V8, yes, valid point, as well as the story that eventually the pot nuts will work loose.
Johan, thanks, I shall read all the references. If I understand correctly, the only "exposed" earth connection on your Strats will be the output plug and plate, unless you went with isolated plugs (and cable jacks). So, if you do not earth the strings, what is all the hype about earth to the bridge/strings being a must? Or is it merely to mitigate a side-effect of hum caused by large areas of the guitar (well, the pots at least, as well as the "shield" foil under them, and even the "cavity shielding", if installed) being connected to signal ground in the conventional way of doing it? And what is the story with reducing hum if I earth myself to the strings/bridge? It does not remove the hum, but it reduces it on the one single coil guitar with that problem (I have not yet reached the stage where I clip an earth strap from my pinky to the bridge. Surely, that idea should be to have the lead clipped to somewhere not moving around as much as your playing hand. Even if only for "studio" use. I do occasionally scratch my nose, or pick up the pick, or...) That guitar also displays "static" pops when playing. They tell me it is a single coil thing, but only that guitar does it a lot.
And, then your tone capacitors will not be "shorted" to the relevant tone pot, but will have a wire running directly to your star ground PCB plate?
If you guitar cavities are shielded as per popular DIY fix-it doctrine (I have no plan to do that), do you earth the shield to the PCB as well? I like the idea, as removing all "signal" contact from anything not connecting to the amp makes sense. Maybe a better idea than my ultimately all-over earth bus ground scheme. Would be a shame, I spent some time making up neat brass earth connector plates to fit under the pots. But, before I solder, better to have a "correct" way to connect everything.
