grounding question - tele bridge

[gravydb]

Hi everyone, new guy here, name's Dave. I've been playing for 25 yrs and am finally trying my hand at a parts-o-caster, a Tele, and I have a question about the bridge grounding... It seems I can run a wire from under the bridge to a ground point, and that will ground the bridge... but I've also read that may not be necessary because the bridge pickup will ground the bridge if the pickup's baseplate is metal. The pickup I am using is a Seymour Duncan STL-3 (quarter pound) and I don't know if its baseplate is metal or not. What do you suggest? Thanks for your help.

[kilphody]

Re: grounding question - tele bridge

Hey Dave-
Run a 24ga. from sleeve to a mounting bridge screw. Be aware string grounding may be unnecessary and potentially fatal. lol
PC

[gravydb]

Re: grounding question - tele bridge

Haha! Yeah ok.... if you don't hear back from me by next weekend you'll know what happened... LOL

[uOpt]

Re: grounding question - tele bridge

Could go either way. In general the metal baseplate of the pickups in a Tele will ground the bridge through the screws and hence the strings and hence your body will function as a shield, the way Leo designed shielding.

In practice you can have disconnected tele baseplates or random other problems. Better get a multimeter.

[gravydb]

Re: grounding question - tele bridge

Just to follow up on this thread, in case it helps someone down the road...

SOME Telecaster bridge pups have a metal baseplate, in which case the bridge gets grounded via the pup's ground. HOWEVER - some Tele bridge pups do NOT have a metal baseplate, in which case the bridge needs a dedicated ground wire. The pup in question in this particular thread - a Seymour Duncan STL-3 - does not have a metal baseplate (so I have learned just recently) and so I will need to run a dedicated ground to the bridge.