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Got my hands on a beautiful Peerless Leela, more about which later. I noticed this wire hanging from the tailpiece onto the top. Is this for earthing or shielding when plugged in? At first I thought it was a loose bit of broken string, and tried to pull it out, unsuccessfully. Then I started thinking that maybe it's there for a reason...
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01-27-2018 06:21 AM
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If my memory serves me well Rob, the earth wire is soldered to the insert plate on the rear of the tailpiece and then goes directly through the top of the guitar rather than in the area of the end pin/strap button. If the tailpiece is pulled off roughly without the repairer realizing this, it could result in the kind of shredded wire seen in your photo. My Fibonacci 'Diablo' has exactly this system.
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It's probably a ground (earth) wire, but I can't tell how it's supposed to run from just that photo. It will probably require removing the tailpiece to get it sorted out. That isn't hard to do once the strings are removed, or at least loosened enough so they don't have any tension on them.
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I'll have a look underneath when I put replacement strings on. Thanks for the comments.
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Rob, judging by the bend of the wire, it looks like at one time, it went through a small hole in the body, and then made a short bend right where it was depressed by something. Maybe that “something” at one time was the metal part of the tailpiece, near where the screws are..
look for a tiny hole. That wire is supposed to be in it. The other side of it should be soldered to the output jack.
Joe D
Ps.. I’m sorry if you know all this already..
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Thanks, Joe. That's a bigger job than I can do alone. I'll take it to somebody.
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It depends on how the tailpiece is attached. If it's a Benedetto style all-wood tailpiece, the wire may go to a metal strip across the tailpiece, where the strings are attached. It should be soldered, but copper tape will do the job. If it's a metal tailpiece, it should be grounded (earthed) at the end, usually not soldered, just the wire tucked between the end and the tailpiece. It's not a big job either way. The wire should be attached to a common ground inside the body, and that can be easily checked with an ohmmeter (continuity checker). If it has become detached from the common ground system, then it's more work, because you have to pull the controls in order to resolder everything, and the entire system should be checked.
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i'd bet there is some kind of metal ground on the underside of the tailpiece...that the loose wire could easily be reattached to....removing/changing strings will reveal...
but with the pulling...the wire may have been torn from the solder point inside/in circuit...so a pro check is probably advised...(sans having digi meter)
also the ground wire can now rattle around inside the guitar, if its position was changed
cheers
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I've emailed Ivor Mairants' shop about it. I picked it up really cheap from their winter sale, at a price I couldn't resist. It turns out to be a really excellent guitar, and I'd be very happy to keep it as my electric archtop. We'll get it sorted somehow.
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More Pics, or it never happened!
Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
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In time. I'll do a NGD once I've got this sorted. Very fine guitar for the price, even the full price.
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The above is not quite correct Rob - apologies. I have now spoken to my colleague Graham Esson who established and distributed all Peerless in Europe for circa ten years. He comments:'Peerless used a wire across the ball-ends of the strings, with another one soldered to that, running down to the brass fixing that holds the tailpiece to the end of the guitar.' Originally Posted by blackcat
Apparently this was less than ideal and Graham ( who has since established Fibonacci ) has now adopted the system I first described thus avoiding the need to sandwich the wire at the very end of the guitar.
Hope that helps.
David
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Thanks, David. That helps a lot. Cheers.
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My pleasure Rob. In fact, I have a jpg here from Graham, but for some reason do not seem to be able to compress it to a suitable size for insertion. Anyway, imagine one wire passing across the position of all the holes for the ball ends of the strings and another soldered to the centre of that forming a 'T' configuration. The wire forming the long vertical of the 'T' then runs centrally in a groove in the ebony, passing out at the tail end where it is sandwiched between the hinge plate and strap button. Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
Good luck!
David
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Makes sense to me. Thanks again.
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A piece of narrow copper self-adhesive tape, available many places, might work better for the contact along the strings than a piece of wire, but if it's not readily available the wire will work. The tape can also be used for the run from the strings to the tailpiece end. That's what I've used in the past on one of my instruments, and it works okay. I bought a roll of tape ~3/16" wide, and still have most of it on hand, and it wasn't expensive. I don't know what is available over there, though.
I would bet the wire you showed is the wire between the tailpiece and the strings, that runs the length of the tailpiece, and it's probably still connected at the other end, you just need to connect it to the wire under the strings. Maybe. You will have to remove the strings to be certain. I agree that the store should take care of the repair. It should be quick and easy for them.
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I'm waiting to hear back from them before attempting anything. They should read my email tomorrow. Thanks for all the comments.
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cheers
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That really helps. I'm off to bed now, but tomorrow I'll take the strings off and report back. I don't want you all losing sleep over this, now...
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I don't think there's much danger of that.
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Ivor Mairant sells them with 5 strings attached...?
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Well, I took the strings off, but can't pull the tailpiece back far enough to get a good picture without unscrewing the whole assembly, but I can see what has happened.
It looks exactly like Neatomic's picture in post #18. The wire that goes to the foot of the tailpiece is intact, but half of the shorter transverse wire has come loose from the area of the first string to the third. Hopefully you can see it in reflection - very hard to get a decent photo of it:
So, does it need to be reattached, or will it still work if just placed in the area of the first-string hole? If it absolutely needs to be attached, how does one do that?
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I put the strings back on, but they pushed the wire away. So, I need a method of attaching the wire to the wood...
PS Can't wait for my ALL-ACOUSTIC Elferink! No wires!!
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Rob, maybe this gives you an idea how it could be done.
http://www.guitarrasjaen.com/GroundingTailpiece_EN.pdf
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Ha, jazznote, I certainly can't imagine myself going to all that trouble. But thanks anyway.
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