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Wildkat Rewiring


Bob Baldwin

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My Wildkat sounded muffled from day one, but I bought it anyway because I'd read that it was all an issue of cheap, and too much, wire. I just finished rewiring it with only a single volume and single tone (stock pots) and some fresh push-back insulation wire. Holy cow! Clean, crisp, just amazing. They should come that way from the factory.

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My Wildkat sounded muffled from day one, but I bought it anyway because I'd read that it was all an issue of cheap, and too much, wire. I just finished rewiring it with only a single volume and single tone (stock pots) and some fresh push-back insulation wire. Holy cow! Clean, crisp, just amazing. They should come that way from the factory.

HRWGD, (happy re-wired guitar day) Bob B. I've heard that the Wildkat tone can be opened up significantly with a re-wire job.

Good that you're now getting the much better sound, some folks have been close to dumping their Wildkats because of the muffled dark quality, but

changed their minds when the refit was done. [thumbup]

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HRWGD, (happy re-wired guitar day) Bob B. I've heard that the Wildkat tone can be opened up significantly with a re-wire job.

Good that you're now getting the much better sound, some folks have been close to dumping their Wildkats because of the muffled dark quality, but

changed their minds when the refit was done. [thumbup]

Huh? What?

I have a 2014 WildKat and there is absolutely nothing "muffled" or "dark" about the pups. They sound very bright to me.

My brother has one also that sounds like mine as well.

So please do not assume that because you have heard a couple of people say this, that this is the vast majority of WildKats.

Hearing/tone IS subjective. :)

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Well, I have to agree with Brad to a point. I did replace the p/u's on my Wildkat with Lollar P90's due to a tech issue, that I just didn't want to fool with "warranty issues" so to speak. I've seen several articles/threads about rewiring the 'Kat, but I see no reason to. Mine seems perfectly fine to me, then again, I'm a home player, ot a "gigger", so YMMV.

 

Edit: FWIW, my 'Kat was bought mid year 2011 and the p/u's changed about a year later.

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Huh? What?

I have a 2014 WildKat and there is absolutely nothing "muffled" or "dark" about the pups. They sound very bright to me.

My brother has one also that sounds like mine as well.

So please do not assume that because you have heard a couple of people say this, that this is the vast majority of WildKats.

Hearing/tone IS subjective. :)

Absolutely no offence about Wildcat tones intended, brad1. Over the last couple of years I've seen many, and I do mean many,

articles on various guitar forums on this specific issue and it seems as though the Epiphone wiring scheme is what's at the heart of

the matter.

But to be fair, I've never owned a Wildkat, just admired them.(almost pulled the trigger more than once)

Tone, indeed is extremely subjective. I own a stock `14 Dot that has the Alnico Classic and Classic Plus pickups and I find it to be very easy to dial in sweet tones on these pups that most call dull and/or muddy.

The only judgement of tone in our guitars that matters, is if we as players are pleased and satisfied ourselves, in comparison to the guitar sounds we`ve learned from and admired over the years.

A Wildkat Studio may be on the horizon and I LOVE P90s.

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Huh? What?

I have a 2014 WildKat and there is absolutely nothing "muffled" or "dark" about the pups. They sound very bright to me.

My brother has one also that sounds like mine as well.

So please do not assume that because you have heard a couple of people say this, that this is the vast majority of WildKats.

Hearing/tone IS subjective. :)

 

All I can say is that my Wildkat was very muddy compared to every other guitar I've ever played, and a rewire job fixed it.

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I've played 6 Wildkats and owned an Alley Kat which uses the same wiring. The problem is the extra potentiometer in the chain in the form of the master volume knob. It's an extra 500k load after the switch.

P90s and humbuckers/minis (in the Alleykat) weren't designed to have that much load on them and they tend to get really dark sounding. Remove the master volume and they really come to life.

On the Wildkat, the chrome plated brass covers also bleed highs off the signal so it's a double hit.

They definitely benefit from a wiring job. The way the scheme is laid out, long wire runs are required to the switch and the master volume. Because of the tone control location, an extra run is needed back to it. It's crazy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Huh? What?

