Does the Bridge always need ground

[Flynman]

Well I am just about to put the finnish on a tele body with a single P-90 at the bridge position. I am using a Hipshot 6 saddle bridge. I just realized I forgot to drill for the bridge ground wire (DOH). Is it necessary to have ground wire for this set-up?

thanks,
Keith R

 

[Mark Moore]

Yes.

The only time you can get away with not running a ground wire to the bridge is using a pickup with a grounded base plate that mounts directly to the bridge. Some people use a separate ground wire anyway.

 

[JohnS]

Yes.

The only time you can get away with not running a ground wire to the bridge is using a pickup with a grounded base plate that mounts directly to the bridge. Some people use a separate ground wire anyway.

+1. You can stick the ground wire between the bridge plate and the body anywhere. I would not skip this.

 

[avagadro]

Just for the sake of asking "why must we ground to the bridge?". are there any other alternatives? If we ground to the bridge, connected to the strings, connected to the player, connected to the earth, aren't we really saying that the player has to be part of the ground? somehow this seems dangerous although I realize it has been done this way for years. Who can answer my questions in a simple meaningful way?

 

[Bob W.]

The strings will act as antennae and will pick up all kinds of hum, buzz, and nasty noise.

 

[Rhomco]

OK, No problem

Just for the sake of asking "why must we ground to the bridge?". are there any other alternatives? If we ground to the bridge, connected to the strings, connected to the player, connected to the earth, aren't we really saying that the player has to be part of the ground? somehow this seems dangerous although I realize it has been done this way for years. Who can answer my questions in a simple meaningful way?

Just leave off any ground to the bridge/strings..............try it!

 

[aunchaki]

In theory, the bridge pickup (with metal baseplate and metal screws mounting it to the bridge plate) should do the job. Heck, communism works in theory.

In practice, run a dedicated bridge ground. It's the right thing to do.

 

[jefrs]

It is also a safety feature. Certain regulations do require any exposed metal to be earthed. This is to provide a low resistance path to earth, less than 0.1ohm, via the amp chassis which must also be earthed. The guitar is technically an exposed extension of the amp chassis. Without going into long and boring detail - this is for your safety, safety of other persons and safety of property, it is not just for shielding.
http://www.pat-testing.info/test.htm

 

[boris bubbanov]

The guitar is technically an exposed extension of the amp chassis.

This is a really useful way to get people to recognize the importance.

Well chosen words, thanks.

 

[telex76]

Yes, use it.

 

[spauldingrules]

You could ground one of the tuning heads, or a metal string tree instead.

 

[Thinlineggman]

Psh, who need a bridge ground? Run a wire from the back of pot straight to your spine then you have an excuse to take your tele everywhere!!!

But seriously, a bridge ground is 100% necessary.

 

[Nick JD]

How do you ground an archtop with an Ebony bridge and tailpiece?

 

[Thinlineggman]

How do you ground an archtop with an Ebony bridge and tailpiece?

Carefully.

 

[avagadro]

I hope I don't seem dense, but I'm still not getting it. Can't a ground go back to the amp rather than through me to the earth?

 

[elpico]

The ground is going back to the amp, not through you to the earth. The "Ground" we refer to when talking about household wiring is actually a metal pipe or rod that goes down into the earth somewhere near where your electrical panel is installed. It's quite literally a connection to "earth". Your electrical panel is grounded to this pipe, and therefore to the earth. Ground wires from the panel continue this earth connection up to the sockets on your walls. The amp plugs into the socket and connects this ground wire to the metal amp chassis. Then you plug the guitar into the chassis and the ground connection is extended to the strings of the guitar. There's a unbroken metal to metal connection from your guitar strings all the way to that pipe driven into the ground. The earth can absorb a tremendous amount of electrical current so any potentially harmful wire that happened to come in contact with your guitar would have it's current shunted away down that chain of ground wires to the earth instead of through you. In theory anyways There's a potentially lethal configuration where you have one hand on the grounded guitar and contact some high voltage with your other hand. Then you become part of the path from the bad stuff to ground and it runs across your chest where you're most vulnerable.

 

[Vizcaster]

How do you ground an archtop with an Ebony bridge and tailpiece?

Usually that's done with a wire that runs out through the tail block to the hinge on the tailpiece.

And I've never heard of the "safety" feature of a string ground and always thought it was a liability if there's a wiring problem in the amp or a polarity problem with the house sound system. Ever get lip-bite? or heard of musicians being electrocuted with one hand on a mic and the other on the guitar strings? Guitarnuts.com has an extensive discussion on this.

 

[Commodore 64]

My '94 MiM tele (Squier Series) has no grounding wire to the bridge. I've always assumed the the bridge PUP screws took care of it.

 

[elpico]

Usually that's done with a wire that runs out through the tail block to the hinge on the tailpiece.

And I've never heard of the "safety" feature of a string ground and always thought it was a liability if there's a wiring problem in the amp or a polarity problem with the house sound system. Ever get lip-bite? or heard of musicians being electrocuted with one hand on a mic and the other on the guitar strings? Guitarnuts.com has an extensive discussion on this.

The safety concept is to make sure everything you touch is grounded. If the microphone and the guitar are both connected to ground it's impossible for you to be shocked. That can only happen in a situation where either one or both pieces of gear is floating. Apparently this was common back in the days of two prong gear. I grew up in the age of three prong safety grounded equipment and have never been shocked by guitars and mics. I've seen old places with three prong outlets hiding the fact that only two conductor wiring is connected to it though. A little pocket outlet tester will show this kind of problem.

 

[avagadro]

Thanks for the explanation elpico. that helps clear things up. I've experienced the "polarity" thing before and always wondered why guitars didn't use a three wire cable to ground back to the amp, but your comments about outside electrical devices makes good sense.