Problem with grounding wire on telecaster bridge

[Mr. Air]

I'm trying to solder the ground wire to my tele's bridge, but the surface is so smooth that the it won't stick. Any good suggestions?

[Toe-Knee]

Take a bit of sandpaper to it or a screw driver to scratch it up a bit this should help the solder to take.

Also make sure that you are heating the bridge enough with the iron otherwise the solder wont flow onto it.

[Philly Q]

Do you mean the guitar's bridge, or the baseplate of the bridge pickup?

I don't see why you'd need to solder a ground wire to the bridge, string grounding on a Tele is normally via the pickup's baseplate.  If there's no pickup baseplate (like on some recent American Standards), Fender use a separate ground wire which sits under the bridge, but it's not soldered, it's just held in place by the contact between the bridge and the top of the body.

[WezV]

yeah, good contact is usually enough.  i tend to go with a wire stripped back with about 1" bare metal.  Then poke it slightly into a screw hole

only time you have to be a bit more thorough is with some black platings

[darkbluemurder]

As Philly Q said.

Cheers Stephan

[frankus]

you could just use a bit of shielding tape to stick it in place :) I generally shield the cavities and leave a lip of a cm or so running towards the saddles, then solder the wire to the shielding.