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Argh! What have I done to my Resonator? !

Posted by Derin Oloyede on May 26, 2016 at 9:08am in Cool gear discussion - that's not cigar box relate

I have a relatively cheap  electric resonator guitar made by Vintage.

I've had it for years, mostly just hanging on the wall. So then I saw this You Tube video where it recommended cleaning your resonator out periodically to get rid of all the dust inside.

Anyway, as I took the tailpiece off I noticed there was a small, bare wire essentially sitting there in free air not connected to anything! Please see the photo above.

What have I done?! Is this meant to be attached to something? I can't see anything that it's supposed to be attached to. Under the tailpiece there's just some felt type material stuck to the under surface. Is the bare wire meant to be stuck under this or something?

Many thanks in advance for any help or guidance.

Derin

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Replies

  • Cause the Blue rat May 27, 2016 at 5:49pm

    this is why it's very important to make sure you wire pickups in correctly. Send all that energy to ground and it's lights out baby! ; ) 

    Be a good time to check for corrosion. If you got it clean it up and you're good to go. 

    I've got a few guitars that are worth a bit. Both have the same unsoldered setup.  In all the guitars I've ever worked on I don't thing I've ever seen this end of the wire soldered. Even on Fender hardtail  bridges. 

  • Ron "Oily" Sprague May 27, 2016 at 1:02am
    That's a tailpiece ground, designed to ground your strings. I'd very carefully look to see if there's a little brazing or soldered area on the inside of the tailpiece. That's where it should attach. Just sticking it back under the felt will not result in a reliable connection, and will leave you open to noise. I'd just dab a bit of solder on it to stick the wire onto the tailpiece. The felt is there to prevent the tailpiece from scratching the finish on the edge, to act as a dampener so you don't get any rattling from the tailpiece (remember, it's only string pressure that holds everything together), to keep it from moving or sliding, and to act as an insulator.
    • JL > Ron "Oily" Sprague May 27, 2016 at 6:41am

      sadly enough several of my commercially produced name brand store bought instruments are grounded only by a bare wire 'trapped' under the hardtail, no positive connection, *sigh*

      • ChickenboneJohn > JL May 27, 2016 at 1:33pm

        There's nothing wrong with trapping a wire like this in order to ground a tailpiece. After all, nobody is going to solder the  strings onto the tailpiece to ensure grounding continuity are they? This is the same thing that happens on guitars with stud-type tailpieces and bridges like most Gibson solidbodies -  a wire is fed into the post hole and simply trapped when the pots are inserted.

      • Ron "Oily" Sprague > JL May 27, 2016 at 6:48am
        That's because they are cheap corporate bastards trying to shave a penny's worth of solder, and nobody will notice the buzz with all the other jangling going on. Quick get out yer soldering iron!
        • Ron "Oily" Sprague > Ron "Oily" Sprague May 28, 2016 at 1:46am
          Y'all do realize I was being ironical? Yes, you will ground out the strings and tailpiece on the bare wire tucked under the tailpiece. I just like having mine soldered to the tailpiece, because I've repaired two of these for friends which had intermittent buzzing noises, due to the wire not being fully in contact at times with the tailpiece. One had a flat spade connector that got bent funny, the other was just a kinked bare wire. Soldering them on fixed the noise problems.
    • Derin Oloyede > Ron "Oily" Sprague May 27, 2016 at 4:15am

      Many thanks, Ron.

  • Dan Sleep May 26, 2016 at 9:40am

    It looks like your tailpiece mounts over top of that wire. The wire probably grounds the resonator cone to the tailpiece, and hence, to the strings. If it has a pickup in it, then you would want all metal parts grounded.

    • Derin Oloyede > Dan Sleep May 26, 2016 at 9:56am

      Thanks Dan!

      So really all I need to do is make sure that the wire stays in contact with the tailpiece...maybe stick it under that felt pad you can see in the photo...when I reassemble the guitar?

      • Dan Sleep > Derin Oloyede May 26, 2016 at 12:39pm

        Yea, just make sure the wire contacts metal. The strings contact the tailpiece, so by that contact, the strings are grounded as well. If it is equipped with a magnetic pickup, you would want to have the pickup ground wire connected as well.

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