Standard Tele Wiring, extra ground wire?

[littlejohn]

I've been looking at a few of the T drawings on this stuff..some show a ground wire to the plate, some don't?
I don't think nay of the teles I've owned had an extra wire the few times I took the plate off to swap pickups over the years.

Any advise?
Thanks in advance.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...=standard_tele

[jwells393]

It can't hurt and I've found it can help reduce noise.

[surfoverb]

Originally Posted by littlejohn

I've been looking at a few of the T drawings on this stuff..some show a ground wire to the plate, some don't?
I don't think nay of the teles I've owned had an extra wire the few times I took the plate off to swap pickups over the years.
Any advise?
Thanks in advance.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...=standard_tele

If your bridge PUP has a metal bottom plate then you don't need it...You can opt to still use one but you don't need one unless, you feel you really need one.

[PhatTele]

In a Tele, you should always have at least 3 wires coming from the bridge cavity: 1 hot PU lead, 1 ground PU lead, and 1 shielding lead (which goes to ground). That shielding lead is what connects the strings to ground and what helps keeps things safe and what helps reduce the 60 cycle AC hum. Nearly every properly wired guitar has some version of that shielding lead. In Gibsons, the lead goes to the bridge posts. In hollow bodies with trapeze or Bigsby end pieces, there's a bare wire that goes to one of the small bracket mounting screws at the butt end of the guitar. In Strats, there's a ground wire soldered to the spring claw. In each of these cases, the wire is tracing a connection from the strings to ground.

[surfoverb]

Originally Posted by PhatTele

In a Tele, you should always have at least 3 wires coming from the bridge cavity: 1 hot PU lead, 1 ground PU lead, and 1 shielding lead (which goes to ground). That shielding lead is what connects the strings to ground and what helps keeps things safe and what helps reduce the 60 cycle AC hum. Nearly every properly wired guitar has some version of that shielding lead. In Gibsons, the lead goes to the bridge posts. In hollow bodies with trapeze or Bigsby end pieces, there's a bare wire that goes to one of the small bracket mounting screws at the butt end of the guitar. In Strats, there's a ground wire soldered to the spring claw. In each of these cases, the wire is tracing a connection from the strings to ground.

What about Teles? Mine don't have a 3rd wire and its grounded just fine...Lol maybe Leo got it wrong the first time afterall.

[mellecaster]

Originally Posted by PhatTele

In a Tele, you should always have at least 3 wires coming from the bridge cavity: 1 hot PU lead, 1 ground PU lead, and 1 shielding lead (which goes to ground). That shielding lead is what connects the strings to ground and what helps keeps things safe and what helps reduce the 60 cycle AC hum. Nearly every properly wired guitar has some version of that shielding lead. In Gibsons, the lead goes to the bridge posts. In hollow bodies with trapeze or Bigsby end pieces, there's a bare wire that goes to one of the small bracket mounting screws at the butt end of the guitar. In Strats, there's a ground wire soldered to the spring claw. In each of these cases, the wire is tracing a connection from the strings to ground.

Agreed...Just because Fender didn't do it on all, means nothing...a separate ground is much more reliable than (3) 6/32 machine screws that can become dirty w/ crud and the like....it's a Real World Solution, that takes very little extra time, and just eliminates one more little Gremlin that can happen during a Performance.....in your living room, maybe not so much ?

[PhatTele]

In Teles, that 3rd wire should be touching the bridge plate (not screwed into the wood, which I've seen...which doesn't make sense to me).

BTW - Maybe not having isolated grounds within the wall wiring back in the early days meant Leo left out the shielding wire on the earliest Esquires and Teles because it wouldn't have made any difference? Now that we have that ground wire in the wall, it's a good idea to take advantage of it.

[surfoverb]

Originally Posted by PhatTele

In Teles, that 3rd wire should be touching the bridge plate (not screwed into the wood, which I've seen...which doesn't make sense to me).

BTW - Maybe not having isolated grounds within the wall wiring back in the early days meant Leo left out the shielding wire on the earliest Esquires and Teles because it wouldn't have made any difference? Now that we have that ground wire in the wall, it's a good idea to take advantage of it.

That's interesting.
I don't like the idea of having a wire crammed under neath the bridge, doesn't that affect the coupling?
What's great about the CIJ bodies is that they have a route going to the control under the bridge so the bridge will still be flush if you choose to put a wire under it.

[PhatTele]

I use multifilament cloth covered wire or some other multifilament wire. I strip back the casing and splay/fan out the filaments before putting them underneath the bridge near the bridge screws (between the bridge plate and the body). The individual filaments are very thin, so when everything's screwed down, there's no gap. Sometimes, I even angle a small hole from underneath the plate into the PU cavity and then run the splayed wires. That's the method I like the best.

Another way to do it is to put a solder lug over one of the PU screws between one of the springs (metal or rubber spring...it doesn't matter) and the bridge plate and then run the wire from there. I think you get more solid contact with the first method, but if you're worried about a gap, this is probably the best alternative.

[mellecaster]

This ain't Super Hi-Tech...but it works for me.

[newey]

PhatTele said:

That shielding lead is what connects the strings to ground and what helps keeps things safe and what helps reduce the 60 cycle AC hum.

It may help reduce hum. It has nothing to do with safety.

[jwells393]

mellecaster............ that is cool....