Short vs long leg baseplate. Cons for short legs?

[Wound_Up]

What difference does short vs long legs make when it comes to mounting a SD 59 Model bridge pickup? Do you lose any adjustability with short legs? Are there any cons to buying a short legged pickup vs a long legged one?

The pickup I just got for my singlecut Goldtop has short legs and I'm just trying to make sure I'm not losing anything by using it. The only difference I can figure is I don't need the extra deep bracket pockets with a short legged baseplate. Is there anything I'm missing other than historic accuracy? Is that the main reason for long & short legs? To have long legs that are physically accurate to the originals? Thanks.

 

[AlexR]

The only cons are with long legs.....as in you cannot fit them to thinner guitars like strats without some routing work.

Short legs are the 'fits anything' version.

 

[Clint 55]

Historic moronicality.

 

[Wound_Up]

Awesome. The ad for what I bought on Reverb said it was a long legged baseplate but what I received wasn't. Since there's no difference other than looks, I'll let the guy know I'm OK with what I have. I've already emailed him asking whether he sent me a short or long legged pickup when I noticed the short legs. But since it makes no difference, I'll keep this one. It's not going into a LP R9 or anything, so I believe the short legs will work just fine.

Thank you!

 

[Tone Mechanic]

Is there anything I'm missing other than historic accuracy? Is that the main reason for long & short legs? To have long legs that are physically accurate to the originals? Thanks.

Short legs are fine. Doesn't affect tone. Long legs are a carryover from the original P.A.F.s.

 

[beaubrummels]

Recently, I noticed there's a limit to how low you can adjust a short leg if the screws are shorter also. Long screws comes in handy particularly for neck pickups to control the thumpy/tubby/boom effect.

 

[Demanic]

I prefer short legs. I once had to swap out a baseplate because the legs were too long to fit in the body.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[Clint 55]

Recently, I noticed there's a limit to how low you can adjust a short leg if the screws are shorter also. Long screws comes in handy particularly for neck pickups to control the thumpy/tubby/boom effect.

You'd need more screw to get the long leg pickup to the same low height than the short leg.

 

[Wound_Up]

Recently, I noticed there's a limit to how low you can adjust a short leg if the screws are shorter also. Long screws comes in handy particularly for neck pickups to control the thumpy/tubby/boom effect.

That, was something I also realized. Thanks for confirming what I was thinking is correct. I actually already have some from when I installed a humbucker in my Silvertone Strat. The legs were too long so i straightened them out parallel to the baseplate instead of making an 'L' so it would fit.

Might swap the alnico 5 mag with an alnico 2 next. It's a cheap, Guitar Madness "59'er". It sounds pretty bad compared to the stock pickups in my Goldtop(which is getting the SD in the bridge). I originally bought the 2's to replace the mags in my Goldtop pickups but I doubt I'll mess with them since they have covers.


I appreciate all the help. I let the guy know that all is good and I'll keep this one even though the ad stated it was a long-legged baseplate. Now if this freakin Kester 44 solder would hurry up and get here, I could get it installed. I've got lead-free but I ain't using it.

Thanks again!

 

[Wound_Up]

Recently, I noticed there's a limit to how low you can adjust a short leg if the screws are shorter also. Long screws comes in handy particularly for neck pickups to control the thumpy/tubby/boom effect.

I just realized that, with longer screws, you'd also need longer springs. Correct? Could I just stack springs? As in use 1 full length and a 2nd, shorter spring cut to size to take up the rest of the screw? Or would I need to find single springs that are long enough? Thanks.

 

[Demanic]

You can certainly stack them. Or fix a nut to the end of the screw. Usually just using a longer spring is best.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[jeremy]

stacking springs sounds like a huge pita! little buggers will be flyin all over the place