Oops.. I Think I Messed Up

[Ledzendrix1128]

My friend just got 2 gibson 57s... there was only one wire with a sheild wrapped around it... i didnt think anything of it until i realized it has to be gorunded somehow... so i started lookin around was i supposed to solder the braided exposed sheild wire to the ground?... and if i was... how do i fix it if i dont have much wire length to play around with?

[crafty]

Yeah, you need to solder that shield to ground otherwise the circuit won't be complete.

You can solder a bit of wire to the shield and solder that to ground, or dig the wire you cut off out of the garbage, strip the braid off, and use the braid to connect the remaining braid to ground if you don't have enough length to solder the braid directly to the tone pot. You could use some tinned desolder braid or braid from a coax cable, too.

Keep in mind the braid will soak up quite a bit of solder, so have plenty handy. Clean off the back of the pots you are grounding to with an eraser and alcohol, too.

Take your time, don't freak out, and it'll work out.

[Ledzendrix1128]

Thanks loads man.. thats actually what i was thinking about doing... its an LP though... so i think the ground is somewhere else and also on the pots... but im not sure... i kinda forget what i did in there lol... but its not gonna short out anything if he keeps playing it right?... i mean the wierd thing is it had NO hum or anything... so i was jsut like ok... guess it doesnt need a ground

Edited September 16, 2005 by Ledzendrix1128

[lovekraft]

If he's playing it, you must have grounded them somewhere - don't worry, if it stops working, I'm sure he'll get it back to you immediately, and you can correct whatever it is that you did!

[Stalefish]

Usually, LPs are grounded via the TOM bridge.. But like they say, if it ain't broke....