Callaham Base Plate for Single Coil Strat Bridge Pickups

I picked up a couple sets of Strat pickups from Arcane and Fralin recently. Both had metal baseplates underneath the bridge pickup, and they just sounded punchy and present. Strat bridge single coils are something I've always struggled with as I've felt like they lacked presence compared to the middle and neck. After playing with Fralin's Hot Vintage set and Arcane's '61 Experience set (both with their own bridge plates installed), I knew I had to install some to my other Strat bridge pickups. So I found these from Callaham. I know the Callaham name well and trust their products, so I ordered three: 2 for immediate installation and 1 for later.Installation took maybe an hour total. I was initially planning for these plates to have threaded holes, but I was pleased to discover that they're wide enough to pass the mounting screws through. So all you have to do is drop the plate on with a little bit of RTV silicone (sold separately). It took just a few minutes of active work to disassemble the guitar and solder the ground wire to the pickup's negative lead. Then another hour to let the RTV silicone dry. After the silicone was set, I reassembled my Strat and suddenly had that same presence in my bridge pickup as I did with my Fralin & Arcane sets. These bridge plates give the bridge pickup of a Strat a more Telecaster smack-attack, which I love and appreciate. No feedback at high gain. Just presence, attack, and some noticeable articulation.Now, I understand that some people would want to put these on a middle and neck pickup too and I can't see that not working. But I'm not one who would set this up, as I have zero issues with a middle and neck pickup. Basically, I have no motivation to even try and experiment with that by throwing money at something that isn't bothering me. I fixed what I felt was tonally weak: The bridge pickup. And honestly, I can't see *not* doing this to my single coil sets going forward.

Seems to work

This is one of the easiest - and certainly the cheapest - way to help your Stratocaster sound better. The change is subtle but unmistakable - the base plate gives the midrange frequencies of the bridge pickup a little tweak, making the sound less brittle and a little more "muscular". I can't think of a reason not to install one.

easy to install just follow callahams video on youtube