Rickenbacher B6 grounding

[Eric Dahlhoff]

Happy Holidays!

I've got a B6 "Panda" with celluloid white plates. I'm assuming war-time build. Really fun to play.
But... in some circumstances I get the typical single-coil pickup buzz, unless I touch the pickup or jack, etc.

How do people ground the strings on these?

Thanks

[Tim Whitlock]

Here is a a shot of the wiring on mine. Hope this helps.

[Rick Aiello]

Some folks fabricate a thin metal shim to put on ... Between the ball end and the loading Bakelite area ... Then run a wire from that to the sleeve of the 1/4" jack ...

I've seen other folks weave a thin gauge wire around the strings between the bridge and the body and run it to the jack.

A simple option is to get one of those static electricity bracelets for working on sensitive electronics ... put it on and run it to the jack ... I do this on my prewar bakelites in winter sometimes ... when it's really dry and staticky.

Hope that helps ...

[Eric Dahlhoff]

Thanks Tim, but mine has plastic plates not metal.

Thanks for the ideas Rick. I think I'll try a piece of copper tape behind the bridge and a wire to the pickup mount. I do like the idea of the anti-static wrist band

[Mike Neer]

This is how I did it. I didn't want to do any further mods to this guitar, so a simple wire to the bridge.

[Jim Kennedy]

The bridge must be grounded to reduce the hum. Any way you can get from the bridge to another ground point should work. Make sure you have a solid connection.

[Rick Aiello]

That's the issue with prewar and "wartime" Bakelites ... the bridge is integrated bakelite ...

[Jim Kennedy]

Looks versus functionality. The way Mike Neer did it will work just fine. If you can find a more elegant way, go for it. If the bridge isn't grounded, the strings act like an antenna, picking up any spurious noise floating around.

I worked on a mid 70's Fender P Bass once. Original owner for 20 years was having serious hum issues. Multi meter showed the bridge was not grounded. The ground wire came up through a hole in the body and was merely laying under the bridge plate. Over time the wire had depressed into the wood and oxidized just enough to lose the ground. I soldered a star washer to the wire, made sure a screw went through the washer. 20 years later, still works great. If you want to reduce the hum, you have to ground the bridge.

[Jim Kennedy]

Read the post over again. Are the saddles for the strings bakelite? If that's the case your kind of stuck. I am an electronics tech, but have no experience with these old guitars.

[Eric Dahlhoff]

Yes, the saddle/bridge is all part of the bakelite body. Not a spec of metal there!

[Stephen Cowell]

Yes, the saddle/bridge is all part of the bakelite body. Not a spec of metal there!

See if this doesn't make sense:

[Eric Dahlhoff]

Stephen, that's perfect! Much better than my idea of copper tape.
I love this forum!
Thanks!

[Bill Sinclair]

The late great Mike Auldridge used a paper clip!

[Eric Dahlhoff]

The paper clip is a great idea too!
Here's what I did. It has the advantage of grounding all the strings.

[Bill Groner]

Nice job Eric, Looks nice....like you can hardly see it!

[Stephen Cowell]

The paper clip is a great idea too!
Here's what I did. It has the advantage of grounding all the strings.

Great job Eric... glad to be of service! Couldn't have done it better myself.