Tremonti S pickups - Where's the bare?

[Ovibos]

Finally getting around to installing these, but I'm confused as if expect there to be a bare wire for grounding. There's a metal sleeve in there, but peeling it back I don't see a bare.
However, the black wire seems to be exposed to the sleeve?

What am I missing? Do I need to strip back the sleeve more? Did previous owner cut off the bare? Are these different?

(Don't mind the funkiness - I wax potted and covered them)

 

[garrettb]

It looks like they might have used shrink tubing to pair the shield with ground and then soldered them together at the end.

Go ahead and wire them up and you should be fine.

 

[Ovibos]

Award-winning @garrett to the rescue again!

 

[Ovibos]

Welp, in an effort to remove the knob from the tone pot this happened...

The pot is thrashed and I installed a replacement. No idea how to get the knob off here tho...

I need more @garrett wisdom.
(Altho replacements are en route from AllParts)

 

[garrettb]

I'd hold the shaft with pliers and see if I could wiggle the knob off. Cuss at it a little if it puts up a fight. A bit of "Get off of there you son of a..." really helps.

 

[Ovibos]

I'd hold the shaft with pliers and see if I could wiggle the knob off. Cuss at it a little if it puts up a fight. A bit of "Get off of there you son of a..." really helps.

I'll give it another shot, but I'm pretty sure I will just have to wait for AllParts.