Grounding the Strings

[@74dartman13]

Thanks for this video on grounding. I'm using a cabinet hinge as a tailpiece for my current build. I drilled a hole in the neck and fished a wire underneath the tailpiece to ground it. After seeing what happened with the Chevy truck trim, I'm going to take my meter and make sure that hinge is conductive, and is really grounding my strings! Awesome tip!👍😎🎸🎶

[@chrisbellis4762]

Thank you so much for this video. It is full of brilliant nuggets of information, like the partial drilling from the rear of the to make the whole so neat and tidy. Thank you for sparing your time to share your knowledge with us Regards Chris

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Easy$ thanks for watching Chris

[@KenneyCmusic]

Great video Ken. I love Reverend Peyton!

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

See them live )))

[@roberthunniecutt3879]

Hey Ken, you're a great teacher, thanks for the video !

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Robert Hunniecutt thanks for the good word!

[@johnjriggsarchery2457]

Ha! I was trying to remember what that fellow's name was and you helped me out. I manage a preserve with a beach and trail system and he visited on his way from a music festival and we chatted for a while. He really is one of the humble, nice guys in the music industry.

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

J R's Place they are good honest down to earth people.

[@anomalousanonymous1]

It's the conductivity that matters, not being magnetic. BUT if your metal IS magnetic, you can guarantee its conductivity because it must be made of IRON. Copper, of course, is not magnetic, but is an excellent choice to complete a grounding circuit. I like the magnet test, and I will adopt this method from now on. Unless I am *certain* that I've got copper. You can use a circuit testing thing, or get a battery, a flashlight bulb (old style) and some wires to make your own tester. But the magnet is so much easier. Thanks for the tip.

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Thanks Daniel Miles. While there are a ton of variables, you explain the basic assumptions really well. Thanks again for watching.

[@madbam]

Ken..thank you for your down to earth explanations of every part of a build. I am new to the craft (I absolutely love it). I am 16 guitars in and learning from each one.

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Thanks B

[@DonnyT744]

Spot on for me. I love the music, craft and wood working but I don't play guitar. These things are so fun to build.

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Donavan Roland thanks for watching

[@deanrichards6700]

You put that great and simple..I'm one of them too who forgot grounding...thanks mate very useful cheers pal

[@tracymcdougal6381]

I know I have given you a hard time in the past. You are very incredible in building the grounds for your cigar box guitar.😎

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Tracy McDougal I like your scraparatus too

[@tracymcdougal6381]

😎 Thanks

[@mcopado]

What a cool added bonus in this video to see the Rev! Good advice on grounding.

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Thanks Michael. There's more on my other channel kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5zEZYuEo6-IiMU

[@jamesmorrissey5604]

All metals are conductive. The 3 best conductors are silver, copper and gold, in that order. They are also diamagnetic, which means they weakly repel magnets. The aluminum can and the license plate (probably aluminum) would be better conductors than that canning lid. However, they are both covered will a paint or other coating that acts as an insulator. A cheap continuity tester would be a good investment.

[@mellowgeekstudio]

Yes! I was looking for this comment.

[@drbobanddeniseweston8818]

You can check to see if your tail piece works as a common ground by threading one string and check the continuity from the tailpiece to the string. I'm using a painted clam shell drawer pull, so I check from the handle mounting screw (my inside grounding post) to the string to see if it shows continuity across the string..

[@AndyinMokum]

A brass door hinge screwed over the end of the box, with a fairly heavy duty wound copper wire soldered to it will work really well. The strings will come off the bridge and rest on the grounded hinge, before they reach the tail piece. You'll never have a grounding issue doing this. Brass, or any copper alloy is a fantastic grounding material. The best is an old, beat up piece of real silver cutlery, with a silver plated copper grounding wire brazed onto it. You're guaranteed to never, ever have a grounding issue with that combo. That maybe a little excessive though. Grandma might get a bit bent out of shape, when she discovers one of her silver teaspoons has mysteriously disappeared lol.

[@Jimmie16]

I'm 70 yo and midway through my first build and I've never played any kind of guitar. So basically it's an art project that I hope will make me learn to play.

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

James Lochridge perfect

[@Gichanasa]

Sir, isn’t it more about using good conductive material rather than magnetic? All the copper tape and wires are not magnetic yet because they are good conductors they are used in the grounding.

[@spiritualcramp8000]

good point.

[@mellowgeekstudio]

I was browsing through the comments looking for this. Yes, ferromagnetic properties have nothing to do with electrical grounding.

[@muddyudders]

Yes, as soon as he said that I stopped the video. You're gonna use copper wire to ground, no, not possible because it's not magnetic using his logic.

[@ecalzo]

wow.. very nice lesson about grounding .. to avoid that i usually use only piezo pickups in my cbg's .. :-) but thanks anyway for the hints

[@joarimuspapim8807]

Well, grounding is usefull also with piezo, when you put some volume or tone button... good video by the way !

