Ground Wire on an EVH Kramer

[metalchurch]

I was reading up on this Forum, getting the Paint Stripe placement, and other specs for this Kramer, and I ran across a topic someone brought up.

This guy said that EVH used an 18 gauge ground wire from Spring claw of his Trem to ground his guitar. (He showed pictures, so it appears to be legit.)

Anyway, a few other guys on there also built a number of Kramer Frankenstrat - 5150 - and 1984 replicas and used this same approach.

What are the benefits of using such a big gauge of wire, if any at all?
One guy on there said it would pose a little more resistance, as the thicker the gauge= the more resistance.

If this was the case, why is there not more people or companies doing this?
Not cost effective?

Maybe it's just BS, and Eddie just used what ever he had available at the time?

Any thoughts?

[lonewolf]

One guy on there said it would pose a little more resistance, as the thicker the gauge= the more resistance.

That's bass-ackwards. The rule is: the thicker the wire, the less resistance. Many manufacturers often use solid (not stranded) wire for the ground from the bridge or tremolo--many look like they might be 18 or 20 gauge.

I suppose the idea for the thicker wire is to get closer to zero resistance so that the tremolo is virtually at ground with not even a hint of resistance between them.

It doesn't hurt to use thicker wire for ground, but at these lengths (under a foot long) there is virtually no resistance on any typical gauge copper wire.

[metalchurch]

Yeah the wire pictured was a solid unshielded wire, something common to house wiring.
Thanks, as always.

[songsmith]

Didn't Fender used to use guitar strings for ground wires?---->JMS

[lonewolf]

Didn't Fender used to use guitar strings for ground wires?---->JMS

I doubt it. You want a ground network to be as close to zero resistance as possible. Guitar strings are nickel based and have similar resistance characteristics as NiChrome wire which is used in heating elements and low value resistors. This inherent resistance coupled with considerably higher cost makes guitar strings a very poor choice for grounding.

With their extra resistance, I found guitar strings make excellent flash powder fuses when short-circuited. Instead of immediately burning out, they glow hot long enough to ignite the powder before breaking. This is important when using a homemade flash power concoction.