Prepped Baseplate
$16
Installing a Baseplate on your guitar will increase the power and bass of your Strat’s bridge pickup. We do all the work for you, all you have to do is follow some simple instructions below for installation.
Available! Estimated Lead Time: 2-3 Days
Quick Links
Jump to Sound Clips and more Info:
Prepped Baseplate Info:
Want to learn more about our Prepped Baseplate? Here's all the information you'll need:
Features
The Prepped Baseplate adds power and bass to your Strat’s bridge pickup. This easy-to-install modification will provide a slight boost in volume and power when installed. You’ll notice more low-mid frequencies. This mod works on our Vintage Hots, Blues Specials, Real ’54s, and High Outputs.
The Fralin Prepped Baseplate can install on most Fender-style Strat Pickups. It will not work on pickups with bar magnets or steel screws. This Baseplate will not work on the following products: Split Blade® Strat, Steel Pole 43 Strat, Steel Pole 42 Strat, Split Steel Pole Strat
Installation
The Prepped Baseplate is easy to install. All you need is the following:
- High-Powered Soldering Pencil
- Wire Cutter
To install, start by identifying the ground connection of your Bridge Pickup. On most pickups, the ground connection is where the Black Lead connects to (Step 1). Position the baseplate on the back of the Bridge Pickup and line up the ground wire with the ground eyelet on the back of the pickup (see Step 2).
Using your soldering iron, solder the grounding lead to the eyelet, and clip off the excess grounding lead. Be careful not to ‘overcook’ the eyelet. Your iron should be hot enough to ‘flow’ the solder quickly.
Lastly, you’ll need to melt the wax on the baseplate. You can do this a few different ways, but the easiest is to use your soldering pencil to heat the baseplate up enough to flow the wax. Let the baseplate cool and cure.
Customer Reviews
46 Genuine Reviews for Prepped Baseplate
-
I’ve got a Klein 57 style pickup in my bridge, and this totally changed the game! I love the sparkle that comes out of that pickup, but it could get a bit thin depending on the amp. The baseplate definitely made the pickup louder and a noticeable bump in the midrange. Classic tele bridge sound! Only thing I’ll mention is that I had to use heat shrink wrap to prevent the plate from grounding on the pickup screws that touch the shielded pickguard, since I have a mod to allow that pickup to be wired in series as well. It’s probably best practice to do this in any case if your pickguard is shielded to prevent ground loops. But for the cost of a string change, this is probably the easiest and cheapest way to improve the sound of your guitar!
-
Put one of the base plates on the bridge of my EJ Strat. I really like what it did for the tone. Easy install too.
-
I got the base plate because my strat style guitar bridge plate (ibanez silver series w/ klein Epic ’65s) was under powered and thin. Very easy install, having the baseplate already taped off where the poles sit, pre soldered lead and dipped in a thin coat of wax made the install a breeze. Tonally this brought the guitar halfway to a telecaster in the bridge position, rounded out the sound a bit/reduced high frequency focus and balanced the tone/output of the guitar amongst the 3 pickups. The in-between position for the bridge and middle pickup still sounds great. I highly recommend this product to someone who wants a little more tele/rock sound out of their strat single coil pickup. Now if I could just get one of these for a jazzmaster!
-
Great product and easy install. I put it on an overwound strat bridge(11.5k) and it helped keep the high end at bay. It’s a great product.
-
The installation of the prepped baseplate was very easy. I never used a soldering iron before, but there’s plenty of online video tutorials that teach how. As other reviewers have said, the baseplate adds girth and power to the bridge pickup, bringing it in line with the output of the other pickups and making it much more useful. It’s becoming my preferred pickup to use in a lot of scenarios. I’m so glad I tried it, and plan to always have these baseplates installed on my S bridge pickups.
-
My name is Michael Newell from Niagara Falls, Ontario. I bought two sets of Lindy’s blues pickups years ago with the base plates and have had them in my two straps since and think they’re fantastic pickups. I saw on Psionic Audio where a guy was getting different pickups installed because the base plate made the bridge pickup made by MOJO Tone was too microphonic. I have never experienced that with the wonderful Fralin pickups. His pickups are highly recommended.
