Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

[elguitars5]

First of all I'd like to say hi to everyone. I'm new in this forum and fairly new to the pickup world (not to guitar, though) so I have many doubts.
I have a Fender American Standard Stratocaster (it is actually a 2007 VG Strat) and I want to change the pickup configuration to two Phat Cats in the neck and bridge positions and a single coil in the middle one as I don't want to loss the "quack" of the 2nd and 4th positions. It will have 1 volume, 1 tone (both 500k), 5way switch and 1 additional switch (Gilmour switch) to blend the neck and bridge pickups.
As I mentioned before my Strat is an american VG and I don't want to lose it, so I bought a new HSH pickgard to put this new configuration on it and save the original one in case I decide to use it again. On the VG pickgard I have a SD Hot Rail on the bridge position, so I have the bridge single coil available.
As this is my first build I have several questions:
As I understand it Phat Cats are single coils so... Should I use the standard SSS wiring scheme on the SD website?
Which cap should I use 0.047uf, 0.022uf or none?
I've read SD pickups are RWRP to Fender pickups so would it work using my bridge single in the middle possition? Phat Cats are RWRP to each other so the additional position blending them must work just fine but I don't know if i could have the classical "quack" of 2nd and 4th positions. Any advice?
I look forward for any feedback.
Thanks in advance
P.D. English is not my native language so I apologise if there is any grammar mistake.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Phat Cats are P-90s in a humbucker size case, so yes, they are single coil pups.
My preference is .022uf caps.
If you are using a Phat Cat set where one is RWRP to the other, you'll want to change one of them so that you'll have the same hum cancelling in positions 2 and 4.
You'll have some quack in positions 2 and 4 but it won't sound like the "classic quack" you may be used to...Phat Cats have lots more output than Strat singles.
If you use the Hot Rails in the middle position you may want to use that additional toggle to use it to split the Hot Rails or switch it series/parallel. I could be wrong, but the Hot Rails is not a single coil pup but a single coil sized bucker.

 

[elguitars5]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Thank you so much for the answer �� I don't really want to change any Phat Cat as I want to make them sound together with the the mini toggle.

 

[elguitars5]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Concerning the "quack"... The position I use the most is the 4th so I don't really care if it hums on the 2nd position as I rarelly use it. Will my American Standard bridge single coil will be in phase with one of the PC? The "quack" is an out of phase sound?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

out of phase is not the same as "quack" the typical strat notch tones are the two pups wired parallel, in phase. as far as the fender pup, you may need to flip the hot and ground wires to get it in phase with the phat cats. it will be humcancelling with one of them but not the other

 

[elguitars5]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Thank you so much

 

[elguitars5]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Hello again. This afternoon I've been trying to wire the PC/s. Coil/PC.
I've used this wiring scheme I downloaded from SD website:
The bridge position, the bridge/middle and the middle worked just fine but the middle/neck and neck alone didn't sound (just a little bit if the amp was really loud). I made different tests but it still didn't work. The wiring was exactly the same the diagram shows.
Do you know why this can be happening?
Thanks in advance

 

[elguitars5]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

I must add I didn't try it with strings. I just hit the pole pieces with the screwdriver.

 

[Hollywood Rock]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

I've actually had a damaged volume pot do that as weird as it sounds. I've never cooked a switch. It could be something else, but that's all I can think of.

 

[elguitars5]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Thank you! I'll check it. Any other idea of what can it be? I've been thinking that maybe the pickup is not working fine but it just seems weird to me :3

 

[Hollywood Rock]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Yeah, you can use a meter to test that the pickup is working.

 

[elguitars5]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

I think I'm going to unsolder everything and check all the components, one by one with the meter. This way I'll see what's not working fine :33:

 

[elguitars5]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Definitely the problem is the neck pickup. It measures 0.05 KOhms instead of the 8.0 KOhms specified. Has this ever happened to you?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Either the lead wire is shorted to the ground (if this happens, it is usually near where the cable goes through the baseplate), or there is a broken coil wire that is shorting.

It happened to me once with one of my Strats. I was playing pretty hard and got a string caught under the top of the middle pup and broke a coil wire.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Plenty of people have had dead pickups. So it nothing new in history.

If its a new pickup then obviously you need to contact the seller.

 

[elguitars5]

Re: Wiring help two Phat Cats (neck and bridge) and single coil (middle) on a strat

Thank you. That's what I thought, but it seemed weird to me because they are brand new and I'd never listened something similar before. I have already contacted with the seller telling them the problem and asking for a new one.
Just opened a new thread as I think it's an interesting enough topic to have it's own thread plus it may be useful for people with the same problem.