Another buzz/grounding question- '01 Studio

[stobro]

My green 2001 Studio has always had a buzzing problem since I acquired many years ago. A while back I opened the control cavity and saw there was no ground wire to the frame of the switch, so I added one. That didn't seem to help much. It was probably already getting a decent ground through the cavity shielding paint.

I've noticed that touching or not touching the strings, bridge or tailpiece makes no difference, it still hums the same as when I have hands off. The only thing that eliminates the buzz is touching the metal barrel of the plug when it's inserted into the output jack. Now I'm thinking the strings aren't grounded.

Theres a ground wire that is fed into a hole in the side of the control cavity that appears to be pointed toward the nearby tailpiece stud. I removed tailpiece and the studs and looked into the holes. I didn't see any evidence of a wire at the bottom of the hole.

Is it possible the wire actually goes to the bridge instead? I guess I'll try removing the bridge to take a look.

Is there anything short of removing the tailpiece or bridge stud inserts that would allow me to remedy this problem?

[HamerAustria]

Measuring resistance from the soldered wire to the bridge with a multimeter?...at least it saves the disassembling....

[Dave Scepter]

Grab an alligator lead, attach one end to the known ground and with the other end, touch various points where you may think the problem is

[stobro]

That's what I just did- I clipping a jumper from one of the strings to the nut that secures the toggle switch. With the jumper in place it's dead quiet. It's definitely the wire from the control cavity not making contact with the tailpiece stud insert. Now what?

[Dave Scepter]

24 minutes ago, stobro said:

Now what?

Make better contact 🤣

[hamerhead]

That.

Is so helpful! 

[Dave Scepter]

28 minutes ago, hamerhead said:

That.

Is so helpful! 

Dude, He's already trouble shot the issue and removed the bridge and studs... common sense would dictate that he connect the wire to the tailpiece studs or whichever he can get to to make the humming stop 🤷

I personally would connect it to the tailpiece stud

I don't have a 01 Studio, so~

Edited December 8, 2025 by Dave Scepter

[hamerhead]

1 hour ago, Dave Scepter said:

Dude, He's already trouble shot the issue and removed the bridge and studs... common sense would dictate that he connect the wire to the tailpiece studs or whichever he can get to to make the humming stop 🤷

I personally would connect it to the tailpiece stud

I don't have a 01 Studio, so~

He should  pull a tailpiece anchor and attach the wire to it, but a stud will work. 

I don't have one either but had a similar issue with my LP. I wrapped the wire around the stud...

[Dave Scepter]

41 minutes ago, hamerhead said:

He should  pull a tailpiece anchor and attach the wire to it, but a stud will work. 

I don't have one either but had a similar issue with my LP. I wrapped the wire around the stud...

That's exactly what I just said...🙄

"I personally would connect it to the tailpiece stud"

[cynic]

1 hour ago, hamerhead said:

He should  pull a tailpiece anchor and attach the wire to it, but a stud will work. 

I don't have one either but had a similar issue with my LP. I wrapped the wire around the stud...

 

20 minutes ago, Dave Scepter said:

That's exactly what I just said...🙄

"I personally would connect it to the tailpiece stud"

 

2 hours ago, Dave Scepter said:

Dude, He's already trouble shot the issue and removed the bridge and studs... common sense would dictate that he connect the wire to the tailpiece studs or whichever he can get to to make the humming stop 🤷

I personally would connect it to the tailpiece stud

I don't have a 01 Studio, so~

 

I would ignore the above advice and simply make a connection between the wire and the tailpiece stud.

[Dave Scepter]

54 minutes ago, cynic said:

 

 

 

I would ignore the above advice and simply make a connection between the wire and the tailpiece stud.

And I would just ignore you period... so there! 🤭

[stobro]

There is already a wire that apparently just falls short of making contact with the threaded anchor that's embedded in the body. I'm trying to figure out a way to get it connected that doesn't involve using something like a gear puller to pry the anchor out of the body. I guess another option is pulling the wire, drilling out the side of the anchor through the wire hole that's already there, then reinserting the wire with enough bare conductor to make contact without interfering with the stud threads. Both options sound tricky.

[Dave Scepter]

Just now, stobro said:

There is already a wire that apparently just falls short of making contact with the threaded anchor that's embedded in the body. I'm trying to figure out a way to get it connected that doesn't involve using something like a gear puller to pry the anchor out of the body. I guess another option is pulling the wire, drilling out the side of the anchor through the wire hole that's already there, then reinserting the wire with enough bare conductor to make contact without interfering with the stud threads. Both options sound tricky.

Can you extend the wire with a new piece?

[stobro]

The disconnect is at the stud anchor. The existing ground wire is plenty long. The connection point is buried deep inside the body. Pushing the wire against the side wall of the anchor might force it to make contact, but how to make that permanent?

[stobro]

Apparently bending the (solid core) wire to align better with the drilled hole and using needle nosed pliers to firmly push the wire into the hole was enough to make decent contact with the stud anchor. It's quiet now. If it acts up again, I'll know what to try first next time.

[Jakeboy]

@cynic is funny. 
 

Glad you fixed it @stobro!

[Jeff R]

The idea/principle/goal is to connect the circuit's ground to the strings themselves, via the metal strings and the metal components' conductivity.

The metal strings are connected to the metal bridge AND the metal tailpiece/wrap/stoptail AND the metal bushings in the body. So you can connect to any of those pieces to get the desired result.

Go for the easiest. Remove the bushing, re-run the ground, reinstall the bushing. Do some Google and YouTube searches for "remove bushings from guitar body" and look at all the ways, you'll find a few approaches.

This is the easiest, but BE SURE to put the screw in FLAT HEAD FIRST. If you put in the screw point down, and if the wood is thin under the bushings, the screw point can penetrate through and peek out the back of the guitar!

 

If you'd prefer a "real" tool for the job ... this is the half price version of the $72 tool StewMac sells for this task ...

 

 

[stobro]

If the ground connection goes bad again, I'll try pulling the bushing. Is the ground wire typically crushed under the end of the bushing, or squeezed between the outside of the bushing and the wood?

[Jeff R]

Either, doesn't matter, you only need contact with and among the metals for conductivity.

I remove the bushing, feed the ground wire through the pilot hole into the bushing's hole, pull the wire up to the top of the guitar body through the bushing hole and right-angle it over the edge of the hole's top, install the bushing, and then cut the ground wire flush with the bushing/body. Kinda like the attached photos below ...

Not only maximum contact but the wire ain't going nowhere should you start tugging on it from inside the cavity.

 

[Dutchman]

On 12/8/2025 at 11:58 AM, hamerhead said:

should  pull a tailpiece anchor and attach the wire to it, but a stud will work

This! Out of sight. There might be an existing hole to the anchor closest to the controls. 

You can use a pipe cleaner or a stiff small wire to see if it goes into the stud hole. When you strip the wire strip back an inch or so. Seen to many times where a small amount stripped back doesn't make contact. 

 

Shit I didn't see Jeff's responce!! Yes!! Just like Jeff says!!!!

Edited December 12, 2025 by Dutchman