Alright last question, I promise. Has anyone here put a base plate on their bridge pickup? I heard that it improves lows and mids, but I was wondering if there is any thruth to this. Is it worth doing it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, I've done a few. What you heard is correct and true; it alters the magnetic field. As to is it worth doing, only you could answer that.

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Where can you find base plates for the bridge? I found an online retailer a few months back but the price to ship it was rediculous compared to the sales price.

That's the problem. It is an inexpensive part and for a retailer to take the time with securing the funds from a, "long distance" sale and then have to package the part up and oftentimes, take it somewhere ship it, they bang you on the shipping, called, "handling" to make up for it.

Food for thought: Unless one is adept at the whole installation process for what is required to attach the plate CORRECTLY to the pickup, oftentimes, simply replacing the pickup is easier and cheaper.

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I recently tried a friend's guitar which had a bridge pickup with a base plate. It sounded great! It really mellowed out the treble on that bridge position. Heck, I'd probably use the bridge position more if my bridge pickups sounded like that!

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My other guitar is a Strat.

Those plates really do make a big difference on certain pickups.

I was considering putting one on a Vintage Noiseless bridge pickup just to see if it would make the pickup useful.

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Now thats a damn good idea. What metal do i use? cos im sure not buying a baseplate.
Btw Martian my vintage noiseless and clapton boost equipped guitar gives quite a tone change through the volume pot. Regardless of where the boost and tone pots are set. Is that something to do with the 50k pot on the volume?

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No no and no

The baseplate is copper plated steel.

Your intuition is excellent. As you know, in a guitar's circuit, everything affects everything. However, when you go to a low impedance circuit, the IC chip (such as the Clapton preamp) is designed for a predetermined sound so it basically takes over and does what it was made to do, oftentimes rendering the passive components interaction unacceptable. If I'm interpreting your complaint correctly, you're getting too much of what is called, "head room" from using a 50K pot. Try using a 25K pot. This will tame some of the headroom. If the 25K pot is unacceptable, then the Clapton kit isn't for you. Another thing too, when people design pedals and on-board preamps and stuff, the chips are proprietary and so, the exact electrical values of each and all of the components inside the IC shall not be made available to the general public. Consequently, a lot of trial and error is involved in attempting to alter the original design to please the masses. In the case of this Clapton booster, most people (myself included) would not do any lengthy delving into it as there are SO many preamps out there (usually in the form of a foot pedal device) which a player can select from with total satisfaction and if so desired, oftentimes can convert it into an on-board unit.

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