BG52 Neck cover - grounded or not ?

[mcentee2]

I recently asked about whether I the BG52neck\B55bridge would be good in a Baja...anyway I have removed them from my current tele and have noticed......

...that I can't see the neck cover ground "bit". I can see the black\white wires coming up\through\down the hole, and I can see the cover tab on the underside with solder on - there is no 3rd bridge wire, and nothing I can see connecting the black ground wire (or soldered connection) to the cover tab.

Without scr@ping away at the wax, I can;t make out if the black wire cloth has been "cut" or pulled back as it goes through the baseplate in order to make contact with the cover tab.

The set were secondhand, not direct from Tim, so I can't say whether they were originally in a 4 Way and have had the 3rd wire removed.

The tele they were in was a standard 3 way, and I didn't notice any ill-effects or weird humming or whatever.

Can anyone enlighten me as to how the 3-way Tel necks are grounded straight from the BJ workshop, so I know what to look for ?

Assuming the cover hasn't been grounded, how should that have affected the sound from the Tele ?

edit:
Lightbulb moment - I tested the circuit from the white wire to the black wire and got DC 4.8k, then from the white wire to the  cover and got 0k, also 0k from the cover tab to the white, so it definitely hasn't been grounded whilst in the tele.

Currently installed neck does indeed give the full DC between live and cover - in that case 6.8k (Wilkinson neck)

Question still stands though - should it have been grounded whilst in the tele ? Should I have noticed it misbehave in any way ?


Cheers

[FELINEGUITARS]

Usually the black wire comes up through the hole in the middle and then forms a tiny loop and goes down through the eyelet where the air from the coil start terminates . The end of the black wire then usually travels underneath about 1cm to where the tab of the cover protrudes through the baseplate and is soldered to that tab.
This connects the cover to the earth wire.

On a tele that will have 4 conductor wiring the end of the black wire that connects the coil start and the cover is cut (or never soldered in the first place) and a separate earthing wire is soldered to the tab of the cover so that it can be independently earthed, since the black wire from the neck pickup will at some point become the series link between the two pickups and leaving the cover attached will make it "live" and will result in a hum if you touch it.

It is a bit unusual for the white wire to be attached to the cover - unless it was done by the previous owner or a tech for some reason relating to the way it was previously installed.
If the white wire is connected to the tab of the cover I would prefer to remove it and run a separate earth wire for the cover and know that the cover can't enter into the live side of the circuit.

[mcentee2]

Hi,

"The end of the black wire then usually travels underneath about 1cm to where the tab of the cover protrudes through the baseplate and is soldered to that tab. "

This is the bit that isn't there, or a separate cover ground wire :)


"It is a bit unusual for the white wire to be attached to the cover "

Don't worry, it isn't connected  - I mentioned it as part of the testing I did after I posted to get a through circuit from white (live) to ground (black and or cover if connected to black anywhere), and that test showed the cover wasn;t grounded).



So - does the cover need always be grounded ?

[FELINEGUITARS]

Yes - it will act as an antenna for noise if not grounded, and sitting directly over a single coil that noise will be annoying