Jazz wiring. No earth to the output socket?

John_P

Had an odd one today,  a friend wanted me to arrive his US standard Fender Jazz.  Needed a setup and has some crackles.    

When I own the control plate to clean the pots I notice it only has one connection to th output socket.  I assume the ground is via the metal plate as the signal is coming through fine and there I no sign of the second tab on the socket ever having solder but I’ve never come across that.   

Tempted to add a wired ground signal but thought I’d check if it’s just normal and leave it alone.   

sweepy

Its earthed through the control plate but I always add a lead as belts and braces

MattBanshee

Funnily enough I had to fix a dodgy wire on my Jazz the other day, and noticed the same thing; as previously mentioned it's the control plate that links the grounds on the jack to the pots.

ICBM

sweepy said:

Its earthed through the control plate but I always add a lead as belts and braces

Correct. Poor ground connections caused by relying on the physical contact between the jack, pots and control plate are a well-known problem with old Jazz basses and other Fenders once a bit of corrosion gets in.

Ignore the myth that doubling the connection causes a ‘ground loop’ - it doesn’t. A fully-soldered ground connection is more reliable and reduces noise.

Funkfingers

Same observation applies to vintage Fender guitars (and period correct replicas) with a metal screening plate beneath the scratchplate. Point to point soldered grounding between the pots improves matters.