mdismuke Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Just curious to see what creative ways you guys have for star ground wiring. Do you guys use a single point lug? Maybe a creative terminal block? A good 'ol wood screw? Or do you just solder all ground wires together and leave em hang'n? I really like the look of a neatly wired control cavity and I'm just looking for some ideas for star ground wiring to give it a nice appearance. All suggestions welcome. Pics would be awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 No pic, but I just use an O-ring type terminal. I suspect I did it the least efficient way last time, sending the ground to the jack via the "lug" part, and then just soldering the rest of the grounds to the "O". I bet it would've worked better to just get a bigger terminal, clamp the living bejeebus out of all the ground-to-stars at once, and throw a glob of solder in there, before sealing'er up with shrink tubing or something. I'm about to rewire a guitar, and I was thinking that one of those screw-on jobbies might be the ticket this time around. I don't "love" soldering, so if I can save some soldering time, I'm a happy guy. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modman Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 same here, simple o shape terminal thing http://modman.blogdrive.com/archive/23.html in the third but last pic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdismuke Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Thanks for the help guys. One thing I'm not too clear on is why the "star" can't be screwed directly to the shielded cavity. (?) I'm guessing the proper way would be to run a wire directly from the shielded cavity to the "star" and tape it all up or something. I wonder, could I do this and screw the star directly to the shielded cavity if I use something to insulate the contact between the star and the cavity? Doing star grounding is obviously going to add alot more wire to the control cavity and I just want to achieve the cleanest "look" possible. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdismuke Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Okay ... did a bit more reading on the subject and determined that running a separate wire from the shielded cavity to the star would be somewhat redundant considering that the pot casings would also be in contact with the shielded cavity. Am I right? So, if I understand this correctly .... If I want to actually mount the star ground, I'm going to have to mount it to something that is completely isolated from the shielded cavity. Am I on the right track here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexybeast Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Try guitarnuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdismuke Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 (edited) Try guitarnuts. Thanks for the link, but I've already read it and it really doesn't answer my question (not that I saw anyway). I'm using shielding "paint" in the control cavity. When the pots and switches are installed, won't this automatically create a "ground loop"? If not, then what's the harm in screwing the grounding star the the inside of the control cavity to help secure it? Also ... can an electronics terminal strip, such as those found at Radio Shack, be used for a neater appearance? I'm not too kean on using a washer with a blob of solder for my star. Edited January 17, 2007 by mdismuke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Unless your shield is kept separate from the star, you can create a ground loop. I don't know the physics of it, but when I plowed through GuitarNuts, I just took them at their word. The theory is that all grounds should want to go to true ground. If everything feeds the star, which feeds ground at the jack, nothing will never ever have a choice but to go to ground via the jack. Any other combination at least creates the possibility for a loop. The pots DO come into contact with the cavity, and if your shielding paint is conductive to the degree it should be (you should get continuity between any 2 points of the cavity's walls), but they become a "part" of the shield as it were. Imagine your shield is a sheet of clay. You add a few lumps (your pots!) and smooth them down. Now you still have a surface, but with a few topographical irregularities. Still just one shield surface, though. Now, you WILL need to get this to ground, so: - pots are no longer connected to one another to create a "grounding path"... the shielding will do this (again-- IF properly conductive. I admit, I don't really trust the paint, but I've never used it) - Even the typical volume pot "bend-back-lug-to-casing" should instead have a wire that goes to the star instead - choose ONE pot (whichever is most convenient for your cavity) and attach an insulated wire to it. This goes to star, thereby sending the entire "shield surface" to ground. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modman Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 If you really insist on using paint, I would really, after having done the paint job, check for continuity of the shield. I.e. check whether there is any resistance between various points of the paint. You really need good paint to do this, but I never tried this myself. If you see your DMM shows anything but 0, your shield is not going to work as intended. You could still cover with electrical tape of foil or whatever. good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted January 20, 2007 Report Share Posted January 20, 2007 Not sure if I'm late in getting in on this discussion, but I started a similar thread a while ago, and with the help of my bitchin' MSPaint skills, drew up this star-grounding diagram. http://public.fotki.com/xanthus/build_1/wiring_diagram.html I threw it up here too, and seemed overall to be "PG Forum Approved" Hope it helps some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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