how to ground strings on archtop

[Greg Martin]

Im designing a ebony tail piece for my archtop build and wonder how to ground the strings. my pup is an Armstrong floating type, vol and tone are shatten thumb wheel pots. anyone have suggestions? pics ? thanks

[Barry Daniels]

Place a brass plate across the string anchor point on the tailpiece. Run a wire along the bottom of the tailpiece from the brass plate to the tail of the guitar where it can be run through a hole in the body that will be hidden by the tailpiece.

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

What Barry said, but if you are using an end pin jack, you can ground to the ring that the "strap button" bears against (and not need to add any holes to the guitar).

[David King]

I've seen folks install a fret at the front edge of tailpiece and solder a wire to that. Otherwise you can use a brass nut and just ground one string's ball end if that's easier for some reason.

[Greg Martin]

Barry's idea of a brass bar sounds easy and Ive seen others do it as well. Should the brass be glued in place ? what glue holds to brass ? or maybe it should be screwed with a couple small brass screws? I have polyurethane and LMI epoxy glue, but is there a better way?

[David King]

Either will work but the string tension and the ball ends pushing against the plate should keep it in place for the most part. You just don't want it getting lost during string changes.