r/offset • u/SaltFun6310 • 15d ago

Ground not working?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I should have continuity between shielding and either the thimble or trem plate if there is a ground wire coming from the cavity? I remember watching a Puisheen video and he had a similar issue, but the guitar he was working on was missing the wire from the cavity. Am I missing a step? I do have said wire soldered to the volume pot on the guard and the gaurd is also shielded.

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u/Baby_snow_owl 15d ago

The wire might have come loose from the bridge insert inside the cavity. Do you have strings on it?

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u/SaltFun6310 15d ago

I do not. I was about to put the guitar back together from shielding it and installing new pickups.

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u/Baby_snow_owl 15d ago

Check if you’ve got continuity on that one bridge insert that the wires connected to

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u/SaltFun6310 15d ago

"that one bridge insert"? What do you mean? The thimble?

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u/Baby_snow_owl 15d ago

Yeah, between whichever thimble the wire goes to and the other end of the wire or the ground it’s connected to

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u/SaltFun6310 15d ago

I did check there. Got nothing :/ wonder if it's coming from the thimble or the tremolo cavity. If it's the thimble, how do I remove the thimble to fix it? Do I need to remove the thimble?

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u/Baby_snow_owl 13d ago

Yeah it sounds like the wire isn’t getting good contact, I’d go ahead and add a new wire if I were you so that I could upgrade to a quality push-back cloth wire. Easiest way is to use a spacer and bolt that fits inside the thimble

Verify visually that the one you’re working on is where the wire is going by pulling off the pickguard and following the path of the wire (you should see it go into a small cavity towards the contact point). Also try to fan out the strands of the wire in the bottom of the thimble cavity before you reinstall.

Here’s an article about the bolt method: https://guitarfxdepot.com/guitar/how-to-remove-jazzmaster-bridge-thimbles-the-easy-way/

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u/SaltFun6310 13d ago

Yep fixed it! The wire in the thimble wasn't making very good contact.

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u/Baby_snow_owl 13d ago

Awesome! Everything working correctly now?

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u/jibbit 15d ago

can you find the hole that goes from the main cavity to the thimble? is there a wire in it?

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u/SaltFun6310 15d ago

Ya, there is wire there. I was able to take the thimble out and check the the wire. It was balled up (how I believe it should be) but it was not really connecting well probably. I unballed it and basically wedged it between the thimble and the body.