I’ve replaced the stock pickups on my Player Tele with Vintage Noiseless. In my haste to remove the old bridge pickup, I disconnected the ground wire from the bridge pickup and failed to make a note of where the wire (see picture) was anchored. The ground wire goes from the pickup to the bridge mounting plate and then on to the volume pot. My problem is that I cannot find anywhere on the base of the bridge plate to attach the terminal of the wire and keep the bridge flush with the body. Any suggestions would be most welcome - a picture would be even better.
Solved - Fender Player Tele - Ground Wiring Problem
- Thread starter Pixie-Bob
- Start date
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Yes that makes sense. I guess that it would need to be attached in this way, to this screw?
Except that you would put it on over the screw and against the bottom of the bridge plate itself. Then place the spring or tubing on and lastly the pickup. Now the pressure of the spring will help it keep contact with the bridge.
I haven't opened a Player Tele but on the MIM Standards that came before it the bridge pickup didn't have a metal base plate.
If you have a metal base plate on the bridge pickup you don't need to ground the bridge separately. The screws that hold the pickup in the bridge connect the bridge to the pickups ground.
They stuck the extra ground wire on there on the standards cause the ceramic pickup was all plastic and didn't ground the bridge.
So if the new pickup you put in has a metal base plate you can lose that extra wire.
The pictured pickup you might still need it cause it's threaded plastic. Some pickups thread the metal base plate. (Mine has a threaded base plate)
If you have a metal base plate on the bridge pickup you don't need to ground the bridge separately. The screws that hold the pickup in the bridge connect the bridge to the pickups ground.
They stuck the extra ground wire on there on the standards cause the ceramic pickup was all plastic and didn't ground the bridge.
So if the new pickup you put in has a metal base plate you can lose that extra wire.
The pictured pickup you might still need it cause it's threaded plastic. Some pickups thread the metal base plate. (Mine has a threaded base plate)
The bridge pickup on the Player (pictured above) does have a metal plate and was grounded as I've described. The wiring diagram for the Player confirms this.
That's what I thought and went straight from pickup to the volume pot (as with the neck pickup) but the result of that is that the bridge is not grounded.
Yah I corrected myself in an edit... the requirement to use the extra ground lug probably depends on how the pickup is threaded.
Some pickups look like this and have threads right through the metal, it looks like the player pickup is not threaded through the metal... the plastic threading insulates the plate from the screws that connect to the bridge so you need the strap. It probably saved them a couple pennies to not thread the metal?
image removed
