P Bass Grouding plate

[211dave112]

Recently purchased u used P Bass body. The pickups/electronics seem to be grounded to a brass(?) plate beneath the pickup. Do I need to then ground that plate to the bridge or leave as is?

[Wil]

[quote name='211dave112' post='965753' date='Sep 23 2010, 04:08 PM']Recently purchased u used P Bass body. The pickups/electronics seem to be grounded to a brass(?) plate beneath the pickup. Do I need to then ground that plate to the bridge or leave as is?[/quote]

Everything should be grounded to the earth lug on the output jack, bridge included. Sounds a bit of a strange setup, its not the remenants of some cavity shielding is it?

[WarPig]

[quote name='211dave112' post='965753' date='Sep 23 2010, 04:08 PM']Recently purchased u used P Bass body. The pickups/electronics seem to be grounded to a brass(?) plate beneath the pickup. Do I need to then ground that plate to the bridge or leave as is?[/quote]

I cant help you, but ive got an old p-bass with that too and was wondering the same thing.

[211dave112]

*not my pic* but mine is a slightly battered looking version of this

[url="http://media.photobucket.com/image/p%20bass%20grounding%20plate/pulplogic/P_Pickup_Plate.jpg"]http://media.photobucket.com/image/p%20bas...ickup_Plate.jpg[/url]

(won't let me embed)

Edited September 23, 2010 by 211dave112

[ikay]

[quote name='211dave112' post='965753' date='Sep 23 2010, 04:08 PM']Recently purchased u used P Bass body. The pickups/electronics seem to be grounded to a brass(?) plate beneath the pickup. Do I need to then ground that plate to the bridge or leave as is?[/quote]

This brass grounding plate was standard on older Fender basses and yes it should be connected to earth sleeve of jack socket (or nearest earth connection). Here's a pic of the grounding plate in my 72 P

[attachment=59530:P1020706.jpg]

[211dave112]

[quote name='ikay' post='966059' date='Sep 23 2010, 08:37 PM']This brass grounding plate was standard on older Fender basses and yes it should be connected to earth sleeve of jack socket (or nearest earth connection). Here's a pic of the grounding plate in my 72 P

[attachment=59530:P1020706.jpg][/quote]


ah...someone in the know

on your bass, is there an earth going to the bridge still?

the grounding plate is connected to the vol. pot casing as you'd expect but there's no electronics>bridge connection.

[ikay]

[quote name='211dave112' post='966165' date='Sep 23 2010, 09:53 PM']ah...someone in the know

on your bass, is there an earth going to the bridge still?

the grounding plate is connected to the vol. pot casing as you'd expect but there's no electronics>bridge connection.[/quote]

Yes, there's an earth wire from the bridge to the jack sleeve and everything else (grounding plate, pups, pots) is also earthed back to the jack in a dasiy chain - eg. pup to ground plate > ground plate to pot > pot to jack sleeve. The exact configuration of this dasiy chain doesn't matter as long as everything is connected to earth somewhere. Hope that helps

[Geek99]

I was reading that a brass plate in this spot changes the sound subtly - is this true ?

[ikay]

Not that I've noticed, although I haven't done any A/B tests with and without grounding plate. If it was a steel plate it might change the magnetic field which could then have an affect on the sound. But as it's non-ferrous I can't see it having any effect on the sound.