P-Bass -- baseplates or not?

[Zhangliqun]

Expanding from one toe dipped in the bass pickup market to two, from the super-simple '51 P-Bass pickup to the more complex two coil version we're all famliar with.

To the point, do P-Bass pickups always have baseplates or just sometimes?

[big_teee]

The old ones did.
Reissues probably do.
Most other modern p-bass guitars don't.
The baseplate is brass, and you can put them on any p-bass.
The foam pad goes between the pickup and the bass plate.
Here's one I rewound a ways back in 2015, with pictures.
Post 1-6.
https://music-electronics-forum.com/...pickup-rewinds
T

[Jim Shine]

The split coil P Bass was the first to get that treatment. Everything designed after it until the 70's had a brass plate shielding the floor of the cavity and acting as a grounding junction. Jaguar's, Bass VI's, Jazzmaster's, Mustangs, Electric XII's, Jazz Basses..they all had one and today all of those reissues have them.