slightly OT- metal plates under pickups

[runmikeyrun]

Hey guys, i read on another website that they sell a small metal plate to put under your strat pickup to reinforce the magnetic field and increase bass.  Being a bass player i was naturally interested, but before i went cutting and grinding a plate and removing my pickups i was wondering if this was hogwash?  Has anyone tried this?  I'm gonna dig through the scrap bin next door to work to find a piece. 

BTW in true DIY spirit i crammed a Dimarzio X2N guitar pickup in between my two standard active soapbars in my ibanez bass.  Do you think this would work with soapbars too?  I know there is access to the bottom of the dimarzio.

[petemoore]

  Alters the magnetic field, the reason I put metal plates [copper] around my pickups was noise reduction measures taken on a DIY bodied guitar...while I was at it I double shielded it with copper plates and tubes and shielded wires..can't say it 'effected' the tone but might be part of the effect of the guitar..so much trouble to get in there I decided to leave it.
  Whether this is tone hokum of course is opinion, maybe overwinding the bobbin would do have a similar effect, or a booster w/ treble rolloff.

[runmikeyrun]

yeah the argument the guy made was ferrous vs nonferrous materials.  copper and the like are used as covers because they don't affect the magnetic field stimulated by the string movement.  Iron or steel plates on the bottom add girth to the magnet making it stronger and giving more output, particularly in the low end.  Seems like it should work right?  Well what am i doing with all my free time?  Oh yeah i'm posting these questions before my ambien really kicks in and i can fall asleep!!!

[MartyMart]

I recently bought a plate for my strat, same shape as the whole pickguard, about $17 fits right over all
the pups/controls.
It's to reduce hum and seems to have helped a bit, though I need to cover the whole insides with copper
tape .... one of these days !

[cheeb]

I've heard it before. It's also purported to make a strat's pickups sound more like a tele. I've thought about doing it often but never got around to trying it.

[Mark Hammer]

1) The place for this thread to be pursued productively, AND answered definitively, is over at MEF: http://music-electronics-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=11

2) The pickup always senses what is going on between the poles.  Anything that changes where that gap is or what shape it takes, or how wide it is, will alter the tone.  Take a normal Strat pickup, turn it on its side, and slide it under the strings, and it will sound entirely different.  Magnetically conductive plates will redistribute where the field is.  Indeed, part of what makes a Tele bridge pickup sound as it does is the way that the bridge itself, surrounding the pickup, redistributes the field.  Similarly, a P90 pickup has magnets that extend outwards from the centre slug, giving it a sensing area different than something like a Jazzmaster pickup, which is essentially a short wide Strat pickup.  Whether reshaping the sensing area will necessarily get you the tone you want is entirely a matter of taste.

[runmikeyrun]

cool, thanks for the link mark!  I think i'm going to give it a try and see what happens... will report back...

[Gus]

find some steel about 1/16 thick and about 1/2 inch wide cut to fit.

Stick it on the bottom of the poles and if you like it use something to hold it in place

I have done this try it it is easy to do. 

[markm]

Yes, the Tele bridge plate does play a role in the tone of the Tele as well.
What I like the most about a Telecaster, aside from it being the Classic Country guitar, is the fact it was basically a lap steel made to be played in the "spanish" style.
Interesting isn't it?!

[mojotron]

That is interesting - I mounted a Gibson '57 Classic humbucker in a Tele (HB) bridge and I always thought that was a very unique sound - more compressed highs and tigher lows with tons of 'pop' to the attack than the same pickup with a fixed strat bridge.

[runmikeyrun]

cool.  I wonder if the shape of the metal has anything to do with it- like if you bend it in a bit of a U shape and bring the wings up the sides of the pickup... hmmmmm.... crap i forgot to get metal from the place today!