Tone control for Strat Bridge pickup

[pdbernstein]

I saw this diagram for adding a cap for tone control on the bridge pickup...
Will a regular ceramic one do the job?
Thanks

Here's the diagram:

[pollyshero]

A ceramic disk capacitor will work, and you'll see a lot of them on stock cheap guitars. You won't see many on better high-end guitars.

Notice - cheap-vs-high end.... Ceramic disk caps are made a little cheaper. They're less efficient than film caps and can be noisier. You CAN use one of the appropriate value, it will work. But I'd suggest spending 50 cents and going for one that will perform a little better.

On the other hand, some say a capacitor's a capacitor and what I said above is hogwash. Maybe you won't be able to tell the difference between the two, or there won't be any appreciable difference in performance. It's all up to you and your ears.

Good luck

[UnklMickey]

yes, but a purist would recommend a paper in oil or a polypropylene.


personally i'd say just about anything but a ceramic or electrolytic.

[pdbernstein]

Thank you both for the replies- I appreciate it. Just for my own edification-If I was to go the purist route, where might I find paper in oil, etc. ?

[zjokka]

Any purist would recommend Sprague Orange drop capacitators. If you can find them, try them, the price range of a cap - even this one- will still be below one dollar.

good luck
zj

[pdbernstein]

What would be the VAC value I would need?

[Runewalker]

You can find them cheaper (orange drops) but these
guys (in my experience) are reliable:

www.guitarpartsresource.com/electrical_capsorange.htm

[pollyshero]

Voltage values aren't real important for this circuit - we're looking at very low voltages on the tone control... The rating shows the max voltage capability of the cap. The one in my Strat is 250 (and that's just because that's what it came with). A good starting place is a .22uf cap with any voltage rating over 50 or 60 (just because they're common).

The voltage rating won't affect the sound in any way. If you're looking to change the tone, swap out caps with different uf values - lower value for more highs, higher very for a darker tone. Or is it the other way around? I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong...

Good luck

[UnklMickey]

pollyshero said:

... If you're looking to change the tone, swap out caps with different uf values - lower value for more highs, higher very for a darker tone. Or is it the other way around? I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong...

Good luck

you got it right.

higher value caps will cut down to a lower corner frequency.

lower value caps will cut only the "higher" highs.

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

unklmickey said:

higher value caps will cut down to a lower corner frequency.

lower value caps will cut only the "higher" highs.

"Corner frequency" is a new term to me. (But I consider a day wasted unless I learn something new.)

So here and there, I've seen a .047µF suggested for a "dark" tone, and a .015µF maybe for a Clapton "Woman Tone." (Keeping in mind that E.C. also kept his volume knob "rolled off," another term that might perplex us newbies.)

--
Doug C.

[UnklMickey]

think of it as being the frequency where things start to happen.

with a high cut (guitar tone control) circuit, frequencies below the corner frequency are (mostly) unaffected.

[UnklMickey]

here are a couple of links to capacitor evaluations that apply some science to the matter.

both are pretty good.

the second one is very visually descriptive.

www.ampge.com/SKGS/sk/CapTest/CapTest.htm

members.aol.com/sbench102/caps.html

sk is steven kersting.

he sells custom pickups and has lots of nice tech info on his site.

sbench102 is steve bench.

i've enjoyed reading his writings on the net, almost as much as i have enjoyed reading randall aiken's stuff.


hmmm? steven kersting, steve bench, steve ahola.

is there a reason why so many guitar electronics guys on the net are named steve?