Quantum Strummer
Senior Member
No. The single coil pickups used by Valco in the '50s & '60s, for example, usually put the magnets (two small-ish ones though sometimes a single larger one) alongside the coil rather than underneath or inside. This is why the pickups are HB sized overall even though the coils are more Tele sized. In this case the magnets are touching the baseplate and the polepieces then screw into that same plate. But if the baseplate was made of, say, fiber instead of metal you'd have a different magnetic field and a different (brighter) sound. Different baseplate metals result in relatively brighter or darker sound too.
Yes. Well…you could also say it emphasizes lows & mids.
-Dave-