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Post by stratoholic on Mar 1, 2010 9:29:40 GMT -5
Hey all, I am new here and looking forward to the wealth of knowledge available here! So, my question is about "standard" strat grounding. 1) what is the purpose of the ground wire running across all 3 pots on strats, and is it necessary? 2) why does the trem claw have to be grounded? 30 would it not be a better idea to connect all grounds to the ground screw attached to the body, rather that soldering grounds to the post?
Thanks for any and all feedback!
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Post by D2o on Mar 1, 2010 10:29:13 GMT -5
Hey all, I am new here and looking forward to the wealth of knowledge available here! So, my question is about "standard" strat grounding. 1) what is the purpose of the ground wire running across all 3 pots on strats, and is it necessary? 2) why does the trem claw have to be grounded? 3) would it not be a better idea to connect all grounds to the ground screw attached to the body, rather that soldering grounds to the post? Thanks for any and all feedback! Hi Strata ... hick ... holic, and WELCOME to GN2! ;D Basically, the idea is to include the controls in the signal return part of the circuit, all of which culminates in a solder connection to the jack sleeve. It is necessary, otherwise you got a lot of noise (and I don't mean single coil "hum"). Even if you shield and perform a QTB star ground, it is sometimes necessary ... and many, myself included, would argue that there is nothing wrong with leaving the wires between the pots as they are so that there is a redundant ground. The bridge ground is a funny concept, isn't it? ... since the bridge doesn't touch anything ... Grounding the bridge allows all of the noise that you - a big, globular, organic, antennae - create to go through the signal return in the circuit without adversely affecting the signal (good, good, good, string vibrations). I am afraid I don't know what you mean by "post" in question 3), but - in an unshielded guitar, you want to make sure that there are good, well soldered, direct connections to allow good grounding of the guitar. I don't trust a piddly little screw to do that task. I hope I have understood your third question properly and that my answer helps. Cheers, D2o
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Post by newey on Mar 1, 2010 12:03:16 GMT -5
I think he meant "pots" not "post".
Soldering all the grounds to a screw in the side of the cavity is what we call "star grounding" and is a preferred method, although, as D2o notes, keeping the ground wires to the back of the pots probably won't hurt any and does provide redundancy.
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Post by D2o on Mar 1, 2010 12:23:53 GMT -5
I think he meant "pots" not "post". Soldering all the grounds to a screw in the side of the cavity is what we call "star grounding" and is a preferred method, although, as D2o notes, keeping the ground wires to the back of the pots probably won't hurt any and does provide redundancy. Thanks, newey. I thought he might have meant soldering to the screw (a "post" ... sorta ... if you squint the right way). However, with respect to star grounding, I thought part of the idea of collecting all of the ground wires in one spot was to then insulate the whole mess-o-wires so that it does not contact the shield (assuming the guitar will be shielded - also part of the preferred method) ... no? D2o
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Post by stratoholic on Mar 2, 2010 9:59:37 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation guys. And yes, post, pots it's all the same right....just kidding. "star grounding" seems to be the way to go, and that is what I did whit my latest project. I also went back and soldered a ground wire connecting all the POTS. Thanks again!
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Post by D2o on Mar 2, 2010 10:08:31 GMT -5
You are mots welcome, strat! Cheers, D2o
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Post by ashcatlt on Mar 2, 2010 20:02:10 GMT -5
Star grounding is best practice in all wiring instances. Well, sometimes it's more of a "ground bus", but the point is the same. All ground connections go to and meet at exactly one spot, with no redundancy. This is to avoid possible noise from ground loops.
I think we've put to rest the notion of meaningful ground loops in a typical passive guitar wiring. I, for one, am convinced that you're not likely to hear the difference.
In QTB, the star ground is also meant to decouple the user-touchable parts (mostly shields) of the circuit from the signal-carrying parts via the "safety cap". We want that cap between the jack's ground lug (which is connected to the amp ground, which might end up carrying a very large DC voltage) and anything that we might touch (bridge, strings, metal knobs...) but not in the signal path because that would act as a high-pass filter and rob some of our lowest frequencies.
I think this may have led to the idea that it is important to keep the "signal return" separate from the "shield ground" connections. In an ideal (ie - balanced) world, this would be essential, but in our unbalanced guitar world, their all ultimately going the same place anyway. There is that issue with those pickups which use a braided shield as the "signal return" wire, when implemented into certain series wiring schemes, but that's another set of questions altogether.
The pot bodies should probably be grounded somehow, though a well-shielded cavity should reduce the urgency of this connection somewhat. Shielding foil can accomplish this ground connection, as can a metal control plate (like on a Tele or Jazz bass) or the metal plate to which the pots are mounted in an LP. In these instances a wire between the pot shells is redundant. As I mentioned above, I don't think this redundancy really makes a ground loop worth worrying about (if at all), and I can see where it might be seen as a more reliable connection than some other methods.
I personally avoid soldering to the back of pots for practical reasons. It's frustrating - and potentially damaging - without a very hot iron and some experience.
HTH
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