Grounding Question?

[kgovero]

On my hollowbody Archtop, my concern is about running a string ground ... does there have to be a string ground - is there an alternative? my ground is coming off the pots soldered to a couple metal rivet points attached to the plastic mounting plate that all the electonic components are on (that makes it easier to slide the electronics into the body and connect into the archtop) .. when mounted inside the archtop, the plastic mounting plate is secured against the wood of the guitar and the metal rivet points are in contact with the wood of the guitar - the hot and ground wire from switch is then connected to the jack ...

does this setup accomplish the same effect as a string ground ??? or does a ground wire actually have to go to the tailpiece (bridge) so it can pass through the strings -> my fingers -> and so on?

[ArtieToo]

Re: Grounding Question?

Hi kgovero; wood, being non-conductive, has nothing at all to do with "grounding" per se. The fact that rivets touch there is inconsequential. Generally, you do want some sort of hard-wire connection to the bridge. On the other hand, if you aren't actually experiencing noise and hum problems, then its not too important.

Also, within the context of a guitar, the term "grounding" simply refers to the negative side of the circuit. You could just as easily connect all the "negative" wires to the sleeve of the output jack, and accomplish the same thing.

While I'll get some argument on this, I don't buy into the idea of "ground-loops" within a guitar body. Thats not what ground-loops are.