Can I use a metal brick instead of my bridge as my electrical ground?

[ACfireandiceDC]

Hey, so I'm building a djentstick out of a 2 by 4. Yeah, I know, I'm hopping on this trend about seven years too late, but whatever.

Anyway, I planned nearly everything out, except for one problem. The way I have arranged the parts and cavities means that it will be difficult or impossible for the grounding wire to connect to the bridge.

Is it possible to just bolt a small metal brick from Home Depot into the instrument's body, and use that as the ground? This seems like it would make sense but I wanted to check.

 

[Adieu]

Just drill a hole to the bottom of the bridge

Also you know that regular pine 2x4 won't work right? You need hardwood like maple or something

 

[Alex79]

Hey, so I'm building a djentstick out of a 2 by 4. Yeah, I know, I'm hopping on this trend about seven years too late, but whatever.

Anyway, I planned nearly everything out, except for one problem. The way I have arranged the parts and cavities means that it will be difficult or impossible for the grounding wire to connect to the bridge.

Is it possible to just bolt a small metal brick from Home Depot into the instrument's body, and use that as the ground? This seems like it would make sense but I wanted to check.

That sounds like you’re not actually grounding the strings.

 

[ACfireandiceDC]

That sounds like you’re not actually grounding the strings.

Explain? So it's the *strings* that need to be grounded? Sorry if that's a dumb question

 

[lewis]

Just use an emg thn you don't need to ground anything

 

[ACfireandiceDC]

Just drill a hole to the bottom of the bridge

Also you know that regular pine 2x4 won't work right? You need hardwood like maple or something

Okay, thanks. I'll find a way to do that.

In regards to your second comment, it's just a djentstick with literally one string. The final product is going to be nowhere near professional quality, I just think it's a fun project for experimenting with low tunings and will get me some experience with wiring/soldering.

 

[bostjan]

Just drill a hole to the bottom of the bridge

Also you know that regular pine 2x4 won't work right? You need hardwood like maple or something

^this.

Pine will warp like crazy under tension. Get maple, Lowes stocks it. Maple will bow, if the tension is too high and/or wood too thin.

The output jack has two lugs (mono): hot and ground. There has to be a conductive path from the ground lug to the string(s), if you use a passive magnetic pickup. You could use an active pickup or even a piezo and then the strings don't have to be grounded.

 

[ACfireandiceDC]

Just use an emg thn you don't need to ground anything

I actually have a set of 707s.

Assuming this isn't sarcasm (sorry I'm a bit of a dumbass), is there a reason why EMGs don't have to be grounded?

 

[ACfireandiceDC]

^this.

Pine will warp like crazy under tension. Get maple, Lowes stocks it. Maple will bow, if the tension is too high and/or wood too thin.

The output jack has two lugs (mono): hot and ground. There has to be a conductive path from the ground lug to the string(s), if you use a passive magnetic pickup. You could use an active pickup or even a piezo and then the strings don't have to be grounded.

It's a 2x4 with only one string. I'm sure it will be fine.

 

[bostjan]

Okay, thanks. I'll find a way to do that.

In regards to your second comment, it's just a djentstick with literally one string. The final product is going to be nowhere near professional quality, I just think it's a fun project for experimenting with low tunings and will get me some experience with wiring/soldering.

I had the same thought once. I picked the straightest pine I could find, and, after 24 hours under tension, the board was permanently warped so bad it was totally unplayable. I've done the same with maple, and never had any problem unless there was a lot of tension.

 

[bostjan]

It's a 2x4 with only one string. I'm sure it will be fine.

Just trying to help. An extra $5 could make it much more rewarding, but you do you.

 

[ACfireandiceDC]

I had the same thought once. I picked the straightest pine I could find, and, after 24 hours under tension, the board was permanently warped so bad it was totally unplayable. I've done the same with maple, and never had any problem unless there was a lot of tension.

May I ask what you were building? Was it a djentstick or an actual guitar/bass?

 

[ACfireandiceDC]

Just trying to help. An extra $5 could make it much more rewarding, but you do you.

Sorry if my comment came off as a bit passive-aggressive, I didn't intend for it to come off that way.

But you think it will warp with only one string?

 

[Adieu]

Just get a piece of maple

They sell em right where you live at your choice of Lowes, Home Depot, or Ganahl Lumber.

I guarantee it. Same area.

 

[lewis]

^this.

Pine will warp like crazy under tension. Get maple, Lowes stocks it. Maple will bow, if the tension is too high and/or wood too thin.

The output jack has two lugs (mono): hot and ground. There has to be a conductive path from the ground lug to the string(s), if you use a passive magnetic pickup. You could use an active pickup or even a piezo and then the strings don't have to be grounded.

I'm assuming because of a combination of the pickup being super low output before the preamp boosts the signal and also because all of that happens inside a totally sealed, epoxied humbucker case.

