Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

[12StringStratMaker]

Hi everyone,

Ok, so currently I have an American Ash Tele that has the Alnico 3 mod-vin pickups in (I think this is the only model that has these) and I must say I love the guitar. Recently, I tried hand made custom tele-type guitar that had a P-90 in the neck and absolutely loved it. It had great growl and still a tele type punch to it.

I've been thinking for a while that I was going to put together a tele type custom guitar but was unsure about the pickups. I was thinking a Phat Cat would give the P-90 sound I want, but I'd need a bridge pickup to be able to keep up. But I still want a sound similar to the Alnico 3 lead I use.

My best guess would be a Phat Cat P-90 with a Jerry Donahue tele lead? Would these be a good combination volume wise? And most especially in the middle switch position or will one outpower the other?

Thanks in advance.

 

[12StringStratMaker]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

Bump.

 

[viewaskew2k5]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

i'd say go for it. I'm thinking of getting another tele, and doing just that.

 

[brisk]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

I have that combo in one of my teles. JD being hotter than traditional pickups, you may think PC might be a perfect match for JD volume-wise.

WRONG!

PC is still noticably hotter than JD and I wouldn't say they are a perfect match volume-wise. You have to lower PC until the point PC sounds little bit loose. Not a bad combo though.

 

[Mephis]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

There's nothing wrong with having a volume imbalance when you have an extremely cutting bridge pickup.

You could also use a volume pedal if it became too much of an issue.

 

[Dirt123]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

This might be a good combo in a Tele Custom type guitar, if you're talking about the 70's style. With 4 knobs, you should have a lot of control.

 

[12StringStratMaker]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

This might be a good combo in a Tele Custom type guitar, if you're talking about the 70's style. With 4 knobs, you should have a lot of control.

No, I'm thinking of a traditional 2 knob setup. That's the reason I was interested in the combined middle sound.

Brisk, can you comment on the combined sound?

 

[Kelsey]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

I've had this combo in an American Series ash/rosewood Tele for a couple of years. The PC neck and JD bridge are RWRP, so they cancel hum when combined. The JD keeps up with the PC quite well, as long as the JD is raised close to the strings (approx 2/32" on the treble side) and the PC is kept low. Like most neck HBs, the PC benefits from also raising the screw pole pieces a bit for increased clarity. The volume balance is probably a little lopsided toward the PC at lower volumes, but as the volume increases the JD seems to catch up nicely. You can also use a boost pedal with the JD to balance things out if need be. The middle/combined position is pretty unique, almost more Strat-like than Tele-like in a weird sort of way, but I like it.

Overall, I think this is a very good combination, especially if you already have a traditional pickup set in another Tele. I like the PC better than the SM-3 neck mini-HB that I have in another Tele.

 

[12StringStratMaker]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

I've had this combo in an American Series ash/rosewood Tele for a couple of years. The PC neck and JD bridge are RWRP, so they cancel hum when combined. The JD keeps up with the PC quite well, as long as the JD is raised close to the strings (approx 2/32" on the treble side) and the PC is kept low. Like most neck HBs, the PC benefits from also raising the screw pole pieces a bit for increased clarity. The volume balance is probably a little lopsided toward the PC at lower volumes, but as the volume increases the JD seems to catch up nicely. You can also use a boost pedal with the JD to balance things out if need be. The middle/combined position is pretty unique, almost more Strat-like than Tele-like in a weird sort of way, but I like it.

Overall, I think this is a very good combination, especially if you already have a traditional pickup set in another Tele. I like the PC better than the SM-3 neck mini-HB that I have in another Tele.

Thanks Kelsey. That was a very clear description. I'll probably have to think about it a little more.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

I think a underwound Phat Cat would be ideal, like around 7.0k.

 

[Gamlejohn]

Re: Phat Cat & Jerry Donahue??

I have Phat Cats in my Les Paul with 500K pots. The neck sounds absolutely perfect and I think it would be a shame to dull it with a 250K pot.