Originally Posted by: RobSm...What I'm wondering is whether I can pick a point in the 'harness' setup and wire it to my common ground. I'm visualising this as a straight series connection. Do you think that this would 1/ be effective and 2/ avoid ground looping?....

[font=trebuchet ms]That will just about guarantee making a ground loop if you shield the control cavity, because the mounting collar of the pot will contact the shielding. And you really should shield the control cavity. Quit putzing around, and do it right. :p

Hold a piece of stiff cardboard against the front of your guitar and mark the control locations through the holes in the guitar body. cut holes in the cardboard and install the pots in the cardboard. this jig will hold everything in place while you solder any connections between the pots. After you have the control cavity shielded, you can install the pots, and finish hooking things up. It's worth the time and effort, because if you do it right, there's no reason to ever have to open it up again, unless you decide to try different pickups, or you wear out a pot. Either way, that's likely to be a long time, and meanwhile, you have a quiet, trouble-free axe.[/font]