Question About Base Plates for Single Coils.. ​​​​​​​.

[zozoe]

Greetings,, & not to get caught up in their effectiveness, are they all pretty of equal composition w/similar potential results... Callaham, Fralin, Mill City (at only 9 bucks!!)....?
Thnx all~

[eclecticsynergy]

Basically all the same. There may be minor variations in thickness of the steel.
But I don't think the carbon content makes much difference, as it does with some components.
So probably all about the same effectiveness IMO - subtle, but audible if you listen for it.

[beaubrummels]

What kind of single coils? Fender Strat vintage-style singles are a fiber/felt kind of base, modern ones plastic, Telecasters have metal plates, as do P-90s.

[zozoe]

What kind of single coils? Fender Strat vintage-style singles are a fiber/felt kind of base, modern ones plastic, Telecasters have metal plates, as do P-90s.

Basically any one of the many Duncan's, Fenders A5's with flat underbellys.... thnx

[ErikH]

I went with a Fralin for my Squier CV 60s Strat. Adding the baseplate gave me what I wanted out of the bridge pickup. And I was looking at swapping all of them out too. But the stock pickups are not bad at all. Glad I went this route.

[jeremy]

adding a metal baseplate to a pup seems to tame the high end a bit, which i like on a vintage output bridge pup. ive used the fralin and callaham plates and didnt really notice a difference between them

[LLL]

ive used the fralin and callaham plates and didnt really notice a difference between them

Callaham pickups are (special-wound) Fralin pickups; cryogenically treated.

[ArtieToo]

I went with a Fralin for my Squier CV 60s Strat. Adding the baseplate gave me what I wanted out of the bridge pickup. And I was looking at swapping all of them out too. But the stock pickups are not bad at all. Glad I went this route.

I'll have to try this with my CV 50's Strat. The bridge is just a hair too bright.

[jeremy]

yup! great pups too. i was talking about the metal base plates that you slap on a strat pup though

[ErikH]

I'll have to try this with my CV 50's Strat. The bridge is just a hair too bright.

While you're in there, change the pots to quality 250K and put in a .1uf tone cap. You'll be glad you did.

[jeremy]

im all about using good 250k pots, i really like the mojotone vintage taper pots. i dont usually love a .1 cap but that is vintage correct

[ErikH]

I normally don't use a .1uf cap but with these single-coils, I felt it was necessary. When I had an American Standard Strat, I put a set of Fender SCNs in it and wired it up EJ style with a .1uf cap. It sounded fantastic so my first instinct with this one was to go that route with the cap if I felt it was too bright.

[ArtieToo]

While you're in there, change the pots to quality 250K and put in a .1uf tone cap. You'll be glad you did.

I'll definitely do the good 250's. I've got a cap substitution box that I'll use to select the ideal cap. (And a bridge baseplate.)

[ArtieToo]

While we're on the subject, does the material matter? Copper, brass, plated or unplated steel, zinc-coated steel?

[ErikH]

Good question.