Ground wire screwed to the swamp ash body on Tribute S-500

[Marek82313]

Dear all,

I gave a recently purchased Tribute S-500 to a luthier for a fine set up. While checking the electronics he found this strange thing, he noticed that one ground wire from the pick ups was weld to the bridge claw (and that's correct), while a second one was screwed directly to the body inside the cavity under the pickguard... Is this supposed to be correct?

Thanks,

Marco

[Philby]

If the pick up cavity is shielded with conductive paint then the second ground wire makes sense.
If there is no shielding then it's very strange indeed.

[Marek82313]

Yep, that's the same thing I thought, in fact the cavity is not shielded, just painted with the glossy finish of the body

[Craig]

Yep, that's the same thing I thought, in fact the cavity is not shielded, just painted with the glossy finish of the body

It does seem to be unusual, but the screw is likely touching a part of the bridge through the body caviity. Are you having any ground issues?

Do you have a picture you could post showing the screw and wire?

[Marek82313]

This is the picture



The wire is touching anything but the wood.

I did not experienced ground problems, but I think this is because there is the second ground wire touching the spring-claw.

The picture is a courtesy of the luthier.

[Craig]

This is the picture



The wire is touching anything but the wood.

I did not experienced ground problems, but I think this is because there is the second ground wire touching the spring-claw.

The picture is a courtesy of the luthier.

I sent your photo to a couple of contacts at G&L and here is Paul Gagon's reply:

Hi Craig,

The wire you’re referring to is the control cavity shield wire and is used on the basses with active electronics. It would appear that someone on the assembly line put the wire in by mistake.
It will have no impact on the instrument whatsoever so there’s no need to do anything about it.

Thanks Craig,
Paul

Hope this helps.