Comment

Comment by smojo on June 19, 2009 at 7:46am

I've never found it necessary to ground the strings one a cbg with wooden bridge. I did have a problem like that once though and it was simply that I had the wires reversed - the screen was connected to the tip of the jack instead of the ring.

Comment by alan glass on June 19, 2009 at 7:23am

thanks c.j for that

Comment by ChickenboneJohn on June 19, 2009 at 5:00am

Metal plate under the tailpiece is a common way to do this...whatever you've got to hand will do, brass is a bit harder than copper.

Comment by alan glass on June 19, 2009 at 4:55am

hi
yes great idea i could put a plate on the under side where the strings are fed so that the ball end of the string touches it do a solder a wire on to the metal and is brass better or copper i think now i have got it sust wow great anybody have any thoughts about copper verse brass i woul appreciate the info

Comment by Kevin Lawton on June 19, 2009 at 4:08am

Yeah, I often use a metal nut as I make quite a bit of my hardware out of scrap brass 'door furniture'. Provided that you have got a connection to ground the strings at some place then it doesn't really matter where - bridge, nut, tuning machines, string trees, string anchors - anywhere will do. You just need something metal touching the strings with a ground wire to connect it to the earth side of the output jack socket, that's all. On one of mine, I ran the earth lead to the bottom end of the truss rod and then had the top ed of the truss rod connected to the brass nut. On another one, which was using a glass nut and bridge, I ran a wire up inside the neck to connect the tuning machines to the earthy side of the output jack socket. It is all good - - - just earth everything metal on the CBG that you can and it'll be fine. Like they say: 'don't sweat the small stuff'.

Comment by Roosterman on June 19, 2009 at 1:55am

Alan, Iv just seen your pics... forget what I said! lol The bridge looks cool as is. How about a metal plate under where you feed the strings through?

Comment by Roosterman on June 19, 2009 at 12:46am

Mmm... if its a wooden bridge you shouldnt need to ground it... I never do anyway and I cant say Iv noticed any humming. If it does need doing though, I would reckon on a small hole drilled under where the bridge sits for the earth wire, a corresponding hole through the bridge, and a thin strip of steel or similair to sit the strings on. I used an oval nail with the head ground off, sat in a dremel-made groove on one build.... worked very well. This way, you'll have the bridge grounded and hopefully wont see any wires! I do like Kevins 'telecaster' style solution though... think Il be using that!
On a similair note, what does confuse me though is this - people always talk about the bridge. What if the bridge is wood or plastic, but the nut is metal? Surely this equates to the same thing? Can someone explain this please? Cheers :o)

Comment by alan glass on June 18, 2009 at 8:06am

Hi guys
thanks for the advice i will let you know i have fitted a wooden bridge and i guess i have to earth the strings in some way or ground them i think is the correct word i had a chat with my brother last night on the phone he is a lot better than me with electrics and he said that because the strings are not grounded this is where the small hum( because they are floating sounds technical but he lost me at this point) comes from and when you touch anything metal the hum will go away because i the produce the ground for the strings does this make any sense if so any advice would be great i like the wooden bridge i just have to find a way of grounding the strings maybe some metal somewhere that comes in contact with the strings thanks again ben what a fantastic site its going to take me a while to get round everything.

Comment by Kevin Lawton on June 18, 2009 at 3:07am

Yeah, I'm in agreement here also. Make sure that everything metal on the CBG is well earthed - each one via a wire to the jack socket.
One easy way to remove some of these problems is this: You know how on a telecaster, all the pots and jack socket are mounted on a strip of metal ? Well, if you do the same on a CBG then they all get earthed together nicely through that metal strip. If you don't want the metal to show, then you can easily have it inside the box instead of outside, and you can easily make it out of an old baked nbean tin or whatever. Extend the piece of metal under the bridge as well and a screw-on bridge can be bolted right through the metal. Screening and earthing all in one ! :-)

Comment by Roosterman on June 18, 2009 at 1:34am

Hey Alan, glad you could make it. As for the earthing issue - I guess its a metal bridge? If so, birds dead right, jus run a wire to it... if its not metal, check your pots and wiring! lol

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