"Solderless" Idea For Strat Bridge Ground

[Timmsie95]

I know i'm not the first to think of this idea, but I figured I'd bring it up, just because.
So everyone hates soldering the ground wire to the bridge claw, then to the back of a pot, right? Well there's a solderless solution. Find some crimp-on terminals, like these:

Take your ground wire ends and tin them, and crimp the terminals to the ends (I use the fork-style/spake lug ones for ease of removal)
Then, slip one end behind one of the screws for the bridge claw. That's that end taken care of.
For the other end, I use the ring terminals to ensure it stays a bit better, and simplu slip it over the shaft of your tone/volume pot, then put the pot through the pickguard, so the terminal is between the pot and the pickguard. This way, you're free to swap out a pickguard more easily, and your pots look cleaner!
Some people may argue that there's not enough contact, or it won't ground as well, but in my experience, it works just fine, and looks a hell of a lot better. :icon_thumright:

 

[dmraco]

I have used them.  I actually attached them to the brass trem block.  I threaded an unused hole and screwed it in. 

 

[Timmsie95]

that's also a good idea. I also try to flow a little bit of solder into the crimp joint, just to ensure it is a solid connection. I also know someone who soldered the terminal to the claw, and to the shaft of the pot, but to me it seems redundant, and potentially harmful to your potentiometer...

 

[Timmsie95]

For people who need a visual of what I've done, I made a demonstration sort of thing with an old pot from an old rewire.

As you can see, the stripped wire is looped through the lock washer, and twisted to ensure the mechanical connection. If this were permanent, I also would have soldered it so it stays, and then put heat shrink tubing over the exposed part, of course leaving some exposed by the washer so it grounds.

And here, the washer is put on the pot, and then the pickguard would be there, then the flat washer and nut. The lock washer would touch the shielding on the back of the pickguard. Then on the other end, the crimp terminal is there, again with a bit of solder to ensure the connection. And then the terminal goes between the trem claw and the screw head.

(Using crappy old wire, so some of the strands broke when I twisted it, but you get the gist.)

 

[line6man]

Rather than twisting wire on a lock washer, try buying an actual ground lug. They are specifically designed for what you are trying to do.

 

[Timmsie95]

I've looked everywhere for one with a lug of the right diameter, but I can't find one anywhere. The only ones I could find were bulk of 50+ and priced ridiculously.  :-\

 

[Cagey]

They're out there, but they're generally not sold in loose-piece quantities. Everybody wants to send you a quote for large quantities. It's a rarely used nickel/dime part, so that may be why they're tough to find in small quantities. GuitarPartsResource used to sell them 8 at a time, but they've since changed owners and the website is currently worse than it was, and it was remarkably bad before. I can't find the parts listed anywhere on the site. Doesn't mean they don't have them, but there's no search and no contact so who knows?

I bought a large quantity some years back when I started this thread, and still have some left. When you get to where you're gonna build, send me a PM with your address and I'll mail you enough to do the build.

 

[BigSteve22]

I also use ring lugs to attach the ground to to the claw. And I use solder lugs under pots to run the grounds for tone caps the common ground between them.

 

[Cagey]

That's the best way to do it. Soldering to pot housings is poor practice, particularly on modern pots. The housings are thin, and the resistive strips inside are carbon-impregnated plastic rather than the semi-conductive phenolic (or whatever it was) that they used to use years ago. So, if you heat the pot up too much, you run a pretty good chance of either destroying or at least shortening the life of the pot.

Oddly enough, the way to do it (if you must) is to use a very hot iron, like a 40 watt or more unit, so you can heat the surface very quickly and get back off. But, most guys don't keep multiple irons around to suit particular tasks, so they'll use the 25 watt unit they normally use for wiring. Takes too long to heat up the pot housing enough for a good solder joint with one of those, so the internal temperature climbs too high and the pot suffers.

Plus, it's not only safer to use the lugs, it's a lot easier to replace pots later when they do fail just from age/use.

 

[Timmsie95]

yeah I was rewiring an old epiphone, and the previous owner had tried to rewire it, but he was very "iron happy", and shot one of the tone pots.  :doh:

Does anyone happen to know where I could get one of those terminal lugs that's wide enough to get around the pots (and not ridiculous bulk prices)? I seem to have no luck in finding one. I believe the inner diameter should be 3/8"?

 

[Cagey]

Look at reply #6 above.

 

[Timmsie95]

Look at reply #6 above.

Oh sorry, I didn't see that.
I may take you up on that offer. not sure when that'll be, but I'll remember that. Thanks!  ccasion14:

 

[Timmsie95]

Hey Cagey, I found the lugs you were talking about on this page!

 

[Cagey]

No, those are too small. In the guitar world, they're for screwing down to a sidewall or something to act as a central tie point for ground. The ones you want have a much larger "big" hole to fit over a threaded pot shaft. Has to be 5/16" - 3/8" ID. The "small" hole only needs to be as large as whatever wire gauge you're using.

Those parts are to be sold to those silly geese who think there's such a thing as a "ground loop" in a guitar, and want to do "star" grounding. They're a subset of the people who waste a lotta time and money on shielding cavities with acres of copper foil  :laughing7: 

 

[Timmsie95]

but if I'm not mistaken, isn't this what I'd be looking at? not the one with the screw.

 

[Cagey]

Oh, yeah. Silly me. How did I miss those? Yes, those are exactly what you want.

 

[Timmsie95]

Oh, yeah. Silly me. How did I miss those? Yes, those are exactly what you want.

thought so, haha.  :icon_thumright:
Now I just have to find other things on that site that I could buy for the build, to avoid paying more for shipping than the actual product.  :laughing7:

 

[stratamania]

I think I see a possible idea here.

How about Cagey, shields a guitar with copper tape needlessly and Timmsie95 in return gives up the string trees ?

What do you think ?

 

[Timmsie95]

:icon_scratch: Hmm.. This won't work, you see... Barrel style string trees are beautiful. And copper tape isn't needed  :cool01:

 

[stratamania]

:icon_scratch: Hmm.. This won't work, you see... Barrel style string trees are beautiful. And copper tape isn't needed  :cool01:

Come on it's quite a reasonable proposal you both get something you'd prefer not to.

Whats not to love ?

String trees beautiful, that's a first  :icon_jokercolor: