About Ground Brass plate and some extras

[ggodoree]

Hey,
I have g&l Legacy special which is about 10 years old (3 neck bolt on )

Recently, my bass knob has stopped working, so i opened up the pickguard to see what is going on.

I have found a couple of things that interests me.

1. Ground brass plate which was under the electronic parts. All the wires were going through the plate
2. Pots and the ground brass plate and back of those dual-pickups were coated with some sort of wax on it. I tried scratch them out. and it easily came off

I will be replacing the bass pot to new one, but at the same time, i am planning to change all PVC coated wires to vintage cloth-coated wires as well.

Here are my questions
1. what is the function of grond brass plate? can i solder my wires without passing through the plate? if i do, would it affect my guitar tone?
2. what is the function of those wax coating on pots, ground plate and behind the pickups? i took out the plate and brushed it cleanly under water so it does not have any wax coating anymore. Should i replace those was coating back on the plate? also, the new pot does not have any wax coating on it, should i place some wax coating on it as well?
3. To replace the wax coating, what should i do? Is there some sort of specialised wax spray that covers the electronic parts with thin layer of wax?

[Ken Baker]

Filter what I type below with the following:

While I, of all people, have no problem with the idea of modifying an instrument, it should be done with a specific achievable goal.

I'm a bass player.

1. Ground brass plate which was under the electronic parts. All the wires were going through the plate
2. Pots and the ground brass plate and back of those dual-pickups were coated with some sort of wax on it. I tried scratch them out. and it easily came off

Do NOT remove any wax found on the pickups. Just leave it there, as it serves to keep the pickups from being microphonic (noisy by themselves).

I will be replacing the bass pot to new one, but at the same time, i am planning to change all PVC coated wires to vintage cloth-coated wires as well.

Why replace the PVC insulated wire with cloth? I mean, it's just wire. And if you do this all the way to the pickups, you run a risk of damaging those pickups. Additionally: While this might make the wiring similar to an old Fender Stratocaster, it will not be correct for a 10 year old G&L Legacy and will likely have no discernible effect on the tone.

1. what is the function of grond brass plate? can i solder my wires without passing through the plate? if i do, would it affect my guitar tone?

Can I assume that you mean a ground plate made of brass? If so, it's there to shield the electronics from outside EMI. I don't know whether you can solder your wires without going through the plate, as I don't have the guitar in front of me and you didn't provide images. Any EMI shielding that is effective will tend to darken the tone a little bit.

2. what is the function of those wax coating on pots, ground plate and behind the pickups? i took out the plate and brushed it cleanly under water so it does not have any wax coating anymore. Should i replace those was coating back on the plate? also, the new pot does not have any wax coating on it, should i place some wax coating on it as well?

In the case of the pickups, wax potting reduces/eliminates microphonics and protects the windings. Wax on the other components seems unlikely and unusual to me, but there are a lot of things I haven't seen. Generally, no coating is necessary on a ground plate or the pots.

3. To replace the wax coating, what should i do? Is there some sort of specialised wax spray that covers the electronic parts with thin layer of wax?

So long as you have not removed any wax from the pickups, particularly from the windings, just leave it alone and not worry about replacing any coating.

Ken...