a head gimbal assembly that includes a bleed resistor applied over a specified area of the reader , writer and ground leads in order to protect from esd damage is disclosed . the present invention address the need for an esd protection system that includes a consistent and secure connection with leads , that does not contaminate the drive environment and applies a consistent resistivity to both the reader and writer element by providing a head gimbal assembly with strategically placed bleed resistors that will protect the read element from transient charge produced any time during the fabrication , assembly , testing and shipment of the disc drive .