clay-man Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 So I've been having trouble with me E string, but it's gone completely silent. I messed with it and I think the saddle action setscrewes weren't touching the bridge. I've messed around a few times and it seems like whenever I screw in a setscrew snug, the ground fixes. I assume the ground is transferred via the setscrews then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Yes on the old Variax that is true. That is why everyone likes the Ghost replacements to much. They each have a ground wire. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 Yes on the old Variax that is true. That is why everyone likes the Ghost replacements to much. They each have a ground wire. The grounding on the original variaxes were EXTREMELY poorly done. The only thing I think my big E string piezo had to ground was the intonation string. I was getting absolutely no signal until I realized the set screws weren't flush against the bridge. I hope that was the problem. I'm just checking with you guys to make sure I don't have to buy more crap to fix my guitar. I really don't want to have to do piezo maintenance every single year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I had intermittent problems with my 500 that required me to fool with the bridge to get a good signal every once in a while. I recently replaced the piezos with Graphtech Ghost and it is the solution. All of the original Variax piezos were grounded through the bridge which was not reliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 I want to get ghosts because not only that, it makes the Variax sound twice as good. I don't have a solder kit though and I'm kind of afraid to do that type of stuff anyways. Is it easier than it sounds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 No it is not easy. If you are not very confident in your soldering I would not recommend that you do this yourself. You have to work with very small wires that are easy to damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 No it is not easy. If you are not very confident in your soldering I would not recommend that you do this yourself. You have to work with very small wires that are easy to damage. Exactly. I can't tell you how worried I was trying to strip the old piezo wire. This was before I knew of the lighter technique so it was pretty horrible. Luckily I soldered it really well. I soldered it to the old wire because I didn't have a desoldering pump to take off the old solder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gemini9665 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I own a Variax 600 and Ive just bought the Graphtech replacement pickups. In the 600 the PCB is fitted inside the bridge so I am assuming that once the wires are desoldered you solder the new wires in place? What I am confused about is where the grounding wires should attach to as the old pickups used to ground themselves on the bridge plate through the set screws. If anyone has actually done this transplant can you please let me know how you grounded the pickups. I don't want to start this without some guidance from someone who's already done it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_Watt Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 You need to find a place to connect all of the ground wires. They are required by the Graphtech pickups. On my 500 I had to attach to the Flex circuit that was under the bridge. I scraped insulation away from the ground pad that was connected to the bridge itself and soldered all of the ground wires to this ground that is part of the flex circuit. There has to be a ground on your bridge so you can do the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gemini9665 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Yep, theres a copper strip in the circuit board which makes contact with the bottom of the bridge. Looks like there's enough room to solder all the earth wires to one spot. Thanks for your reply I will let you know how it goes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amx05462 Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 the stock piezos ground from the chrome cover to the saddle to the bridge via string pressure and the height adjusting screws., graphtech pickups are the answer to this grounding problem as well as output and muddiness problems. i was one of the first if not the first to do this instalation. i can tell you that output doubled the muddiness disapeared and volume from string to string evened out imediately. as to putting them in. well its a job but well worth it inthe end. i used to have a few posts on this in the inthe variax transplant section. i have no idea if this even exists anymore as i havent been here in some time. you can try clicking on my name and possibly find it that way. but here it is quickly . the main problem is stripping the wires. silver is hot blue is ground . you have to split them apart. that i did with a set of nipper plyers. if you use a razor knife you will cut one of the wires too short. then removing the insulation at the end is also difficult . what i did was melt it off with a small torch. i virtually dispears and leaves you with a clean end ready for soldering. that being said its just a matter of mounting them to the bridge then soldering each respective silver wire to its place onthe board and what i did for ground was twist them all together and solder them to a loop and put that on the screw that holds the pcb in place there.. or you can try to get those six wires into the hole for ground on the board as well. i found the loop to be easier. i used a second nut so not only do you get a good ground but you lock in this pcb board as well. saves problems when changing strings . the one nut line 6 uses loosens and sometimes the board moves position. good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpwhite Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 I noticed a "touch the 1/4" jack and it goes away" hum (but no string sound degradation) on my Variax. There was no continuity between the strings and the 1/4" jack. Took out the main board and there is a green wire (as well as a short stub of bare stranded wire) coming from the bridge area independent of the ribbon cable for the piezos. This is connected to the strings so should be tied to ground somewhere, unless it was added later. Any ideas where it should connect? L4, which connects between ground and the 1/4" jack ground to activate the battery when it is plugged in, has been removed and there is a bit of wire soldered across it. I'm guessing that's the broken end of the green string grounding wire. The part number of the PCB is 35-00-0137 Rev. E dated 08/02. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amx05462 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 i had those green wires inmy 300 and they were screwed to the body. i didnt see that they did any good there because there was no shielding to ground to. the shielding was the coffin case. i didnt use them . but thinking back they probably should have been grounded to the 1/4 inch output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay-man Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 I have those wires, they are screwed into the guitar and attached to the coffin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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