I have an old Hot Rails without bare wire. What to do?

[FUH]

I have this old Rails and the bare wire has been ripped off. I see that it was soldered on the side. There's a black tape around the pick up, with a very thin line of copper integrated in the tape. It was soldered there, on a side, on top of the tape, in contact with the copper. I tried to fix it but I can't make it. Is there another way? And one stupid question. I think it was pretty short. Is it possible that it was going from the middle of the humbucker to the point where the green wire leaves the pick up and that's it?
Anyway, I need to something. Is there another place where I can wire it? I'm not an expert so please, speak English....
Thanks!

 

[uOpt]

Re: I have an old Hot Rails without bare wire. What to do?

It's just a ground wire. Making contact to any place that is grounded is fine.

 

[FUH]

Re: I have an old Hot Rails without bare wire. What to do?

It's just a ground wire. Making contact to any place that is grounded is fine.

But it's lose now. Where should I solder it on the pick up?

 

[uOpt]

Re: I have an old Hot Rails without bare wire. What to do?

What style hotrail do you have? Oval base or triangle base?

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: I have an old Hot Rails without bare wire. What to do?

But it's lose now. Where should I solder it on the pick up?

The bare wire is for grounding any RFI shielding the pickup might have for the coils, base and wire. If you have a functioning ground wire and hot you can still use the pickup. The pickup will still be hum canceling, but not shielded. The shield is not essential it's optional. This may cause more noise, but the pickup will still be usable.

In the picture the +/- wires are the start and end of the coils and the shield protects the coils and wires from RFI. ***Colors are only for illustration***