Help with Tele Custom & Phat cats - which switch and wiring?

R

rze99

New member
Hi all I'm building a Tele Custom with two used Phat cat pickups. Essentially a Cabronita with Phat Cat P90s (I already have a TV Jones Cab)

I can do all my own work, I can solder OK but I'm really no electronics fiend, so I need electronics advice and to keep things simple.

For the controls I want only:

- A 3 way toggle switch - like Les Paul but I want one with Gretschy looks
- A single volume knob.
- Really important -I want the volume knob to function just like a '50s treble bleed circuit; retaining the top end when turned down, so that I can jingle jangle more quietly on chords and bring it up to full meaty whack for the chunky parts like I do my Les Paul with P90s :)

I think the Phat Cats have A2 magnets with a slightly softer attack.
I've already got a control plate cut for single switch and single pot

So I think I need a single pot just for volume with (I think) a 500k tone cap effect with treble bleed feature?

What would you recommend?

Can I get one off the shelf?


thank you
 
Re: Help with Tele Custom & Phat cats - which switch and wiring?

50's wiring and a treble bleed are two different things. 50's wiring has to do with how you wire the pots, a treble bleed is a cap or cap/resistor pair you wire on the volume control to retain high end as you roll the volume down. which are you talking about?
 
Re: Help with Tele Custom & Phat cats - which switch and wiring?

Sorry, I mean retain high end as the volume is backed off. thank you.
 
Re: Help with Tele Custom & Phat cats - which switch and wiring?

sounds like you want a 500k volume with a treble bleed. maybe a 200pf cap to start with and see what ya think
 
Re: Help with Tele Custom & Phat cats - which switch and wiring?

Hi all update. In the end I went with a regular blade 3-way,CTS USA Custom Audio Taper 500K Pots, Sprague "Orange Drop" Tone Capacitor, 0.001uF Treble Bleed cap.
The Phat Cats are a bit of a pain to install due to the outer cable braid being the ground and therefore requires to be stripped back twisted into position where it can be soldered to thew back of the volume pot. The briad is not easy to work with.
Also, the blade switch has to be protected form the braid. I used some packing foam.

The pickups... they are really a bit different. They love some light gain and compressor and they have some grunt.
They have a sort of softish attack, very close string definition, a lot of tight focused upper mid… they come across like a cross between a P90 and a mini-humbucker. With yet more drive, they really squeal like a stuck pig.
The middle position has a sort of soft toppy acoustic quality especially with the volume and tone dropped back. The neck position is open and large, like a bigger Nocaster neck pickup, nice for cutting low gain bluesy work.
I liked it best in the bridge position, full volume, tone on 7, with some gain and some compression. Really still a lot like an SG, but with more cut and chime.
They are very quiet... very little hum.

here's the finished article:



IMG_0320.jpg
 
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