Ground wire

[Michael P. Lemieux]

Hello again
I have an epiphone emperor that has the back pickup out and the wires to that pickup removed from the volume and tone controls. I have to replace the pickup and the wiring. It has a wooden floating bridge with a trapeze tailpiece shown in the pic attachment. Question is, do the strings needed to be grounded, if so, how? I should know this, but I don't.
Thanks for any help,
Mike

[Ron Frazier]

All magnetic pickups need grounded. If you take off the tail piece you will find a ground wire coming out off the body in a small hole and just lay es between the tail piece and the body.

Ron

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

The strings should be grounded for the most noise reduction. First, test to see if they are already grounded by testing continuity between the strings and the ground side of the output jack. If you have continuity, then the tailpiece (and the strings) is already grounded. If you don't get a reading, then you need remove the tailpiece and run a wire from the hinge (is that wat it's called) to the ground side of the output jack. While everything is out, you should check all the other connections, as well.

Joshua

[Michael P. Lemieux]

Hey guys,
That's what I needed hear. Thanks so very much,
Mike

[Rob Mercure]

Nice axe. While it it theoretically possible to achieve a perfect "float" and some types of electronics instrumentation demand such I've never seen any audio application outside a studio that worked without a ground. And while the primary reason for grounding is noise control any instrument that may be moved to an unknown/uncontrolled grounding situation needs to have an assured ground to limit/prevent/eliminate shock hazard - more and more folks with pacemakers around these days.

Rob

[Len Biglin]

Hi , another point about grounding is that your body gets grounded as long as you are touching the strings , this also reduces noise . If you don't have a multimeter to check with , plug the guitar in and listen to the noise level , now touch the strings or t/piece. If it gets quieter when you touch , you can say the t/piece is grounded.If is doesn't try touching the jack and you should hear the noise drop , then you need to ground the t/piece as Ron said.Len