Where does my bridge ground wire connect?

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Piplodocus
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Where does my bridge ground wire connect?

Post by Piplodocus »

Hi all,

Got my 2013 Mojo here that's been in bits for a while. It's got the graphtech ghost system in. Currently re-assembling it and I'm slightly stumped...

There's a ground wire that's clearly for attaching to the bridge. But where does it go? My other flies normally have a little PCB riveted to the back of the bridge it solders on to. But this one doesn't. Hence why I'm slightly confused. Doesn't seem to have any old solder on the wire. Or anywhere obvious on the bridge.

Am I supposed to take off/loosen the bare metal plate the spring pushes against, then clamp it between that and the main black body of the bridge? Seems the only obvious solution, but am I missing something? It's been in bits probably 2 years, so I've forgotten, and doesn't seem like the other ones.

Also does the polarity of the piezo saddles matter? Or not, as long as they're all in phase? (These are the 2-wire graphtech saddles, rather than the older style ones that just have one wire relative to the bridge ground)
2004 Blue Fly Mojo Flame (MH/MH), Distressed Red 2000 NiteFly M (MH/MH), 2000 MIDIFly (MH/MH), 2000 NiteFly SA (SA/MH), 2007 Southern NiteFly (SA/Maple), 2014 Fly Mojo Flame (with neck issues), rather tatty 1997 Nitefly NFV1 (Maple/Basswood).
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mmmguitar
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Re: Where does my bridge ground wire connect?

Post by mmmguitar »

Though I haven't owned a Parker which left the factory with Ghost saddles, @Piplodocus, I've installed them on a few Flys.

I take it the underside of your Fly bridge looks like this:

fly ground 2.jpeg

Rather than

fly ground.jpeg

If you have no roughed spot on the underside of the bridge, I'd say your reasoning is correct; and that you can secure the bare ground wire between the spring ridge plate and bridge, or anywhere else a component is mechanically coupled to the trem - Continuity is all that matters.

Ghost saddles from approximately 2013 to 2022 have the blue wire designated ground, and the silver designated hot. Others have reported that modern Ghost saddle wires use black for ground, and white for hot. Assuming you're using your saddles in a summing connector outputting to a two-pin plug for the Acousti-Phonic board, it won't harm anything if you need to try the dual connector both ways to identify which way works best.
Summary of the Parker Guitars speculator market from 2020 onward: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory
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Piplodocus
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Re: Where does my bridge ground wire connect?

Post by Piplodocus »

Thanks!

Yes, it's like the top one. I wasn't too keen on the idea of it between the spring plate and main bridge, so I've put it under the bolt head on the other side.
2004 Blue Fly Mojo Flame (MH/MH), Distressed Red 2000 NiteFly M (MH/MH), 2000 MIDIFly (MH/MH), 2000 NiteFly SA (SA/MH), 2007 Southern NiteFly (SA/Maple), 2014 Fly Mojo Flame (with neck issues), rather tatty 1997 Nitefly NFV1 (Maple/Basswood).
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