Capacitor Questions

[Xantax]

Hey there.

I have a few questions from John S. Atchley's Howto on GuitarNuts.com, in 'Quieting the Beast, Shielding a Strat'.

I am about to undergo the modification myself, on a Fender Strat Clone, which is nearly identical.. apart from the hideous electrics inside!

I am going to be completely gutting the electrics (Apart from the pickups, which I will definately be using!) and grabbing new components in order to make things a little better.

I have a question regarding the two capacitors described in the guide:

Since I live in New Zealand, getting hold of some components is a little harder than if I was in the US. I am wondering what type of capacitor I should use for the mod.

I am aware that I will need 1x 0.2uf Capacitor, and 1x 0.33uf 400v Capacitor. However, what type of capacitor will I need for these, and what voltage should the 0.2uf cap be rated at (It will be used on the tone knob potentiometer) Also, our naming conventions down here are slightly different from what I have picked up on.

Im guessing that the tone capacitor will need to be a Metalised Polyester Cap, AKA 'Greencap'.. but I have no clue as to what the 400v one should be.

Any info would be muchly appreciated!

[bam]

the 400v one should be of the same type.

[jdtogo]

you may want to look into using orang drop caps . The 'Holy Grail' of Tone Caps . www.acmeguitarworks.com/OTHER-STUFF-C13.aspx just passing on info . good luck

[Xantax]

Hrm I get a 404 on that page.. are you sure its the right link?

Well I managed to sheild, and re-wire my guitar, using slightly different capacitor values for the tone pot's, and new pots alltogether in order to get a clearer tone from the neck/mid pickups, and it seemed to work!

The problem is, is that if I turn on distortion of any kinda on my amp, I get a hideous buzz! Kind of like an electrical hum. This is also present when I have distortion off, but it is not as noticable. I think that there was less noise without all the sheilding, however, I could have done something wrong. The only High Voltage cap that I was able to find, was a 270v AC MKT - Type 0.33uF 'Line Supressor' Capacitor.. Could this be the problem? Also, what else could be causing the problems?

Was Oxygen-Free-Copper cabling the right choice, or does it offer too much capacitance for the guitar

Any help would be muchly appreciated!

[StratLover]

Check the fallowing links for Guitar Parts Resource orange drop and wiring kit for Strat(tm) and their Home Page. They will have any and all other parts you may need on your project "Xantax". You will not find parts any cheaper. Highly recommended!!!

search.stores.ebay.com/search/search.dll?query=orange+drop&srchdesc=y&sid=14130837&store=GUITAR+PARTS+RESOURCE+LLC&colorid=0&fp=0&st=1&fsoo=1&fsop=1&submit=Search

guitarpartsresource.com/guitar_index.htm

[Xantax]

Considering I live in New Zealand, getting those parts will prove to be a very difficult task.

Is there anything that could be causing the loud hum that I am experiencing after completing the 'Quietening the beast' mod?

[StratLover]

Your grounding is not complete.
Thoroughly check and then re-check again every solder joint and and all insulation on your wiring.

This is a pretty common problem, so don't think it is just you that this has happened to.

All the difficult things have been done:oit's just a matter of busting out the diagrams again and re-tracing ALLof your footsteps.

You'll find it, just take your time. ;D