 

[lewis]

/\ no idea why the reply quoted your post @bostjan. Was replying to OP asking why EMGs dont need to be grounded.

 

[bostjan]

May I ask what you were building? Was it a djentstick or an actual guitar/bass?

Out of pine?

Neither. I just wanted to see what would happen if I ran a single string over a 2x4. I selected the best-looking, straightest piece of untreated pine I could find, cut 2' of length off of it, drilled a hole for a cheap tuning machine at one end, and I made a very simple bridge and nut out of a scrap of acrylic, then strung it up with a single .024" w, tuned it to guitar-middle-C (which is an octave lower than regular middle C), messed with it for about 20 minutes (it was playable and sort-of held a tune), then I put it away until the next day, pulled it back out, and it looked like piece of archery equipment by then.

Afterward, I did exactly the same with a piece of white maple from a local lumberyard where my friend's cousin worked (so I got my "sample" piece for super cheap), and it stayed almost perfectly straight. I then went back and bought some proper maple boards, cut them to 2' lengths, installed cheap (1 pc) 3-in-line tuners, and constructed 3 string dulcimer/zithers to be used in physics class demonstrations for a course I was working on at the time for "the physics of music" for a unit on vibrating strings. To my knowledge, the guy teaching the class now still uses them. My maple 1 string prototype was disassembled after several years and was repurposed for something else.

I'm assuming because of a combination of the pickup being super low output before the preamp boosts the signal and also because all of that happens inside a totally sealed, epoxied humbucker case.

Basically, yes. The string, when grounded, has a voltage of zero. When the strings are floating (not grounded), they act like seven (or six or eight or whatever) little antennae, so exposure to external electromagnetic radiation (fluorescent lights, cheap microwave ovens, etc.), causes a small induced voltage that fluctuates and couples with the pickup's coils to add those noises to your guitar's signal. If you have high impedance winds, that likely means more length of wire, and thus, more turns of wire, so more inductance, and more noise. EMG's and most other actives use a much lower number of turns, and thus, less inductance, so they are less prone to noise. ... But also, you probably don't want to ground your DC circuit to include your strings, in case you get sweaty enough to get a little 9 volt jolt from your active electronics.

EDIT:

/\ no idea why the reply quoted your post @bostjan. Was replying to OP asking why EMGs dont need to be grounded.

Sorry for over-explaining, then. I wasn't sure if you were providing a (correct) definitive answer, or tentatively suggesting.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

To correctly ground a guitar, all the metal parts need to be connected together. Adding a metal plate is just adding another part that needs to be grounded to the rest. For best results you also want to shield all the cavities with copper tape and ground them to each other/everything else, but that's pretty fancy for a djentstick.

Also, most guitars aren't actually grounded unless you're touching a metal part/the string. YOU are the ground. Shielding as above can mitigate that but doesn't always seem to work 100%.


TL;DR just make sure all of the metal parts are connected together and they'll be grounded, at least whenever you're touching one of them.

 

[bostjan]

To correctly ground a guitar, all the metal parts need to be connected together.

Should I run a copper wire to each fret?

The output jack's ground lug should connect to the earth/ground in the amplifier via the ground wire in your instrument cable, unless someone cut corners somewhere. Human beings tend to be pretty horrible conductors of low voltage AC electricity such as the signal output from a passive pickup. There are a ton of old guys out there who perpetuate this misinformation. How does a human, say, wearing rubber soled shoes, complete the ground circuit by touching the strings, when a cable attaching a wire to the metal chassis of the amplifier, which is attached to the third pin (ground) of an electrical outlet does not?

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Should I run a copper wire to each fret?

The output jack's ground lug should connect to the earth/ground in the amplifier via the ground wire in your instrument cable, unless someone cut corners somewhere. Human beings tend to be pretty horrible conductors of low voltage AC electricity such as the signal output from a passive pickup. There are a ton of old guys out there who perpetuate this misinformation. How does a human, say, wearing rubber soled shoes, complete the ground circuit by touching the strings, when a cable attaching a wire to the metal chassis of the amplifier, which is attached to the third pin (ground) of an electrical outlet does not?

Point taken, but I'm pretty sure you actually do need to ground everything that isn't... frets and truss rod? And random screws? Strings, bridge, pickups etc. So maybe another metal plate isn't going to need to be grounded.... but it isn't going to ground anything that isn't already, either.

I will readily admit I don't understand the electrical side of things and may not be describing this 100% accurately. What I do know is that every guitar I have ever had has exhibited a static hum and noticeable reduction in that hum when I touch any metal part, and/or also when I touch anything else metal while holding the guitar. None of these guitars had identifiable grounding issues from visual or multimeter inspection, so I guess that was my first hint that it wasn't that.

I do know that shielding the cavities of the guitar I own now solved this entirely. I must have been hearing RF interference and shielding the body made it go away, as I said I don't understand the electronics, but I do understand the results I got which are that my humble Epi LP is now dead quiet regardless of where my fingers are.