Tone Caps

[HRmusic90]

So I'm doing my first ever pot change on a guitar, and I want to put in new caps for the tone knobs. I'm not great with electronics, but I was able to figure out that my original pots used the .047uF caps. I didn't know how much the caps affected tone so I did some searching. One site says that the caps affect the tone no matter what, even with the tone control fully open:

Auditioning Tone Capacitors

Another site says if the control is fully open, it makes no difference:

Change Your Caps, Change the World!(or at least your tone pot response) « tonefiend archives

I'm wondering because I recently installed Lace Alumitones. Some people have complained that sound too bright or brittle. Me, I love the clear brightness of them, but I'm wondering if the .047uF caps are cutting down some of the brightness so that to me it appears more balanced, or am I just liking the as-is sound. Any thoughts?

 

[miroslav]

Just remove the cap and see if it makes any difference with the tone knob all the way up.

I don't bother much with the Tone knobs, and on 4 of my guitars I added a simple mini-toggle switch, with caps on the up and down positions, and neutral/off in the middle position. I'm using very small value caps, because unlike the tone knob and the higher value .047uF cap where you can slowly dial in the treble cut, the mini-toggle simply gives me 3 tone choices.

I went with 330pF and 560pF...and of course, the tone knobs with the .047uF cap are still there, but this way I can just flip the toggle and instant tone change, and it's always the same amount.
I spent some time trying out different values for the two caps...150pF/330pF...220pF/470pF...and I finally settled on 330pF/560pF. It gives me the best contrast and three distinct tones...and of course, the single mini-toggle switch works on either neck, bridge or both....so it's really 9 distinct tones with the flip of the mini-toggle and the pickup selector.

 

[HRmusic90]

Just remove the cap and see if it makes any difference with the tone knob all the way up.

Oh yeah! Good idea!

I don't bother much with the Tone knobs...

Neither do I. That's why I'm concerned about the caps affecting the tone regardless.

and on 4 of my guitars I added a simple mini-toggle switch, with caps on the up and down positions, and neutral/off in the middle position. I'm using very small value caps, because unlike the tone knob and the higher value .047uF cap where you can slowly dial in the treble cut, the mini-toggle simply gives me 3 tone choices.

I went with 330pF and 560pF...and of course, the tone knobs with the .047uF cap are still there, but this way I can just flip the toggle and instant tone change, and it's always the same amount.
I spent some time trying out different values for the two caps...150pF/330pF...220pF/470pF...and I finally settled on 330pF/560pF. It gives me the best contrast and three distinct tones...and of course, the single mini-toggle switch works on either neck, bridge or both....so it's really 9 distinct tones with the flip of the mini-toggle and the pickup selector.

Clever idea! But that's beyond me at this point.

 

[ashcat_lt]

Just remove the cap and see if it makes any difference with the tone knob all the way up.

Errr... Then what? You gonna leave the T pot disconnected completely? That will almost certainly be brighter, because the load on the pickup is significantly less. Or are you going to connect it directly to ground without a cap? That will be pretty much like making the cap really big, and I guess would be darker, if it makes any difference at all. Basically, there's no good way to just remove that cap and have a fair comparison.

I have neither V nor T pots on the guitars that I've gotten around to rewiring, and they can get some real zing in certain settings. I also use switches to connect in capacitors as desired, but I use values closer to standard. Are you sure the caps you're using are really in the pf range? That's like 100 x smaller than typical...

 

[Greg_L]

am I just liking the as-is sound. Any thoughts?

If you like it the way it is, leave it the fuck alone.