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I installed a set of Antiquity Surfers with the Surfer Custom Bridge pickup in a customer's Strat this morning and when I tried the guitar and combined the bridge and middle pickups I immediately noticed that the tone was quot;out of phasequot;...that thin, tinny, out of phase tone. I unpacked another Antiquity Surfer Custom Bridge Pickup and found that the one I'd installed was REVERSE POLARITY/REVERSE WOUND.

How in the world could that happen? It was NOT an Antiquity Texas Hot that was mislabeled as it has the gray bottem bobbin.

Weird!

Anyways, I put the second one in and the guitar worked fine...better than fine: it sounds killer.

Also: this was the second player who asked me to install a baseplate on the 9K Antiquity Custom Bridge pickup and I REALLY like the way it changes the tone. Seems to give it a fuller, deeper tone that makes the pickup a little smoother and fatter, and changes the tonal balance so it doesn't sound quite so quot;glassy sharpquot;. I like it!

Woah, that is weird. Why would they even make a RWRP bridge pickup? I'm assuming they'll replace it for you. I guess you could put a RWRP in the neck and a regular in the middle and it'd work, right?

A little off topic, but Lew....do you carry those plates?

I just got some Surfers amp; was thinking quot;I wish the bridge was a little fatterquot; !


Originally Posted by PUCKBOY99A little off topic, but Lew....do you carry those plates?

I just got some Surfers amp; was thinking quot;I wish the bridge was a little fatterquot; !

Hi Terry! Yes I do carry those baseplates: $10. They are dipped in wax and you press them tightly to the bottem of the pickup then heat them up with a soldering tool so the wax melts and when it cools they stay stuck to the bottem of the pickup. There's also a ground wire soldered to the baseplate and you just solder the other end of that to the black terminal of the pickup. That's about it. Oh: I usually put a piece of 1/2quot; masking tape over the bottem of the polepieces just to eliminate any chance of a polepiece rattling against the baseplate. Lew

thats weird about the rw/rp thing, not sure what happened.

i have a baseplate on the bottom of my surfer too and i like it alot. mine didnt have any wax on the bottom, what did you use? think i could glop some wax on there?

Lew: if you can, PM me with the serial number from the RW/RP pickup. Maybe it got switched in packing, but we'll be able to trace it.

Sorry for the inconvenience.


Originally Posted by LewguitarHi Terry! Yes I do carry those baseplates: $10. They are dipped in wax and you press them tightly to the bottem of the pickup then heat them up with a soldering tool so the wax melts and when it cools they stay stuck to the bottem of the pickup. There's also a ground wire soldered to the baseplate and you just solder the other end of that to the black terminal of the pickup. That's about it. Oh: I usually put a piece of 1/2quot; masking tape over the bottem of the polepieces just to eliminate any chance of a polepiece rattling against the baseplate. LewWhat's your Paypal address?
Do I need to order it off the site or can I just send ya' the moolah???


Originally Posted by jeremythats weird about the rw/rp thing, not sure what happened.

i have a baseplate on the bottom of my surfer too and i like it alot. mine didnt have any wax on the bottom, what did you use? think i could glop some wax on there?

Hi Jeremy, Mine are the same one's Fralin uses so Lindy dips them in wax and they're coated on both sides. I just assumed he uses the same wax he pots pickups in. Without the wax how does your stay stuck to the pickup? A little Liquid Nails??? I've re-attached them on Tele pickups when they've come loose by lighting a candle and dribbling some candle wax on the loose baseplate...it spreads out evenly when I heat the baseplate with a soldering iron. Lew

cool. i used a silicone adhesive

I wonder if this could be something as simple as someone accidently placing the bobbin on the winding machine backwards. It seems that that would make it RW/RP . . . I think.

wouldnt the pole pieces have to have been installed 'upside down' too?on further thought, i bet it was made properly, but accidently got mixed in with some standards ... the chances of it accidently getting wound wrong and have alll 6 pole pieces installed upside down seems essentially impossible

What are the baseplates made of? I used a steel plate under a bridge position Fender '62 and it sounded great. It really fattened up that pickup.

What is the copper base plate actually doing? I've always wondered WHY it has the positive effect on tone.


Originally Posted by GearjoneserWhat is the copper base plate actually doing? I've always wondered WHY it has the positive effect on tone.The copper plate quot;pushesquot; more of the magnetic fiels towards the strings...a Strat pickup has the magnetic field going in both directions, the base plate sends more, if not close to all of that field towards the strings making a stronger, punchier sound.


Originally Posted by the guy who invented fireThe copper plate quot;pushesquot; more of the magnetic fiels towards the strings...a Strat pickup has the magnetic field going in both directions, the base plate sends more, if not close to all of that field towards the strings making a stronger, punchier sound.

That's my understanding of it too...although I don't really understand it! But Christian's explanation is the same explanation that I've heard from the other experts and professional pickup winders. The baseplate's Lindy uses are not copper though...they're steel.

I guess the baseplate is the reason alot of us love the Twangbanger so much..


Originally Posted by LewguitarThat's my understanding of it too...although I don't really understand it! But Christian's explanation is the same explanation that I've heard from the other experts and professional pickup winders. The baseplate's Lindy uses are not copper though...they're steel.It doesn't have to be copper...I took a set of Strat pickups a few years ago and glued small pieces of a hack saw blace under the magnets...it looked like hell, but it did have the desired effect!


Originally Posted by GearjoneserWhat is the copper base plate actually doing? I've always wondered WHY it has the positive effect on tone.

Along with what TGWIF said, any metal thats in the immediate vicinity of the coil, will have a voltage impressed upon it, with a subsequent current flow. You'll see this refered to as quot;eddy currentsquot;. Even though the current flow is small, and performs no function, it adds to the quot;loadquot; the pickup sees. Much tha same as using a smaller value volume pot. So in that manner, it tends to soften the tone.

Thanks Artie! I've been thinking about this problem with the pickup that started this thread and realizied that it couldn't be reverse polarity and also reverse wound or else it would have been in phase with the neck and middle. I'm thinking the polepieces were installed upside down by mistake so that it's magnetically out of phase but maybe not reverse wound after all. What do you think?