Image 1
We'll break this down into two sections. Today, we'll talk about grounding in general and different ways to do it. In part two, we'll focus on grounding legs on the casing of a pot, like on the Stratocaster's master volume pot. And we'll come back to all this in a future column about how to shield pickguards and compartments the right way, which is also an important part of the grounding system.
Before we start, let's remind ourselves: We're talking about grounding in passive guitars, so we're talking about your standard Stratocaster, Telecaster, Les Paul, and the like. We're not talking about your amps, stompboxes, grandma's old steam radio, and other active devices.
In other words, it doesn't make a "better" grounding, but for showcase reasons, this is a cool option, anyway ... you hear with your eyes, too.
The good basic news is that it's not really hard to understand and you only need a simple digital multimeter, or DMM, set to continuity to analyze the grounding system in your guitar. I usually set it to audio or "beep mode," so you don't have to watch the display of your DMM. It's really simple: When it beeps, there is contact. If not, there is no connection.
More good news: There's no "over-grounding." But there are things you can do wrong and then you're in trouble. My favorite on the "Grounding Pet Peeves" list is closing the ground ring on Les Pauls, ES-335s, and similar guitars. As you can see in Image 1, the ground ring is not closed, but many people like to add another ground wire, which I've marked blue, to "enhance" and complete the wiring because they feel that there's something missing. What happens if you do this? You created a perfect antenna to pick up radio and CB signals, so you can play along with your favorite radio station.
So, please don't do this. Sometimes less is more. Rant over … for now.
Image 2
Image courtesy of singlecoil.com
For today's guinea pig, I chose the Stratocaster, but will also elaborate on other guitars. Let's have a look at how to connect all casings together to ground them. The two basic rules of thumb are:
1. When your pickguard, control plate, or compartment is conductive, you don't need to add any ground wires to the individual components. They're already connected together because their metal parts are touching the conductive surface. This is the shield underneath a Stratocaster pickguard, the metal control plate on a Telecaster, or the metal "cage" you can find in some Les Paul models where the pots are installed through. But always try before you trust! Use your DMM set to continuity and do a test to see if the surface is really conductive. If it is, your DMM will show (or beep) continuity. This is especially important when you see black shielding paint anywhere in your guitar. It should be conductive, but in most cases, it's simply black paint to mimic shielding. On some models, like an ES-335 and similar, there is neither a shield nor any conductive paint underneath the top, so there is no way around using wires to ground all metal parts. If you're unsure, always run a wire from part to part to ground it. Even if the surface is conductive, it will do no harm to have double-grounding.
2. All this will only have an effect when you connect the system to the string grounding wire, by simply soldering it to the back of a pot, to the ground lug of your output jack, or to the copper foil underneath your pickguard, etc. Whatever you prefer. This wire usually comes from the tremolo claw in a Stratocaster, from underneath the bridge plate in a Telecaster, or from one of the studs on a Les Paul, ES-335, etc. If you are unsure which of the wires is the right one, the test is really simple: Use your DMM with one probe on the stripped wire you want to test and the other touching one of the metal strings. Continuity? Congratulations, this is the string grounding wire.
Image 2 shows the most minimalistic grounding version: Underneath your Stratocaster pickguard is a conductive shield (same for the Telecaster metal control plate). Install the pots and the switch and that's it. No additional wire connections are necessary, as the conductive shield will connect all parts. Use your DMM with one probe on the back of the pot and the other touching the shield, and then repeat this procedure with all three pots and the switch.
Image 3
Image courtesy of singlecoil.com
This is a Fender Stratocaster from 1959, and you can see there are no additional ground wires from pot to pot. The shield underneath the pickguard makes the connection and this is the way all early Fender guitars were grounded. Leo Fender was an educated accountant, well known for not wasting anything, and his defined goal was to build guitars in large quantities but in a short and cost-effective time. So why waste a piece of wire when you don't need to, and why waste time for such an operation when it's not necessary?
The second grounding version involves simply running a wire from one metal part to the next. This can be an insulated wire or a bare solid wire—sometimes tubing is used with bare solid wire to insulate it. The diameter of the wire is not important: A heavy-gauged wire won't make a better ground, in this case.
Image 3 shows the grounding version with simply a bare solid wire running from part to part. Image 4 shows the grounding version with tubing over the wire running from part to part. Please note that both pickguards in Image 3 and Image 4 don't have a conductive shield. Also note that there is a wire running from the volume pot to the 5-way pickup selector switch to ground it as well.
Image 4
Image courtesy of singlecoil.com
On some guitars, you can see that a ground strap is used to connect the parts, but this is the same principle and only a variation regarding materials. John "Dawk" Stillwell (may he rest in peace), the former guitar tech for Ritchie Blackmore, was well known for using this technique, and you can see what this looks like in Image 5.
Image 5
Image courtesy of singlecoil.com
It looks pretty cool but has no advantage over using an insulated wire or bare wire. In other words, it doesn't make a "better" grounding, but for showcase reasons, this is a cool option, anyway ... you hear with your eyes, too. As you can see, this pickguard has a highly conductive copper shield, so any connection between the parts is obsolete anyway.