I have a 2014 WildKat and there is absolutely nothing "muffled" or "dark" about the pups. They sound very bright to me.

My brother has one also that sounds like mine as well.

So please do not assume that because you have heard a couple of people say this, that this is the vast majority of WildKats.

Hearing/tone IS subjective. :)

I fully agree that tone quality is mostly a matter of taste. However I got a brand-new Wildcat Studio Goldtop yesterday, and found it indeed sounding muffled, close to unusable. To confirm my first impression I did a comparison between some P90 guitars I own, three of them being Epiphones:

• 2013 Duesenberg Starplayer Hollow, factory mounted Duesenberg Domino P90 PUs in humbucker format.

• 1995 Epiphone Casino EB, factory mounted Epiphone Alnico dogear P90 PUs.

• 2014 Epiphone ES-339 PRO P90, customized to Kloppmann SB-52 soapbar P90 with classic Gibson 50s wiring.

• 2016 Epiphone Wilkat Studio, factory mounted Epiphone Alnico dogear P90 PUs, factory wiring.

All guitars with Elixir Nanoweb 10-46 strings.

 

Recorded all guitars with identical settings thru an Apogee Quartet interface, using a 3m HQ Neutrik guitar cable (to add as less capacity to the signal path as possible).

 

Here are my impressions:

• The Duesenberg is very bright sounding, very even frequency response, sparkling, almost acoustic sound on clean settings, neck and bridge pickups are well balanced.

 

• The ES-339 has the same wide frequency response as the Duesenberg, with a little mid boost (which is great for crunch sounds). That mid boost cleans up when you lower the volume from 10 to 8, then the Kloppmann SB-52 sound very similar to the Duesenberg Dominos. Neck and bridge PU are well balanced.

 

• The Casino lacks a little bit of high end in comparison, but still sounds clear. It has a little more mid boost compared to the SB-52. The bridge pickup is a bit quieter than the neck PU, an old standing issue with the Casino. Could probably be fixed using a shim under the bridge PU.

 

• The Wildkat has very little high frequencies in comparison, with all controls on 10 the frequency response is almost like on the Duesenberg with Tone control fully closed. The neck PU is by far too hot and bassy, you have to lower the input gain of the interface by 6-7dB to compensate for the higher output. The bridge PU is as loud as in the Casino, but is lacking treble. I guess even a shim under the bridge PU would not help for better balance of the PU volumes. On some page I read removing one of the magnets in the neck PU might help to reduce the exaggerated bass response and lower the output.

 

So my conclusion: The Wildkat has a bad reputation for muffled and unbalanced sound, and from my point of view it deserves it. It urgently needs a rewiring I guess. Apart from the wiring I really love the guitar, and I was aware of the problem before I pulled the trigger on that one. Just wanted to say that the bad opinions on the Wildkat sound are not just silly rumours. Maybe some people are satisfied, as long as they have no comparison. But once you realized what a great P90 is really capable of, you will start to ask yourself what is wrong with the Wildkat.

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  • 1 month later...

I have a new WildKat and I'm not totally pleased with the sound that comes from it. I'm just a beginner but compared to other guitars I own it just doesn't sound alive. I'm in love with the guitars looks and feel. I do plan to mod it to see if something will change it and make me happy. Plan on a rewire, Lollar PU's, and a tuning stabilizer offset roller.

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...Plan on a rewire, Lollar PU's, and a tuning stabilizer offset roller.

I put Lollar's in mine and like them a lot, also put on a Gotoh roller bridge, even though I didn't have any tuning issues to begin with (I use the Bigsby only a little, and then again, very subtle, no dive bombs). After reading this and several other threads, I'm thinking that the next time the old 'Kat is due for a luthier visit, I may talk with him about a rewire. In the meantime, I'l leave well enough alone LOL.

 

And regardless of anyone's opinion on tone, IMHO the Wildkat is one hell of a value, and a very versatile guitar, so if you've been sitting on the fence...

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