Tailpiece Grounding.

After working out the kinks of grounding the strings to the pick-up, I've pretty much settled on this system. I start with a piece of hardwood 1/2" to 3/4" thick and large enough to fit width of fingerboard string spacing and Height that will allow me to screw solid into the tailblock, it varies each piece. Then I drill a hole through it that will allow a wire to go through that will also go through the tailblock, it is usually lower and in the center of the piece. I bought a scrap door kick plate for about 7$ and it works great. It is thin enough to cut with a tin snips and shape on a belt sander, but thick enough to hold up to string pressure when finished with out indenting. Make sure to shape the brass plate to the block before gluing. I then run a wire through the block and rough up the gluing surfaces so the epoxy will hold better and then make sure I have a good amount of wire making contact to the brass plate 1/2" is usually good. Then I epoxy and clamp brass to the wood. Let sit over night. I finish the shaping by hand sanding excess epoxy and hand filing the brass edges. Be careful not to over heat the piece or the epoxy will come loose and unglue. Don't use the belt sander. Final before gluing is adding the string holes. I clamp the piece and carefully hand drill the brass first, then I tilt it in a vice so I can drill at an angle where the strings will come out the top instead of the back of the block. This angle is better and keeps the strings from ripping out of the top of the block under pressure. When it looks nice I make a hole for the wire in the tail block on the inside of the box and glue the piece in position on to the box with wood glue. Leave over night. Next day I drill two holes and countersink them and add two screws to give it extra support. Now just wire it to the input ground and you are done. Good Luck with your projects. Mark Doc-o-rock Melchior

Tailpiece#1 Owl.jpg

Tailpiece #2 Owl.jpg

Tailpiece#3 Skill box.jpg

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