So, what version is the best, you might ask? For me, it's using a bare solid AWG 19 wire (also sometimes called "ground bus wire") that I only put sleeve on in certain guitars, such as a Les Paul. On all Fender guitars, and especially in any Stratocaster, I use it bare for some good reasons. With this technique, you can minimize the number of soldering spots and it offers some great advantages that you'll see in the second part of this series when we talk about grounding legs on pots.
Why is it important to minimize the number of soldering spots on the cases of the pots? It not only looks neat and tidy and saves time and material (Leo Fender would have chosen this technique for sure), but it also minimizes the risk of damage from overheating, which is the most important reason for me. The easiest way to damage a pot is to overheat it, especially when attaching a ground wire to the back casing. It usually takes 60 watts of power for this, and with a wrong soldering technique this can be a real disaster. I've discussed this topic before, but if you aren't familiar, read my column "How to Install and Maintain Your Guitar's Pots," from the May 2020 issue.
I'll share two advantages, shown on a Stratocaster, of why I prefer this technique. (I'll give more advantages in the sequel installment of this column).
Image 6
Image courtesy of singlecoil.com
In Image 6, you can clearly see on the casing of the pot that there is only one soldering spot to connect the wire. With an insulated wire running from pot to pot, you would have two soldering spots or you have to heat it up for a second time. Next, look at the leg of the tone capacitor that needs to be connected to ground. Instead of making an extra soldering spot for it on the case or heating up an existing soldering spot for a second time, I simply solder it to the ground wire and that's it. The still unpopulated soldering spot on the back of the case is for the string grounding wire.
That's it, for now. Next month we'll continue our relic'ing project, focusing on the pickup and its cover, so stay tuned.
Until then ... keep on modding!
Milkman’s Jerry Garcia-style JG-40 combo.
Entire books about the Grateful Dead’s gear have been written, so we can’t cover it all here. Garcia tinkered with all facets of his sound from about 1971 until 1978, when his signal path reached stability. By then, his On-Board Effects Loop—an innovation he developed to control how much signal reached his effects—was dialed in, his backline firm, and his choice of effects pedals solidified. Even then, adjustments were made, especially when MIDI arrived or when technology like in-ear monitoring was used. Here are some basics.
Scarlet Fire’s recreation of Garcia’s Wolf, originally built by Doug Irwin.
It starts with guitars. For players wanting to get their Jerry on, there’s a wide range of Garcia-esque instruments—with just as wide a range of prices—out there. Recreations of the Doug Irwin guitars and the Fender Alligator Strat abound. China-built models from companies likePhred Instruments can go for as little as $700 or so. Luthier Thomas Lieber apprenticed with Irwin long ago, and his Lieber Guitars will deliver a copy of a variety of Garcia models. Leo Elliott’sScarlet Fire Guitars out of Dallas, Texas, takes things in another direction. Elliott builds Doug Irwin replicas that start at $20,000 and go up from there, with a current wait time of about 18 months for an instrument. He’s outfitted many of the top Garcia guitarists today, including Tom Hamilton Jr. and Jeff Mattson. Elliott says, “I’m a self-taught luthier; I didn’t really build my first guitar until 2010. I understood a little bit about woodworking before I got started, but I learned by reading books and through trial and error. I started building replicas of Doug Irwin’s Wolf guitar right away, which is sort of like building a car and starting with a Ferrari. I didn’t know any better. Then, eventually I got to know Doug Irwin and collaborated with him. So, I got to hold Garcia’s Tiger guitar and get to know it really well, and by 2015, I had built replicas of that guitar. There’s one guy who helps me around the shop, but otherwise, I am building these guitars on my own. I’m collaborating with Doug Irwin on a new series of Tiger guitars, which will retail for 50 grand each.” That’s one way to get your Jerry going.
The JBL-inspired Milkman K-140.
Garcia’s choice of amplifiers is another matter. He preferred Fender Twin Reverbs loaded with JBL Alnico speakers, which were popular amongst many rock bands in the 1970s. The details get complicated; Garcia’s amps were heavily modified, and the Fender Twin served as a preamp that ran to a McIntosh MC-3500 power amp.
It’s hard to find vintage JBL speakers today—at least ones in good shape. San Francisco’s Milkman Sound, founded by Tim Marcus, has created a faithful reproduction of those classic JBLsthey call the K-140. They’re coupling those speakers with a Garcia-style recreation of his Fender Twin that Marcus named the JG-40. “I think 75 percent of Jerry’s tone is in the JBL speakers,” Milkman’s founder says. “But when you start to analyze the other 25 percent, you kind of have to start withDon Rich. [Editor’s Note: Rich was the guitar player in Buck Owens’ band, pioneers of the Bakersfield Sound.] That’s Jerry’s tone, too, but the difference is Garcia’s midrange was a bit throatier. It sounds clean, but really, it’s not clean at the same time. Especially his tone in the late ’70s. There is something about running that Fender Twin Reverb through the McIntosh that would just completely blow out the tone in a really interesting way.”
