extra long bit helps alot. Dint get to close to the drill clutch that holds the bit. It can chew the hell out of the top.

 

You're right about the strats though. I've built 4 or 5 of them and they do get to be old news. I've had a another neck and body hanging around for a year. Havent had the ambition to mess with it. My last thoughts were to put the set of Rickenbacker pups in it or Mini Humbuckers. Hell i might even go for a set of both and have a 4 pup strat. Only thing slowing me down is I have to cut my own pickguard because the cavity is a bit oddly placed.

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Wow, that would be a monster!

 

I broke down and bought a new Fender 5-way at lunch today just so I don't have to deal with translating that stupid inline import switch to the other diagrams. I evidently have a problem somewhere in my project and am struggling mightily to fix it.

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With 4 pups I'd use four mini toggels. I have a strat with 3 DPDT on off on mini toggels wired on off reverse phased in the three positions. Its my favorite wiring scheme for a strat because it give you about 10~12 different selections. I like having the out of phase sounds for some real razor cutting action. I'd only be able to uses on off switches woth Mini humbuckers but I can use phase reversal with the rick pups because they have single wires like a strat pup does.

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I don't have a problem wiring strats. Everything is out in the open once the pickguard is off. Teles are a bit tricky for me as there isn't much room under the hood. Something else that simplifies bridge ground on a hardtail strat. Yes the hole has to be drilled. Once that's done put a screw into the body somewhere accessible. Put a ring terminal on the bridge ground wire. Then take your p/g ground wire & put a spade terminal on that. Hook them both to this screw. Then it's easier to get the p/g installed.

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I don't have a problem wiring strats. Everything is out in the open once the pickguard is off. Teles are a bit tricky for me as there isn't much room under the hood. Something else that simplifies bridge ground on a hardtail strat. Yes the hole has to be drilled. Once that's done put a screw into the body somewhere accessible. Put a ring terminal on the bridge ground wire. Then take your p/g ground wire & put a spade terminal on that. Hook them both to this screw. Then it's easier to get the p/g installed.

 

 

Good idea there. The strat problem is all the jumpers going everywhere and grounds all over. Just looks like a spaghetti factory when it is done.

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Go to the dollar store and get some mini tie wraps and do a neat job. You can test the thing out of the guitar and having them tight and neat cuts down on hum.

 

What is the best way to test it? Evidently I am stupid. I button it up first. :facepalm:

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Plug it in and touch the pups with a screw driver. They will make a definate clicking sound. You can test your switches, volume and tone that way before you button it up only to find you got something not working right.

 

You can also test the hot wires touching them to see if they buzz in tracing connections across switches, checking puts etc. Its basic signal tracing 101 for guitar wiring. The voltage on a guitar input is super low, less than a volt, but dont be barefooted in water of course. Wouldnt want you to glow in the dark. Its no different than plugging in a live guitar courd though, just keep the amp low so you can hear it and not blow a speaker.

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Plug it in and touch the pups with a screw driver. They will make a definate clicking sound. You can test your switches, volume and tone that way before you button it up only to find you got something not working right.


You can also test the hot wires touching them to see if they buzz in tracing connections across switches, checking puts etc. Its basic signal tracing 101 for guitar wiring. The voltage on a guitar input is super low, less than a volt, but dont be barefooted in water of course. Wouldnt want you to glow in the dark. Its no different than plugging in a live guitar courd though, just keep the amp low so you can hear it and not blow a speaker.

 

 

OK. I knew the screwdriver test, but thought you had something different in mind. Thanks for the info.

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