-
I was definitely a non-believer in this product. So much so, in fact, that I bought this plate a month or so ago and just got around to installing it today to see if the difference was enough for me to not sell my Strat. Long of the short of it, it’s such a simple, effective solution that I cannot believe there’s an S-Type on the market without a baseplate on the bridge. Went from thinking myself not to be a a Strat guy to reconsidering selling this guitar. Obviously not the most radical sonic change in the world, but the best analogy I can give is that the pickup is now a punch where it used to be a slap. What a great concept.
-
Installed on the bridge pu of a Strat in addition to rewiring the switch to route that pu through the second tone pot definitely fattened things up. Highly recommended, just be very careful grounding the plate on plastic bobbins.
-
First, I decided I needed more power in the brigde position of my SSS strat. I have had a nice set of boutique pickups in there for almost 20 years. I run the second tone control on the bridge position and that worked fine to tame the brightness. Probably, if I never played guitars with humbuckers it would be fine. But since I do play guitars with humbuckers I needed bit more power.
Second, I got a 9k bridge pickup and that gave it more power but the sweetness was diminished.
So I tried the base plate. Don’t let anyboby tell you that it adds a bit of beef but doesn’t add any power. It added a bit of beef and there’s also a noticeable boost in power. It’s not like adding a humbucker, but it’s there. It’s worth a shot. It’s not too expensive and it’s reversable.
-
They make a fantastic sounding pickup, sound even better!
-
I have had a set of Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot pickups in my guitar since 2016. I have always loved the Neck and Middle pickups, but never fell in love with the Bridge pickup. I was debating between the baseplate or swapping out the Bridge pickup altogether. I saw the reviews for the baseplate, so I thought I would give the baseplate a try. It was really easy to install just following the instructions. The bridge went from sounding thin to robust. Now I am in love with my bridge pickup. I only wish I would have done this sooner!
-
Loved the prepped baseplate. There was plenty of wax on it for installation. Improved the sound of my bridge pickup a bit. I plan to install the baseplate in other guitars as well as recommend it to fellow musicians and customers that I do guitar work for.
-
This prepped base plate is fantastic. It does exactly what it says it does. I have a collection of vintage Strats and the output on the bridge pickups range from around 5.4 to 5.8. This plate adds a very noticeable change in tonal characteristics to low output pickups. You get less high end and more low end with a difference in feel and sustain. The bridge pickup becomes closer in voice to the middle and neck pickup. I have installed four all together now and just ordered 4 more. I will install them on every bridge pickup that I have. Installation is very easy and they work. No problems with alignment or clearance on vintage pickups or vintage pickup route cavities. Great product. What else would you expect from Lindy…
-
This really works. My bridge pickup was sterile, but this cut some highs and added some low mids, making it much more usable and balanced with the rest of the pickups. Also easy to install.
-
Added the perfect amount of low-end and now my Strat is exactly how I want it.
-
I put this base plate on the bridge pickup of my Jimi Hendrix Strat. It has a subtle effect, but does exactly what is claimed and I do, definitely, prefer my bridge pickup this way. The pickup was just a little too bright/thin, for my tastes, without it. For the price it is a Must Try, for anyone. Installation was easy and easily reversible if it isn’t your thing.
-
This is a must-have for the bridge in the Vintage Hot set imo. Adds a little bit of body while taming a tiny bit of treble. So you still get that snappy single coil bridge sound with a little less edge.
-
The baseplate does exactly as advertised! Adds about 5-10% more body and also softens some of the high treble in a way that makes the bridge pickup seem more balanced with the rest of a standard set of Strat pickups. Fralin already had it waxed and with masking tape on it which was great. With tone, a little goes a long way and this baseplate was a great addition to my Strat.
-
Exactly what my bridge pickup needed
What an incredible little accessory. Where I won’t say it made my strat’s bridge pickup sound like my tele’s, it definitely pushed the tone in that direction and, in my opinion, made the pickup much more usable.
-
Quality baseplate
High-quality baseplate, plenty of wax, and shipped quickly. I can’t say I notice a lot of improvement on my new American Strat with stock pickups. I put it on the bridge pickup that was very bright, it maybe helped 5% if any. I’m guessing it really depends on the pickups you’re using this for. I probably wouldn’t do it again knowing how little it actually changed the pickup. I was hoping for a little more lows and the not-so-ice picky top end wasn’t a significant enough improvement for me.
Add a review
Leave a review for our Prepped Baseplate