Guitar Tone Capacitors, part 1: Evaluating Material Types

wipers86 Says:

Apr 1, 2012 - hey again, man, I have just one more question to ask you, does, rewiring the guitar, make the output or volume of the guitar louder ? thanks

DeadOriginal Says:

Apr 2, 2012 - The Russian paper in oil seemed to be missing higher Hz tone .. I'd avoid that one, cos if it came from the Soviet era, you might wake up one day to find you can only play stuff in very depressing minor keys.. ;-)

fer40466 Says:

Apr 3, 2012 - gracias mi niño eres una verga

johnplanetz Says:

Apr 8, 2012 - If you change the circuit during re-wiring, it is possible to make the guitar seem louder. Reducing load on pickups can make the sound brighter, and also a bit louder.See my video "Epiphone P-90 Pickup Experiment". Also my video "Epiphone Electronics Overhaul, Before and After Comparisons"

wipers86 Says:

Apr 9, 2012 - thanks for your feedback, it was very helpful 

rabbittraps Says:

Apr 15, 2012 - those two were the sweetest, the russians then the yellows for me.

lute760 Says:

Apr 18, 2012 - Capacitors really have nothing to do with the tone,it's the actuall tone pot and pickups that do that, only the different values make a difference in tone roll off, however, some caps roll off the frequencies a little bit smoother than others do. I can actually hear subtle differnces in the roll off some of these caps and if I had to choose which ones work best in my opinion, I would go with 1.-Mallory 2.-Orange Drop 3.- PIO 4.-Fat Grey Cylinder 5.-Tropical Fish .- 6.-Epiphone 7.-Yellow Cylinder

w0rdisbond Says:

Apr 21, 2012 - FAT GREY CYLINDER! Old stuff is somehow the best

SensibleMusician Says:

Apr 28, 2012 - 2:50 demo starts

nessofkeith Says:

Apr 29, 2012 - This guy is awesome... Someone actually did this :D

Bemasked Says:

May 5, 2012 - Is it my imagination? Or is that Russian paper in oil capacitor producing a very slight noticable smoother tone (perhaps darker, less bite...something) in position 10 then the others. Also i swear that mallory 150 has a slight edge to it. Some say that a capacitor effects the sound even when the tone is in full treble mode & others say otherwise. I wanted to mod a guitar with a russian .022 & a mallory 150 .047 using a on/on switch for some variation. Now i am not so sure such a mod is worth it

johnplanetz Says:

May 9, 2012 - I agree there are noticeable but very subtle differences. In general, you'll get a far bigger tone change by experimenting with capacitance values, rather than capacitance material types. Not to mention tweaking your pickups, pickup height, pedals, amp settings, etc.

George2ec Says:

May 10, 2012 - Hi, I have a squier strat that comes with cheap alnicos pickups, but for me sounds too bright, do you think that changing the capacitor on tone pot can I get better sound? what size of capacitor can I put ? thanks for any help

IronBroadsword Says:

May 12, 2012 - Thanks for doing this. Imho the cap really doesn't matter, cause you can EQ the subtle differences. I'm a tone chaser, but this is not a route to bother with. For me, anyways.

DrQuackinducks Says:

May 12, 2012 - really digging the tropical fish... anyone else?

johnplanetz Says:

May 13, 2012 - If it's too bright, you can change the total volume pot resistance to a smaller value. If you have 500k volume pots, change to 250k. That will roll off some brightness by increasing the load on the pickups.Increasing the tone capacitor capacitance (for example.047uF or even .1uF) will also roll of some highs, even if your tone knob is on 10, but you may have to roll the tone knob back a bit further to notice a bigger change.

tyguy335 Says:

May 21, 2012 - That tone cap sets the tone for the whole guitar!I'm talkin' with the pot all the way up!Try a .0033 and then a .022 HUGE difference,even when tone control on max treble!Yes the .0033 is a smoother tone taper but sucks the life put of the git.No bottom end at all.Most people commenting on the web state that changing the cap has no effect if tone control all way up!BS!"That cap sets the tone for the guitar".Unblessed ears I suppose.Or,people experimenting with values and making minor change.

johnplanetz Says:

May 22, 2012 - See part 2 of this video series for audio comparisons or different cap values, at all tone knob positions.

tyguy335 Says:

May 22, 2012 - It's called a varitone switch.they came in 345's and 355's.guess what?affected tone tremendously without touching tone pot.guess what?just a bank of caps on a rotary switch.easy to make a box with different value caps in it with rotary and plug your guitar in.I have a pedal for sale on E-Bay now.it's called NoFex.$15.00.Consists of 2 switchcraft jacks in a box...In/Out with true-bypass!

johnplanetz Says:

May 22, 2012 - You're misunderstanding the Varitone. You're right that you can easily make a rotary selector for different tone caps. But the Varitone switch doesn't just select a cap- it selects between a number of notch filters of different frequency/resonance values. Each switch position selects a cap/resistor pair in series with an inductor to ground. It's a notch filter selector, not just a cap selector. So of course it dramatically affects the sound. Look up the schematic for more details.

tyguy335 Says:

May 22, 2012 - Just make the cap box.Lots of players use 'em.Gotta have a decent guitar and especially amp also to hear bass frequencies!If flat with lots of mids change will be subtle.But with good amp the change is "drastic"!

johnplanetz Says:

May 24, 2012 - We're talking about two different things. The normal tone control (as described in this video - pot->cap->ground) allows you to have a variable rolloff, whereas the Varitone rotary switch gives you a selection of fixed notch filters. They're both useful. A typical gibson with Varitone has both a normal tone contol and the rotary selector, often with the tone pot as a push/pull to enable/disable the varitone. In this video series, I was obviously focusing on caps for the typical tone control.

tyguy335 Says:

May 24, 2012 - The LRC setup in the guitar is the same as the varitone.Pups are the coil,pots are resistor and tone cap.LRC!There's a botique bass maker who puts an on off switch on inductor for cap alone or with inductor!These caps are wired to tone pot also!Same as normal.I noticed a huge difference in tone caps probably 'cause I made drastic change.From .0033 to .047(more than 10X).The subtleties are harder to hear but this isn't!Sorry sets the tone for the guitar.Even when not rolled back!

johnplanetz Says:

May 24, 2012 - In a regular tone circuit as described in part 2 of this video, the tone cap does have an effect on the tone even with the knob on 10, but it is subtle.For anyone still reading this thread, please just view video 2 to see how a tone cap (even as low as 1000pf) will sound in a normal tone configuration, or try it yourself with alligator clips.And look up the schematic for the Varitone circuit to see how its fixed notch filters are arranged, and if that interests you, it's not hard to build DIY.

learnguitar4u Says:

May 25, 2012 - super sweet you dig this kind of stuff?