what's a baseplate?

Re: what's a baseplate?

Bird said:
what's a baseplate?

Steel or copper plate that is placed on the bottom of a single coil pickup...First used on the fender tele...Gives the pickup more aggression and mids...Fralin uses the plate and Duncan's Twangbanger has it also...

John
 
Re: what's a baseplate?

Bird said:
what does a baseplate give to the guitar? how does it help?

More bass...more deep twang. Adds a Tele-esque tone to a Strat bridge pickup without affecting the highs. It's doesn't make it treblier...just fatter and deeper. Lew
 
Re: what's a baseplate?

Standard humbuckers also have a baseplate - a metal plate that the bobbins are screwed to. With standard humbuckers and Tele pickups the baseplate is an integral part of the design. With pickups like the Twangbanger (for Strat) it's an added feature! :)
 
Re: what's a baseplate?

Simon_F said:
Standard humbuckers also have a baseplate - a metal plate that the bobbins are screwed to. With standard humbuckers and Tele pickups the baseplate is an integral part of the design. With pickups like the Twangbanger (for Strat) it's an added feature! :)

Well sought of?

The Tele had a baseplate for technical reasons and not tonal reasons...The baseplate was used on the Tele as a noise surpression factor and to help with grounding issues...

A humbucker's bottom is actually a mounting framework to fasten the bobbins to so the pickup stays together...It's a structural/integral issue on the humbucker....

Here's some info right out of The Fender Telecaster Book about the baseplate...

" What distinguishes the tele bridge pickup from other Fender single coil units is the metal back plate under the bobbins..This plate ,made of tin until early 1951 and copper-coated thereafter,serves several purposes.It acts as a shield and ground conductor as well as intensifying the magnetic field.Bearing in mind the specific installation of the pickup,electronic shielding was probably the main consideration behind the back plate.It may however,contribute to unwanted feedback and microphonic noises and this is the reason Fender decided to delete it in 1983 on the newer Standard Telecaster"
 
Last edited:
Re: what's a baseplate?

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Well sought of?

The Tele had a baseplate for technical reasons and not tonal reasons...The baseplate was used on the Tele as a noise surpression factor and to help with grounding issues...

A humbucker's bottom is actually a mounting framework to fasten the bobbins to so the pickup stays together...It's a structural/integral issue on the humbucker....

John knows this but some less experienced players may not: Remember that the magnet in a vintage style Strat or Tele pickup are the six individual polepieces. There's no bar magnet laying down under the coils as in a humbucker.

Supposedly the bassplate directs some of the energy from the "other end" of the six pickup polepieces upwards towards the strings and strengthens the magnetic field.

I don't know how true that actually is but that's what I've been told.

Lew
 
Re: what's a baseplate?

Thanks for the cool info John & Lew! :)

My reason for mentioning the humbucker baseplate was that Bird's original question was just "What's a baseplate?" - I wasn't sure whether he meant the Tele pup baseplate or the HB one (irrespective of their functions), and since no-one else mentioned the HB one I thought I would. :smack:

Just wanted to make sure we covered all the bases. :lmao:
 
Last edited:
Re: what's a baseplate?

Simon_F said:
Thanks for the cool info John & Lew! :)

My reason for mentioning the humbucker baseplate was that Bird's original question was just "What's a baseplate?" - I wasn't sure whether he meant the Tele pup baseplate or the HB one (irrespective of their functions), and since no-one else mentioned the HB one I thought I would. :smack:

Just wanted to make sure we covered all the bases. :lmao:

it's all good Simon...Some of us just have more useless knowledge in our heads than others! :smack: :)
 
Back
Top