I was taking apart a Custom to make my own hybrid and came across this random wire on the opposite end from the other wires connecting the two coils together. What does this wire do?
If you have added screening foil around the coils of a humbucker with single conductor + braided shield output cable, solder the wire(s) from the additional screening to the metal baseplate of the pickup. The braid will complete the grounding path.
The 59 won't have the shield.....its generally the higher wound coils that have this as there is more chance of the hum being amplified (or maybe the longer wire being a better antenna).
Got it. So I should be able to just connect that wire to the base place and that will shield the one coil in the hybrid and it is fine/no reason to worry about the unshielded coil.