[@reltcl1995]

Great job can you show how to and where to put the frets

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

1000 views. Thanks everybody.

[@lawrencehowse8556]

But I don’t understand when you say grounded what is it grounded to. To the output jack? Or are the strings just grounded to each other

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Lawrence it all of the above. The strings touch the tailpiece metal, which touches the copper tape which touches a screw embedded into the tape inside the body which in turn is wired to the ground on the jack, volume potentiometer and coil pickup. I'll do a quick little episode soon. Thanks for watching. Kp

[@spiritualcramp8000]

this is a great question, as far as i know for playing experience, there are different levels of groundings, i may be wrong, but Gibson and other big brands, they ground the pick ups, but it looks they don't ground the strings, i say that because i witnessed a couple of serious electocution shocks happening to friends while playing brand new guitars.

[@groundpounder8855]

Great information thanks for sharing

[@joslynstuff]

I'm confused copper is the absolute" go to " as a conductor second only to silver neither of which are magnetic.

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Joslyn Starling [e-mail].

[@spiritualcramp8000]

forget the magnetic thing. magnets only works to decect iron, wich is a average conductor. EVERY other kind of metal is NON magnet reactive despite they are good or bad conductors. Best is gold, then silver, then copper then brass then lead then steel then zinc then aluminium. none of these reacts to magnets.

[@MomusFilms]

Nice, thanks!!

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Thanks David

[@robbaker9817]

So if I’m using a magnetic pick up and a tuner bridge , I’m safe to assume I’m grounded?

[@dvjvbv]

no. The guitar and pickups can be improperly grounded and still work. The wires, strings , and even your body can act as antennas and pick up EMI. So wires should be kept short and shielded - either the wire itself or the cavity where they are mounted. The strings and electrical components should all be grounded to the output-jack sleeve. You can test this with a multimeter. Search Google for grounding a guitar and testing guitar string grounding

[@bledsoetx]

I never saw you actually GROUND anything. All you did was add some shielding foil tape and still have a floating ground. Until your MECHANICALLY and ELECTRICALLY GROUND the strings to a negative buss, a battery, or the earth, etc. you do not have a GROUND.

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Bledsoe Texas ooops. There is a wire coming off the bottom of the coil pot and going up to the copper tape coming off the strings.

[@primushomemadeinstruments5688]

@@paulmerojunkpileguitars That's the tricky part for me ^^ Could show the inside? A picture? Or explain? the wire soldered to the copper tape is soldered on what at the other end? (Sorry I don"t understand what is the "coil pot" I'm french speaking :)

[@samwood7331]

Why ground tail piece when you've grounded the bridge?

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Hey Sam. The problem was the bridge was pot metal and didn't ground right. I typically use a wood bridge like in the floating bridge link so I do this on all my stuff. Thanks for watching. Kpkzbin.info/www/bejne/r6vLdp-iqMSmrZY

[@samwood7331]

Ken, I just listened to your video again. You state that the all-thread rod that the strings are riding on (and thus the bridge) is grounded with a soldered wire. Assuming that that wire is then connected to either the back of a pot, or to the ground side of the output jack, then the strings are grounded. The only likely reason for a buzz in this configuration is a "cold" solder joint, resulting in less that optimum connectivity. I do agree that for wooden floating bridges, other grounding would be required. Your method is very workable and is quite elegant. The best, Sam

[@paulmerojunkpileguitars]

Sam Wood exactly. The all thread and soldered wire went in as an after the fact fix.

[@tracymcdougal6381]

Groovy

[@crackerjack3359]

As far as I can see your method does not ground the strings. The only way to ground a string is to connect it to the ground on the jack plug. In your method you need to solder a wire to your copper strip and solder the other end of the wire to the ground on the jack. The guitar is then grounded right through to the amp.

[@johnkemas7344]

If you didn't connect this copper foil to the ground side of your pickup/phono jack so this is in effect also grounds it to your amp, then you ain;t really grounded there son! This setup merely connects all the strings together which can help to some degree, but it is not a total solution. Audio and studio engineers are constantly fighting ground loops to keep the sound clean and it can come from many sources!! The 60 hz buzz you hear when the strings aren't grounded and you touch them comes from stray AC line voltage from any source using AC. The strings are acting as an antenna picking up the AC radiated noise ( Hum) all around us. This is a problem with most magnetic pickups. Run a jumper wire from that copper foil to the shield of ground side of your output jack. Don't forget to also ground the shell of your volume control to the unused tab on the volume pot and then to the ground side of the pickup. Many youtube demos showing this procedure. And, if you are using an old tube amp with only two prongs on the plug you might get shocked if it is in the plug backwards and you will get a lot of hum there too. It is best to get an electronics tech to fix the plug issue on this type of amp to prevent nasty shocks. Your video brings up a great point though!! Thanks