Get the sound of an early 60s Strat for £10!

[Simon Underwood]

Ever heard of the word ‘paramagnetism’? I hadn’t until a couple of weeks ago. I was reading a guitar maintenance magazine a few weeks ago, and they were building a partscaster. They’d finished the build, and then found they had an aluminium shield (full size that fits under the scratchplate like early 60s Strats) in their parts collection so they fitted it to this guitar, and claimed that it transformed the sound of the guitar for the better, but couldn’t explain why. Turns out that aluminium is a paramagnetic material.

This intrigued me, so I did a bit of digging around on the net, and found this site:

http://www.guitar-bass.net/features/diy ... ct-part-1/

Scroll down to the ‘Shielding Plate’ heading.

Always on the lookout to tame the aggressive brightness of my 1979 Strat- heavy northern ash body and one piece maple neck, I thought I’d give it a try, and found an aluminium shielding plate on fleabay for £10. I’ve been amazed by the results, the ‘ice pick in the ear’ sound has gone, and there’s a much more ‘vintage’ tone to it. At £10, it’s a lot less than a set of boutique pickups, and can transform the sound of a Strat, and explains why early 60s Strats sound the way they do.

Simon

[Uncle Fiesta]

An interesting article - I also went on to read part 2 (just substitute 'part-2' for 'part-1' in the URL). Shame they didn't tell you how to age the pickup covers, I've always wanted to know how that's done.

[JimN]

Easy... just buy a copy of "Out Of The Shadows" on CD...

[Gary Allen]

I done the same thing with Cs54's in a brason strat about 3yrs ago, It sweetened the sound a little and it was noticeable.

[cockroach]

I was reading the Bill Lawrence website recently, and he goes into great details about this - 'eddy currents' in the magnetic fields, screening etc ...mostly over my head, but worth a read.

I think the site is

www.billlawrence.com

[Gruntfuttock]

Hi Simon. Thanks for your post from last September. I've fitted a full sized aluminum scratch plate and - yes it has improved the sound. My trusted Luthier also gave the "Thumbs up" when he saw it and said it was a good idea!
Thanks again!!

[chaddman]

I put full pick guard shields on 2 of my strats and it seemed to deaden the sound and take away the chime and sparkle. I soon took them off.