Daft Question...Strat pickup Baseplate

KevS

I have ordered a Strat Baseplate from Oil City..
This is for a Strat with Fender Texas Special Pickups,for the bridge pickup..

I take it I should take the sticker off the bottom of the pickup..?
Also it says,make sure the bottom of the pickup is clean..
Would some cotton Wool and Isopropyl Alcohol be OK here..?
Or would it warp the Fibreboard material..?

What would be recommended for cleaning it's bottom..? 
Double Entendre semi intentional..

Funkfingers

KevS said: 

Double Entendre semi 

Semi is a double entendre in and of itself. 

•

I had hoped to avoid using the expression, “wax off”, partly because it does not work well in written form, partly because you probably want the wax to stay on the lower fibreboard plate.

Any air gap between the pickup bobbin plate and the metal baseplate could induce microphonic squeal. Melting wax into the gap minimises this.

bbill335

i used 3M extra strong double-sided carpet tape to secure a baseplate to a tele pickup that tended to squeal. works very well IME

KevS

This baseplate comes with double sided sticky tape attached..I'm not sure how strong it is..Especially on the wax..
Why I asked about that,but if it will be microphonic without wax..Yikes.....This may involve more than I initially thought it would..I guess this is going to be another learning process.. 

axisus

What's the purpose of the baseplate?

ICBM

axisus said:

What's the purpose of the baseplate?

It modifies the magnetic field and hence changes the sound of the pickup - making it deeper and slightly more scooped. It's a characteristic part of vintage Tele bridge pickups.

As far as I know the plate doesn't have to be tightly in contact with the magnet poles, but it should be rigidly attached to the pickup otherwise it will vibrate and cause severe microphonics.

KevS

It seems to be making my bridge and middle switch clunk louder than the other positions..
It sounds more pronounced with reverb on..
I have got a Seymour Duncan SSL 5 Bridge pickup on order..   

I am hoping that is a better solution..
A bit more output and hopefully a bit less scooped sounding..
We will see... 

Littlejonny

Sorry to resurrect this … do I need to buy a steel baseplate for £15 from Monty’s or can I just get a £5 copper plated one from Alegree?

guitargeek62

Littlejonny said:

Sorry to resurrect this … do I need to buy a steel baseplate for £15 from Monty’s or can I just get a £5 copper plated one from Alegree?

The steel is all that matters really, the Alegree one's are fine IME.

Littlejonny

Thanks!