NS Starfire V Bridge Ground Wire - Where?

[jarredwagner]

Hi. My Newark St. Starfire V bridge is not grounded. Can anyone tell me where the ground wire from the bridge exits the center block? Bridge pickup? Out to the neck volume pot? Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[SFIV1967]

I'd say a Starfire bridge is never grounded (unless it's a stop tailpiece). Usually the harp tailpiece or the Guildby is grounded on Starfires. Ground wire coming out near the endpin location under the tailpiece or Guildsby and the wire is pressed under the metal. At least that is how it is on the vintage models.

Ralf

 

[jarredwagner]

Ok, thank you for the reply and the clues to follow.

 

[jarredwagner]

Well well well....

So I started by removing the end pin and gigsby plate. There I saw a hole covered by aluminum tape. I figured that was the contact point. I removed the tape and found an empty hole. I was able to twist my neck just right and see another empty hole in the center block in the control side f hole. This looked like it was purposed drilled to run a ground wire, but looked totally empty. I don't have any wire on hand so I ran a recently clipped guitar string in the bottom and it slid right through to the control chamber -

Now that I know how to get through it shouldn't be a problem getting this grounded. I did want to ask - can anyone recommend a wire to run through the conduit? The ones I've seen in the past have looked like an unfolded thick paperclip, if that makes sense. But I'm not sure what to look for?

Any help would be great, thanks!

 

[SFIV1967]

Interesting! So the factory in Korea indeed forgot installing the ground wire!

Any thin flexible copper wire is fine (like AWG 22 or so), same as used for the wiring harness inside. You just take the isolation of 1/2 inch and bend it under the tailpiece so it contacts it when you screw the Guildsby on again. The other end probably will be most easy to solder to the bridge pickup ground as the potentiometers are hard to get out through the f-holes.

That's a picture of my vintage S-300 (original Guild wiring), the ground wire comes out on top and is pressed under the massive block tailpiece there:

Ralf

 

[jarredwagner]

Awesome, thanks again for your help!

 

[Nuuska]

What Ralf says.

BUT - if you have no fear - better yet would be to solder it on output jac ground. Propably no big difference - if any - but basically that's how it is supposed to be done.

To accomplish this - you slide a guitar string through the jack into guitar and out via F-hole. Then you unscrew the nut and pull the jack out - making sure the guitar string does not slip into guitar. Then you solder the wire - slide jack back - assemle the nut - ready.

 

[SFIV1967]

...better yet would be to solder it on output jac ground.

That's a possibility but on the Starfire's the groundwire from the tailpiece or Guildsby came indeed out on the bridge pickup! I think that was/is the easy way to install it without having to worry about it when inserting the entire harness through the one f-hole. That f-hole is tiny for installation...

Using GADs picture of a 1999 one I'd say it's that black wire:

Ralf

 

[jarredwagner]

Thanks for the input guys, I managed to get it fixed. I had already removed the output jack through the f hole so I went ahead and soldered to the sleeve connector. The other end I pulled through the end pin hole, folded over into the body, and covered with copper tape. The plate touched the ground wire and all of the screws go through the tape as well.

I pushed a piece of wire through the empty output jack hole, brought it through the body, hooked the jack with it, and pulled it back through to the hole for re-installation. It was a pain but after having done it I'm sure I could breeze through it again.