Ground to bridge on a Bluesbird HELP!!

[ryguy]

Hey I just picked up a beautiful Bluesbird P90 from Dogman here on the forum. What a killer guitar!!

I have a problem though, which is that the ground is not connected to the strings or bridge so I am getting major buzzing. Touching the selector switch reduces it somewhat, and touching the pots altogether, however touching the string, bridge, tailpiece have no effect. This BB has an aftermarket bigsby
installed.

Does the ground wire on BB's generally go to the stop tailpiece studs? There is a thin green wire going from a ground on the back of the neck tone pot towards the bridge via a VERY small hole which I am assuming is a ground wire. If I tug it if feels tight, but I am guessing that with the stop tailpiece gone (Bigsby) , the contact to ground has been lost. I can't see any way to access the bridge via the pickup cavities. What can I do??

 

[ryguy]

 

[wright1]

Hi, Does the buzzing stop if you touch the stud threads or are they covered up by the bigsby? When I changed my 335 from tailpiece to stoptail Gibson earthed the tailpiece so I had to reroute the earth to the new stud threads. No problem on a semi but it may be more difficult on a solid. You will need to run a wire to the bigsby maybe through the endpin? If the stud threads are covered by the bigsby then how about tucking a wire under the bigsby attached to the covered stud? Sorry to be vague but I don't have a mental picture of a BB to work with.

 

[ryguy]

Hi, Does the buzzing stop if you touch the stud threads or are they covered up by the bigsby? When I changed my 335 from tailpiece to stoptail Gibson earthed the tailpiece so I had to reroute the earth to the new stud threads. No problem on a semi but it may be more difficult on a solid. You will need to run a wire to the bigsby maybe through the endpin? If the stud threads are covered by the bigsby then how about tucking a wire under the bigsby attached to the covered stud? Sorry to be vague but I don't have a mental picture of a BB to work with.

The buzzing does not stop when you touch the stud threads/holes. Which I think is strange because I assume the ground is going there.

Here is crappy pic:

 

[dklsplace]

Looks like the ground is going to a stud from the original stop tail piece. Since the Bigsby is an ad-on, it's entirely possible that the ground is just sitting at the bottom of an empty hole.

 

[NEONMOONY]

Nice looking guitar though!

 

[ryguy]

Looks like the ground is going to a stud from the original stop tail piece. Since the Bigsby is an ad-on, it's entirely possible that the ground is just sitting at the bottom of an empty hole.

That is exactly what was going on. I was thinking of all sorts of complex solutions until I simply tried running a piece of wire down into the hole, touching the bushing (soldered it) with a bit peeking out over the stud hole so the bigsby was clamping it down, and bingo. Ground to bridge, strings, etc.

I'll try and post some better pics and some clips in action after shows this weekend, but was a fantastic guitar it is turning out to be: it is lightweight, and very resonant, with a strong, solid tone, and has an absolutely perfect neck.

I put some Lollar hum-bucking p90's in it , because hot Duncan P90's have never worked for me. So far I love the pickups, which art indeed noiseless. I'll have to play live with them for a while to know if they are the perfect fit for me, but so far so they sound like a fairly typical, lowish-wound p90.

More later, and thanks for the replies!

BTW, I just that my solution had already been suggested, I hadn't caught that the first read.

 

[dogman]

ryguy, oops. Sorry I left some work for you to do. My bad. I haven't played it in a while and forgot about that issue. Came to me that way. Hope all is well. Glad to see it in good hands.
DM

 

[murkat]

pull pickups
pull bridge assembly
pull bridge studs
drill hole from one
bridge stud hole to
Bridge pickup cavity
thread ground wire
from new drilled hole
to cavity. solder.
re assemble.

 

[ryguy]

pull pickups
pull bridge assembly
pull bridge studs
drill hole from one
bridge stud hole to
Bridge pickup cavity
thread ground wire
from new drilled hole
to cavity. solder.
re assemble.

Actually, just had to stick a wire from under the bigsby down into the stud hole and bingo.