grounding question

[mojobass]

please forgive my ignorance on such things as eletrical stuff has always puzzled me!!!

i'm looking to put together a jazz bass and ive bought a bosy which has standard pup and control cavity routing, but no hole for a ground wire to come from under the bridge assembly.

my question is.... does the electrics have to be grounded under the bridge? or could a screw be used in the control cavity into the body and grounded that way!?

Ive got an audere preamp to install and the only wire it needs connecting is the ground sut obviousy at the minute ive no way of doing that under the bridge!

advice??

[Ou7shined]

No you have to ground the bridge which in turn grounds the strings and ultimately involves you in the circuit.

[icastle]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1145664' date='Mar 1 2011, 01:10 PM']No you have to ground the bridge which in turn grounds the strings and ultimately involves you in the circuit.[/quote]

+1

You'll have to drill a hole if there isn't one already there.

As you have to drill the hole at a pretty shallow angle I'd drill a little hole stright down under the bridge where you want the wire to exit, and then reposition the drill to aim for the cavity.

If you try and drill a hole at an angle without the 'starting hole', the drill will just shoot off over the wooden surface.

[BOD2]

[quote name='icastle' post='1145705' date='Mar 1 2011, 01:37 PM']As you have to drill the hole at a pretty shallow angle I'd drill a little hole stright down under the bridge where you want the wire to exit, and then reposition the drill to aim for the cavity.

If you try and drill a hole at an angle without the 'starting hole', the drill will just shoot off over the wooden surface.[/quote]

+1

You might need a slightly longer than usual drill bit.

Also, protect the body of the bass with something (cardboard then a blanket or something) as your are drilling in case the rotation drill chuck touches against the body as you are drilling.

It's not a difficult thing to do if you have a suitable drill bit and take a little care to protect everything before you start.

[dougie]

All good advice,for drilling at angles etc i got one of these last week on offer at Aldis....£17,cant find actual offer link but this is what it is.far more powerful than a dremel,has flexi drive and loads of useful sh*t for guitar work,i used it for smoothing out the cavities before copper taping it etc,in my opinion its the best all in one kit if yer into guitar diy.
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Power-Craft-Tool-grinding-stones-brushes-ect-/170608789137?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item27b9138691"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Power-Craft-Tool-gri...=item27b9138691[/url]

Edited March 1, 2011 by dougie

[icastle]

[quote name='dougie' post='1146019' date='Mar 1 2011, 04:42 PM']All good advice,for drilling at angles etc i got one of these last week on offer at Aldis....£17,cant find actual offer link but this is what it is.far more powerful than a dremel,has flexi drive and loads of useful sh*t for guitar work,i used it for smoothing out the cavities before copper taping it etc,in my opinion its the best all in one kit if yer into guitar diy.
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Power-Craft-Tool-grinding-stones-brushes-ect-/170608789137?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item27b9138691"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Power-Craft-Tool-gri...=item27b9138691[/url][/quote]

That's a useful looking piece of kit - I'd have expected to pay more than that just for the flexi !

[dougie]

[quote name='icastle' post='1146028' date='Mar 1 2011, 04:46 PM']That's a useful looking piece of kit - I'd have expected to pay more than that just for the flexi ![/quote]
Exactly m8,not sure if the offers still on but i got mine by asking in store if they had any,wasnt any on display but they found some in the back.worth asking

[mojobass]

rather than drill the body could i use one of those copper grounding strips coming from under the bridge like the 60's jazzes used to have, the solder the ground wire to that inside the pup cavity?

[dougie]

[quote name='mojobass' post='1150402' date='Mar 5 2011, 11:20 AM']rather than drill the body could i use one of those copper grounding strips coming from under the bridge like the 60's jazzes used to have, the solder the ground wire to that inside the pup cavity?[/quote]
Cant see why not,if you have a multimeter set it to resistance,one probe on the bridge,other to the cavity your earthing it to,your aiming for a zero reading, ,simple as that,,,

[BOD2]

[quote name='mojobass' post='1150402' date='Mar 5 2011, 11:20 AM']rather than drill the body could i use one of those copper grounding strips coming from under the bridge like the 60's jazzes used to have, the solder the ground wire to that inside the pup cavity?[/quote]


Yes that would be fine too.

Whichever method you use make sure that you get a good contact under the bridge. It's a good idea to lightly rub down the underside of the bridge with an abrasive to clean it up there. A touch of Vaseline on the underside of the bridge will also help prevent any future corrosion which might mess up the contact.