no bridge plate

[toadman]

once again i seek the wisdom of the TDPRI international panel of experts!

let's say i'm putting together a partscaster using a Strat hardtail bridge and securing the bridge pickup (it will probably be a GFS Alnico Fatbody) right to the body. what tonal differences should i expect from such a set up opposed to mounting the pickup in a traditional metal bridge plate?
i know the bridge plate has some effect on the magnetic feild of the pickup but i don't know what that effect would be!
enlighten me, oh wise ones!

 

[MrDJoers]

Nevermind.

 

[chezdeluxe]

No No NO Mr djoers
The information you just quoted relates to the baseplate on a bridge pickup not the Bridge Plate which is the subject of this question

 

[MrDJoers]

Oops, I didn't read the question well.

 

[boris bubbanov]

First, changing to the bent steel saddled Strat plate, from a 3 barrel style, represents the biggest change IMO.

I find when you body mount, some twang is lost, but on the other hand the pickup sounds a little hotter (and can be noisier) with the shielding effect of the upper half of the Tele bridge plate gone. This can be exploited to help better balance the single coil Tele bridge pup with a neck HB or P-90.

Be extra careful if you try a body mount a Keystone. The Keystone is a delicate precision part and you must take extreme care not to distort the aluminum base plate. If I try it again, I'll support the pup only at the mount points and not generally underneath. Same applies to a G + L ASAT Classic pup, with its base attached to the 2 ceramic magnets which intervene between the G + L base plate and the bobbin.

 

[Tele-phone man]

Are we talking a Tele body with a Strat hardtail bridge here? I'm confused.

 

[toadman]

yes, we are talking about a cheapo tele body! with an even cheaper neck!. havent picked out pickups yet but they will be cheap too, i'm sure! the bridge is a strat hardtail that i had in my parts drawer. the body is one of those swirly paint job things a guy is selling on ebay. i'm having fun painting the neck and bridge to match to hideous swirly paint job.
still exploring ideas about the bridge pickup/plate situation. i might wind up making a mounting ring of some sort. kind of like the ones they make for the neck pup.
thinking about a clear PG. here's a few pix of the swirlycaster in various stages of completion

 

[toadman]

First, changing to the bent steel saddled Strat plate, from a 3 barrel style, represents the biggest change IMO.

I find when you body mount, some twang is lost, but on the other hand the pickup sounds a little hotter (and can be noisier) with the shielding effect of the upper half of the Tele bridge plate gone. This can be exploited to help better balance the single coil Tele bridge pup with a neck HB or P-90.

Be extra careful if you try a body mount a Keystone. The Keystone is a delicate precision part and you must take extreme care not to distort the aluminum base plate. If I try it again, I'll support the pup only at the mount points and not generally underneath. Same applies to a G + L ASAT Classic pup, with its base attached to the 2 ceramic magnets which intervene between the G + L base plate and the bobbin.

thanks Mr B! that's the kind of experienced responce i needed!
as you probably know by now, i'm going cheap cheap CHEAP on this one!
the bridge will have 6 modern saddles. prolly painted to match the plate!(like i said...i'm having fun!) i was thinking about a set of Alnico Fatbodys. i already have some in my "Alien Swampcaster" and i really like them. but maybe i'll upgrade the neck pup to a "Hot alnico". so many choices!
thanks for the input.
anybody else have experience with a Tele PUP and NO bridgeplate??

 

[fendorst]

G.E. Smith made this video to demonstrate his signature model Tele, which has the bridge pickup mounted to the body. He talks about why he likes the sound of the body-mounted pickup and how he got the idea from old Fender lap steel guitars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnQYoRYedF0

I got a Squier CV 50 Tele and installed a Wilkinson shorty bridge and mounted the bridge pickup in the body. Did a lot of playing/listening before and after, and made some recordings of each to try and determine whether it made much difference.

Bridge pickup mounted directly in body definitely sounds different, but it's subtle and therefore a bit hard to put into words. It sounds more open or airy, and perhaps growls just a bit more. It's a really nice sound, I'm happy with the change. Seems to have enhanced the "tele-ness" of the sound.

Some folks say with no bridgeplate covering the pickup it's more microphonic and subject to more feedback. I don't know about the feedback, as I haven't yet tried it playing in front of a raging loud amp. But the microphonic part seems correct. Maybe that's where the more open, airy sound comes from... the pickup isn't just picking up steel strings vibrating in a magnetic field, it's also picking up acoustic vibrations like a microphone would. And if so, it makes sense that it would feed back more than a covered pickup in front of a loud amp.

Hope that helps.

 

[toadman]

thanks for the link! i'm confident now that what i have in mind will work! if even with a bit of tweaking! pix forthcoming.