Garcia colored his tone with off-the-shelf effects. This was, after all, long before the days of boutique pedals. By 1978 and beyond, you’d hear him playing through an MXR Distortion+, an MXR Analog Delay, and an MXR Phase 100. He often used auto wahs, preferring the Musitronics Mu-Tron envelope filter as well as a Mu-Tron Octave Divider and a Mu-Tron combination volume and wah pedal.
When I asked Jeff Mattson, Bella Rayne, and Tom Hamilton Jr. exactly how orthodox they are about using the kind of gear that Garcia did, I got three different answers.
Mattson tells me that because Dark Star Orchestra is doing something very specific, he really has to tailor his sound as carefully to Garcia’s as he can. “Some folks get too hung up on small things, like what kind of cable to use and things like that, and I don’t go that far. But it’s important for Dark Star Orchestra to get Jerry’s sound right because we are covering different eras and different shows. In 2022, for example, we went to Europe and recreated shows from the Dead’s famous Europe ’72 tour, so you have to pay close attention to what kind of gear they were using to do that right.”
Hamilton works differently. He’s always preferred a higher-gain signal than Garcia ever did, landing in more of a British or heavy metal tone. (Randy Rhoads was a big influence.) “I’ve always approached it like, ‘What’s the new information we can put into this thing?’” he says. “Not just recreate but pushing in a forward direction. And anytime I’ve played with the guys who played with Garcia back in the day, they always said to me, ‘You’re here because you’re here. Don’t try and do what we did back in 1978 or do it because Garcia did it that way.’ They’ve always encouraged me to be myself.”
Bella Rayne is just wrapping her head around what it really means to try to sound like Garcia. “Besides Jerry, I’m influenced by guitarists like Dickey Betts and Derek Trucks, so my tone tends to be a bit heavier and bluesy,” she explains. “I’m generally running a Stratocaster through a Fender Twin Reverb. But recently, I was doing a show, and a buddy of mine set up a Jerry rig for me, and that was so cool: JBL speakers, McIntosh head, the whole setup. I had never played through one. I didn’t know what the hype was all about. I plugged in, and it was just amazing; there was such a snap, and I was really commanding the band. I can see myself keeping my current rig but adding a Dead-rig to experiment. But honestly, anything is fine; I am not picky. I just want to play the best that I can.”
“The distinctive pickup configurations of these five guitars deliver a versatile tonal platform, whether you’re exploring subtle textures or pushing the envelope. The deep dive into our Narrowfield technology is obvious with this launch. With both the S2 models made in our Maryland factory and the SE models made in Indonesia, our goal has been to create guitars that will inspire you and spark creativity, all at an exceptional value,” said PRS Guitars COO, Jack Higginbotham.
S2 Special Semi-Hollow
The PRS S2 Special Semi-Hollow features a pair of 58/15 LT humbuckers in the bass and treble positions and a PRS Narrowfield in the middle. A 5-way blade switch and two mini-toggles allow players to tap the humbuckers, creating twelve distinct pickup combinations for sonic exploration. The carved maple top and mahogany back encompass a semi-hollow body that adds a natural airiness and depth to the guitar’s tone while enhancing sustain.
S2 Studio
The PRS S2 Studio delivers a wide range of sonic possibilities through its distinctive single-single-hum configuration. Featuring two proprietary PRS Narrowfield pickups in the bass and middle positions and a 58/15 LT humbucker in the treble position, the S2 Studio offers a palette of sounds from single-coil clarity to vocal humbucker tones. This model also has a 5-way blade switch and push/pull tone control.
SE Special Semi-Hollow
The PRS SE Special Semi-Hollow is designed with the versatility of a hum/“single”/hum setup, bringing PRS’s Narrowfield DD pickup design to the SE Series in a classic maple-top guitar. The semi-hollow construction also enhances sustain and resonance, while the f-hole adds a classic aesthetic. The coil-tap switching system unlocks a wide range of tones through a pair of 58/15 LT “S” pickups in the bass and treble positions and a PRS Narrowfield DD “S” in the middle.
SE Studio
The PRS SE Studio’s “single”/”single”/hum pickup configuration provides a wide range of tonal options. This combination of PRS Narrowfield DD “S” bass and middle pickups with a PRS 58/15 LT “S” treble humbucker offers humbucking warmth, single-coil sparkle, and everything in between. The 5-way blade switch and push/pull tone control further enhance its versatility.
SE Studio Standard
The only bolt-on neck in this release group, the PRS SE Studio Standard brings the tone, playability, and versatility of the Studio model to the SE Series and into an all-mahogany design with a vintage-style pickguard aesthetic. At the heart of the SE Studio Standard is its versatile trio of pickups: an 58/15 LT “S” humbucker in the treble position with two Narrowfield DD “S” pickups in the middle and bass positions. The 5-way blade switch and push/pull tone control allow for an array of pickup configurations.
PRS Guitars continues its schedule of launching new products each month in 2025. Stay tuned to see new gear and 40th Anniversary limited-edition guitars throughout the year.
