RiverRat wrote: The fallacy in the conclusion is that star grounding has an effect on the result. As a couple other people have pointed out, the shield and the ground bus act together and create a mesh topology. This invalidates the hypothesis, since the star is no longer a star.
if the shield provides a functions of shielding out electomagnetic radiation, and is wired directly to the output jacks ground lug directly or indirectly, it is not a mesh ground as it is solid and used for shielding purposes, not grounding purposes. if i understand correctly then you are saying that you can use the shield to ground signal ground wiring, and i agree it can be done, but has been proven to induce noise due to the ground loops it creates when other signal grounds within the circuit are grounded directly at the output jack ground lug.
if all the signal wires are wired directly to one singular point and then wired directly to the same output jack ground lug, that is also not a mesh wiring scheme. again, theoretically you could use the shield as a ground point, but then you are adding a function to the shield it is not intended to be used for. yes, it is grounded but it is not used for grounding. wiring the signal grounds individually to the shield could be construed as a "Mesh Topology", but if done this way can come at a cost.
i understand that the pot casings and switches will touch the shield installed, but that is the outer casings, they are isolated internally away from the shield or their shields(cases). so their signal grounds do not see this grounded connection and become part of this shielding action the shield provides, and that can be construed as a "Mesh Topology". but again, this is shielding and not grounding. even though the shield needs to be grounded to perform it's action, their signal leads are isolated and should be led to a point(star) or buss out the output jacks ground lug. this is another action that does work as it keeps the signal path true to one point and does not allow for a second path to ground.
so, if the 2 are providing 2 seperate functions or actions and are both wired to a singular point ground point or only one path to ground, then how does it create a "Mesh Topology"? the shield provides an action just as all the other components with signal grounds within the circuit perform an action of the circuit. and are all grounded at one singular point. if this is true, isn't that singular point a "Star" or Buss that all the signal grounds AND the shield lead to?
just trying to understand your hypothesis.
peace,
waldo
Disclaimer: I get paid to make, modify or build things for those that seek what i may be able to provide.
back to you brother, Phil!
What a shame....hope none of the boys ever join to talk music theory 
