Tone caps for Strats

[angelodp]

Just read an article that talked about using very small caps for tone adjustment..... 3300pf. The notion being that the lower value will allow more subtle range of control. The standard caps are
in the .047uf to .022uf range. I do like a bright and twangy tone. Question is; what have you all found in terms of using smaller cap values.

ange

[D2o]

Have you read Chrisk's woman tone?

[D2o]

Ange,

That's a much smaller cap value than I had first realized. Can you give a link to that article?

EDIT: I've found one of many example articles, below.

In this article, the author discusses capacitance - and how changing it affects tone. True, of course, but there is no mention that pot values matter, too.

A 500K pot can certainly brighten things up.

D2o

[sumgai]

Jun 8, 2009 9:34:01 GMT -5 angelodp said:

Just read an article that talked about using very small caps for tone adjustment..... 3300pf. The notion being that the lower value will allow more subtle range of control.

That'll be subtle, all right. That's 0.0033µf, about a tenth of what you need to get a normal range of variation. The net effect will be that you'll get the same tone no matter where the tone control is set. The capacitance value is so small that very little of the high frequencies will be shunted to ground (signal return).

That article's author must have a different idea than mine when it comes to variations in tone. Or perhaps I'd think the same way if I were to smoke some of that stuff he's got in his pipe.....

HTH



sumgai

[sumgai]

I just checked the article linked by D2o above.....

The guy admits to disliking Telecaster Neck pickups (presumably stock ones), and loves twang. This goes a long ways towards explaining his inability to use standard controls (and capacitor values) in a standard way - his ears are definitely out of calibration!

If I were to turn it down from Blood-curdling to merely Ice-pick-in-your-ears, and thought it was a good variation, my frau would be sending me in to have my ears checked!




sumgai

[angelodp]

Ok so .022uf is on the normal bright side of things. I was wondering about those extremely low values.

ange

[wolf]

For one thing, shouldn't articles, discussions and rumors about tone capacitors be discussed in nano-farads? Capacitors can get confusing because of the large variation in values. I can remember the days before the pico-farad when capacitors were rated in micro-micro-farads. A 100 picofarad capacitor would have a value of 100 μμf.
Anyway, I guess we could say the typical value of a guitar tone capacitor is 22 nano-farads.
Here's yet another opinion about the guitar tone capacitor "controversy":

As is often the case when dealing with the electric guitar, the sound you want is usually different from what someone else wants. I've used .001uf capacitors up to .01uf capacitors in my tone circuits, which is a pretty good range to stay in. The most important thing is to have some fun experimenting. I Hope this helped, and good luck

Article link: www.electric-guitar-info.com/guitar-capacitors.html

So, according to that guy, a tone capacitor should be anywhere between 1 and 10 nano-farads.

From the April section of the previous article:
www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Apr/Auditioning_Tone_Capacitors_Part_II.aspx

I never use the factory stock values, as I find them to be way too much. I prefer values from 3300 up to 6800pF, which makes the tone control much more useable. You can also mix up different types and values in one guitar; I have a Strat with a 6800pF Mallory cap for the bridge pickup only and a 3300pF Mallory cap for the middle and neck pickups together. Feel free to experiment and let your ears decide!

3.3 to 6.8 nano-farads.
So, we can see that is a much more conservative approach than the electric-guitar-info guy.

[angelodp]

22 nano-farads. ........ I have a 20 nano-farad cap or .018 uf . I might try that for a slightly brighter cap.

[ChrisK]

The Passive High-Cut Tone Control

Pickup Coil Response Tuning