Bridge pickup buzz grounding problem

Hi, it is the first time I post here. I bought a cheap sx tele furrian, and I swapped the pickups with USA fender pups that I got used on ebay. I have two questions for this forum. The pickup that was in the guitar had a copper plate under the bridge pickup, but the fender one did not, and it did have some plastic rings instead of springs. Is that normal?
Also, my big question is: the bridge pup hums and I get horrible feedback with distortion. When I put my hand on the control plate it stops, and when I touch the strings with my hand it buzzes. I am assuming it is a grounding problem. I wired everything the same it was when I opened and it works. But there is a black ground cable that goes from the volume pot to the bridge hole via the cable cavity. It is not connected to anything, and it was not connected when I opened the guitar. I have read that you can tie that cable to one of the screws that holds the bridge plate to the guitar, but you have to make a hole on the guitar. I tried to fix it before by conecting the cable to one of the pickup screws (the ones that hold the pickup and the srping), but the pickup stopped working. I don't think it is a bad pup because the sound is twangy and beautiful. Any help? thank you

Most of the time the bare wire is simply sandwiched between the body and bridge plate. When you say plastic rings, do you mean rubber tubing?

Right, that extra wire is your string ground. The control plate is grounded and thats why the buzzing stops when you touch the control plate. The bridge must be grounded as well so that the buzzing stops when you touch the bridge/any strings/tuners.

Like posted above, one end of that wire should be soldered to the back of one of the pots, the other end needs to be stripped back a little and then sandwiched between the body and bridge, make sure it contacts the bridge good.

As far as the feedback, this will likely still happen. Do you know if the pickup is wax potted? Some vintage style pickups are not and they become very microphonic and squeel like a pig.

Thanks, I will try that, I hate to use another string set, I will play the neck pickup for a while, it is sweet. Next time I will just check it with my pick without the strings on. What about the copper plate that goes under the pickup in other brigde tele pickups. Is it normal that it does not have it? thank you again

What about the copper plate that goes under the pickup in other brigde tele pickups. Is it normal that it does not have it?


yes

Thanks, I will try that, I hate to use another string set, I will play the neck pickup for a while, it is sweet. Next time I will just check it with my pick without the strings on. What about the copper plate that goes under the pickup in other brigde tele pickups. Is it normal that it does not have it? thank you again

Yep, tis normal. This is why you now need a separate string ground more than ever. If a pickup has the copper plate, the mounting screws will contact the plate and the bridge which grounds the bridge/strings. I put a separate string ground on all my teles but it is a HAVE TO thing if there is no copper base plate on the pickup.

Hi, thank you for the responses I have to rewire the whole thing because the wiring of the SX is not the same as the Fender, so I will start working on it again. But, the buzzing went out with the ground tied to the plate screw. Thank you.