Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: the_bleeding on February 18, 2009, 02:06:21 AM

Title: do i have to ground the tone pot?
Post by: the_bleeding on February 18, 2009, 02:06:21 AM

Okay. I'm switching caps and pots on my guitar.

Stock, the right lug is grounded to the tone pot, but the tone pot is not grounded to anything else. Sounds good, and the pot works.

However, my diagrams say that i must ground my tone pots to the jack/bridge piece.

So the question is... do i? Do i really need to go out and buy more wire and ground all this cr@p together?

Title: Re: do i have to ground the tone pot?
Post by: Dmoney on February 18, 2009, 02:08:49 AM

what guitar is it in?

Title: Re: do i have to ground the tone pot?
Post by: the_bleeding on February 18, 2009, 02:15:59 AM

why does that matter?

it has les paul style controls.

Title: Re: do i have to ground the tone pot?
Post by: Dmoney on February 18, 2009, 02:27:05 AM

because if its a les paul with a metal plate mounting the pots then no. the plate is grounded and thus all the pots attatched to it.

in my LTD the one lug on all the pots is soldered to the back of the pot, and the pots are all grounded to each other and the bridge is also connected to them. it has no plate mounting the pots i put in (i rewired it for passive pups and changed all the pots and the cap).

les paul wiring can have all the pots connected by a wire for ground if they dont have a plate.

(http://62.49.31.254/images/lp-wiring-8_5397-11.jpg)
(http://www.dominocs.com/Gibson/WiringLibrary/modern-stockR7.jpg)
50's style

Title: Re: do i have to ground the tone pot?
Post by: the_bleeding on February 18, 2009, 02:35:37 AM

thats really interesting.

Mine doesnt have a plate though, only shielding paint hahaha.

Looks like i'll be buying some wires tomorrow hahahah.

Title: Re: do i have to ground the tone pot?
Post by: Dmoney on February 18, 2009, 02:39:51 AM

sheilding paint may have the same effect of them being mounted on a plate.
my les paul custom is like this... http://www.vmresource.com/_temp/lp_control_sm.jpg

you can always try it without the wires and see how it sounds then go get the extra bits if its not good.

Title: Re: do i have to ground the tone pot?
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on February 18, 2009, 06:26:01 PM

You cant beat having a proper wire connecting the backs of pots - properly soldered !

I insist on it - both on my own guitars and also ones where we are working on the elecs

Title: Re: do i have to ground the tone pot?
Post by: the_bleeding on February 19, 2009, 12:13:14 AM

Quote from: FELINEGUITARS on February 18, 2009, 06:26:01 PM

You cant beat having a proper wire connecting the backs of pots - properly soldered !

I insist on it - both on my own guitars and also ones where we are working on the elecs

properly soldered as in no cold joints?


well i have everything wired in except for the grounding of the tone pots. Never knew it would be such a pain to do. I think i need something larger than 0.8mm solder