Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

9

95strat

New member
Just got word that my Phat Cat is in. It's going in the neck position of my tele and I was wondering how to wire it for a 4 way switch. I prefer the order go as follows:

1. bridge
2. neck
3. series
4. parallel

Anyone know where I can find a schematic for that? My current pup is a GFS Dream 90 and it only has two wires and a copper shielding...so I can't just replicate what I already have.

Thanks in advance.
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

I did the series/parallel thing with two Phat Cats by using a push-pull wired for series. I got a very simple one-pot series diagram from ArtieToo or Hermetico. Another thing to add to this might be phase, which is best with series.

Being a Gibson-design kind of guy, I'm used to having plenty of pots to work with, and my solutions lean towards push-pulls. I'd wire this guitar as normal, and use one push-pull for series, and another for phase. And actually I did that on a couple guitars, by taking half of the Jimmy Page system, the parts on the tone pots (leaving out the coil cut wiring it has on the volume pots). Never wired a Fender, so I'm not sure what's involved with their switches.
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

are you saying that you have that wiring scheme right now with the gfs d90 and just want to swap pups? if thats the case i dont see why you couldnt just wire in the new pup.

off the top of my head im not sure how to get that order, or even if it can be done with a normal 4 way.
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

I actually have what I described set up with my GFS pups, but would like to do the same thing with PC and a QP in the bridge. I'm sure it can be done, but Duncan's have more wires to work with, which should give me more options.

Thanks for the idea on push/pull, but I'll try to do it without...I've already ordered a standard 500k pot.
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

the phat cat will have two wires, hot and ground. the qp will only have two wires, hot and ground unless you ordered a tapped version but from your wiring scheme i dont think that is the case.

the qp doesnt have a bass plate to worry about, but the cover on the phat cat is grounded so keep that in mind when wiring the series part
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

I remember with the GFS there were two wires and then you also ground the wire insulation around the outside to the two. Wonder if you could do the same with the PC?
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

i wired mine like that but reversed the neck and bridge wiring so i wouldnt have to deal with the grounding on the phat cat.
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

jeremy said:
i wired mine like that but reversed the neck and bridge wiring so i wouldnt have to deal with the grounding on the phat cat.
Click to expand...

How did you reverse them?

Basically I have to cut the lead to the cover and add a third wire if I want to accomplish what I want. Not sure I want to do that. I'm processing it all before committing.
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

Brett Valentine said:
I'm inquiring about a 3 wire PC neck, or sending mine in to be fitted with a 3rd wire.
Click to expand...

the third wire is already in there-it'd be easier just to go ahead and take the cover off, de-solder the '3rd wire(2nd lead)' solder a new shielded lead to it, tape off the exposed parts, and put the cover back on. or you could just replace both leads with 4 conductor, using only 3 of the leads...
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

jeremy said:
i wired mine like that but reversed the neck and bridge wiring so i wouldnt have to deal with the grounding on the phat cat.
Click to expand...


How do you like the PC in the neck of a Tele? I thought about doing that but decided to use the strabro instead.

What did you use in the bridge to complete the set?
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

super rad ska said:
the third wire is already in there-it'd be easier just to go ahead and take the cover off, de-solder the '3rd wire(2nd lead)' solder a new shielded lead to it, tape off the exposed parts, and put the cover back on. or you could just replace both leads with 4 conductor, using only 3 of the leads...
Click to expand...

Is the "third wire" the white one solder directly to the plate? I removed that one and did as you said...adding a new lead to it and shrink tubed the exposed parts. Then soldered another wire to the plate for ground and ran this to the volume pot.

I ran the wires to their respective positions. What about the shield around the hot lead? The wire mesh...should it be grounded too? I'm not getting anything from the third position on my switch. Ugh.
 
Re: Phat Cat wiring w/ 4 way switch

95strat said:
Is the "third wire" the white one solder directly to the plate? I removed that one and did as you said...adding a new lead to it and shrink tubed the exposed parts. Then soldered another wire to the plate for ground and ran this to the volume pot.

I ran the wires to their respective positions. What about the shield around the hot lead? The wire mesh...should it be grounded too? I'm not getting anything from the third position on my switch. Ugh.
Click to expand...

if you've got a new lead coming off of the baseplate, you don't need to ground the mesh covering as it's part of the same mass of metal as it too is soldered to the baseplate. however, you don't want it touching anything else as it may short something out. just cover it with tape and you should be fine. the only reason i would actually wire up a phat cat with 2 separate leads is so i could do out of phase wiring, otherwise it's kinda moot since you're just going to be grounding the other lead if you're not....
 
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