Phat Cat Ground Issue?

[Kais]

So I swapped magnets on my phat cats but now the pups only work when I touch the pup directly. I didn't solder the back to the cover on the pup because my iron is terrible. Is the solder connecting the cover to the pup actually grounding?

 

[dystrust]

Re: Phat Cat Ground Issue?

I don't know for sure, but it certainly could be. The cover is supposed to be grounded to act as an RF shield. If the coil ground is connected to the cover instead of the baseplate, I could see it failing the way you describe. You could try connecting a wire to both the cover and baseplate and see if the pickup starts working again.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Phat Cat Ground Issue?

This is what you need for covers and pot bax:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-8-Chisel...134634?hash=item25c39558aa:g:WSQAAOSwvzRX0Kuy

Keep your low powered iron for lugs and utilize the dual iron attack.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Phat Cat Ground Issue?

The cover doesn't have to be soldered to the baseplate for the pickup to work. Maybe one of the leads is partially disconnected from the pup.

 

[SAguitar]

Re: Phat Cat Ground Issue?

That is a risk that you can encounter when you get into a pickup and swap magnets. Good luck with getting it working again!

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Phat Cat Ground Issue?

The braid could also be grounding out a hot wire intermittently.