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In short
This is a small plate, which you can mount onto a "normal" humbucker base, to make it compatible with a Fender® "3 hole" routed pickguard or pickup ring.
Available in brass, and sold singularly.
Potted History
Right then, this is a little more complicated then I'd want it to be considering, really? this is a tiny piece of brass with 3 holes drilled in it, but, we must play the hand we're dealt! So strap yourself in, and lets get through this.
Fender® released their first "guitars with humbuckers" in the 70s - these were the "Wide range" humbuckers on the Telecaster® Deluxe, Custom and Thinline models. They're not really relevant to these conversion plates, but they do give some insight into why they're needed on occasion.
Eventually, Fender® would begin offering a more "normal" humbucker, namely, in 1984, with the Japanese Squier® ST-552-HH Contenmporary Stratocaster®, and we see the first instance of a standard size/shape humbucker, but using the 3 height adjustment bolts. Now, weirdly, this wasn't a Fender® specific idea, and was actually lifted from a Gibson® (The Sonex) from a few years earlier - its very similar to what would become the Fender® "norm" for humbuckers, but the positioning of the bolts is slightly different to the later refinement of the idea. However, the 3 bolt mount was short lived, and all further HSS and HH guitars would revert to the "2 bolt" mounting that everyone was familiar with.
By 1991, Fender® had produced their first western manufactured guitar with a normal humbucker, retaining the 2 bolt mounting, but kept flirting with the 3 bolt system when fitting Lace® sensor dually pickups on certain models, until, eventually, in 1994, we see the first HSS Strat® turn up with the modern "Fender 3 bolt humbucker" (which was actually an idea lifted from Yamaha® SG humbuckers!)
Since then, its been fairly common on most western made Fender® guitars, but almost never turns up on Japanese or Squier® models.
The Problem
Honestly? The Fender® system? Using 3 bolts to secure a humbucker? Works really well! It eliminates wobble, it looks nice, and, because of how its made, there's nothing stopping you taking a pickup and sticking it in any other humbucker routed guitar - much like the conversion plate, its just a bit of metal with 3 holes in it. Frankly, its a shame it didn't catch on outside of Fender®
But, if you've read this far - you probably know the problem! If you want to swap the Fender® humbucker for something else, your pretty much stuck - the pickguards aren't routed for 2 bolt humbuckers, and every other humbucker on the market, doesn't have enough bolt holes.
The Solution
This is where the conversion plate comes in! Dead simple bit of kit - the 3-48 UNC threaded holes, spaced the same as the Fender® footprint. Stick the conversion plate onto your humbucker base, bolt them together using the central hole, and your away. Any humbucker can not be mounted to a Fender® humbucker route.
A word of caution
I've made it sound an awful lot simpler then is potentially is. Because of the spacing on the outside holes, really, these plates will only fit "Triangle leg" humbucker bases - the more traditional versions, will block these holes, rendering the entire thing pretty pointless. That's not to say you cant use conversion plates on a humbucker with a traditional/square legged base, but, in all likelihood? You're probably going to have to grind down the legs to give clearance.
Further more (and this is by design) - all 3 holes on the conversion plate are threaded. Ideally, if your bolting this to a humbucker base, you'll probably find it a little easier to get everything tight if you drill out the humbucker bases threads to allow the central bolt to pass without binding up. Obviously, i know there are going to be people who dont want to modify a humbucker in that way, so, in those cases, you'd have to drill out the central hole on the conversion plate, and sit it "on top" of the humbucker leg.
AND, if that wasn't enough - these plates are tapped to "the standard" thread for humbuckers, 3-48 UNC - so, to bolt plate to base, whichever way you do it, your going to need a fairly short 3-48 UNC bolt to do it (they're very easy to make though - take a standard humbucker bolt, clamp it in a drill, hold a hacksaw blade where you want to cut, and run the drill until it cuts through)
So, realistically, theres some work involved if your converting an existing "2 bolt" humbucker with a conversion plate (its much simpler if your making a humbucker from scratch) - but, if you want to swap out a Fender® humbucker, and dont want to replace the pickguard, or, just like the 3 mounting bolt system? This is the way to do it!
Material - Brass Weight - 3g
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