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Post subject: what capasitors ?
Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:49 am
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im going to buy some fender cs 54s . im going to change all the pots to so what's the best capacitor to have to get the most out of them pickups . and why . i do all my own repairs and rewires but not to sure about how capasitors work

also for treble bleed . i always use one ?


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Post subject: Re: what capasitors ?
Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 1:51 pm
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I realize this might be coming too late. What cap to use depends a lot on the type tone you want and what type music you play.

The early strats used a single .1 uF/mf, 100 Volt ceramic discs. They went to 200 volt ones of the same value at some point but I'm not sure when. There is a negligible tonal difference in a tone circuit between the 100 and 200 volt versions. The OEM was Sprague.

Some American reissues have used a poly film capacitor. If you order Fender part 0021022000 which shows on the diagrams for Strats you will probably get a Poly .1 cap which is not the cap i am talking about. I'd go back to a vintage Sprague brand ceramic disc one for authentic 50's tone.

The vintage ceramic disc will have more edge to it, meaning more inherent distortion. The Poly still has some edge but is smoother in general. So long as you are going to the expense of getting the 54 pups, might as well have them set up with a vintage era correct cap.

Some people might suggest Vitamin-Q paper in oil caps but those are very clean and are not going to give you any crunch or edge at all in the tone. If you are playing Jazz I might suggest a paper in oil cap in that case alone. But otherwise I'd stick to vintage ceramic discs as a starting point. The vintage ceramic discs are only a few dollars at the most each. Often sold by vintage parts dealers in small lots like two for $4. People who play Jazz hardly ever do it on a Strat.

If you find the ceramic disc too edgy you can reduce the crunch by switching to a Poly chicklet or Poly Orange Drop, reduce it further with a Mylar Orange Drop or almost totally eliminate it with a Vitamin-Q type paper in oil cap. That is pretty much the distortion/crunch/edge order in caps stable enough to use in a guitar tone circuit. Ceramic, Poly-Chicklet, Orange Drop Poly, Orange Drop Mylar, Vitamin-Q. (Some people use paper in wax caps but the wax caps are extremely heat sensitive and don't take temps over 110 F very well because the wax starts to melt. Therefore even though they sound fantastically smooth, I don't use or recommend them. Mylar Orange Drops are the next most heat sensitive but are stable to 105 C or about 221 F. If your axe gets to 221 F I am pretty sure the tone cap is the least of your worries.)

One source for vintage caps is axegrinderz dot com. There is some interesting reading about how cap selection impacts tone on their site also. But for a Strat with vintage tones I'd use vintage ceramic discs. Today's ceramic discs just are not the same.

One final word about caps. There is a tolerance factor printed on them. With ceramic discs this is up to 20%. So a 0.1uF ceramic cap can actually read from 0.08 to 0.12 and still be in tolerance. Either have it checked before you buy or at least before you install to make sure you are using one really close to 0.1uF which is sort of a happy medium and actually the ideal value specified in the design. There is a lot of difference between a brighter sounding 0.085 and a darker 0.115 when compared to one reading 0.099. I'd go with the one reading closest to 0.1. Value variations in the tone cap is another of the many variables that explains why two otherwise identical instruments often sound a bit different. Checking the cap for it's actual value is not a step I'd personally skip on any cap selection, even on a mod of a cheap Asian copy.


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Post subject: Re: what capasitors ?
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:08 pm
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brotherdave wrote:
I realize this might be coming too late. What cap to use depends a lot on the type tone you want and what type music you play.

The early strats used a single .1 uF/mf, 100 Volt ceramic discs. They went to 200 volt ones of the same value at some point but I'm not sure when. There is a negligible tonal difference in a tone circuit between the 100 and 200 volt versions. The OEM was Sprague.

Some American reissues have used a poly film capacitor. If you order Fender part 0021022000 which shows on the diagrams for Strats you will probably get a Poly .1 cap which is not the cap i am talking about. I'd go back to a vintage Sprague brand ceramic disc one for authentic 50's tone.

The vintage ceramic disc will have more edge to it, meaning more inherent distortion. The Poly still has some edge but is smoother in general. So long as you are going to the expense of getting the 54 pups, might as well have them set up with a vintage era correct cap.

Some people might suggest Vitamin-Q paper in oil caps but those are very clean and are not going to give you any crunch or edge at all in the tone. If you are playing Jazz I might suggest a paper in oil cap in that case alone. But otherwise I'd stick to vintage ceramic discs as a starting point. The vintage ceramic discs are only a few dollars at the most each. Often sold by vintage parts dealers in small lots like two for $4. People who play Jazz hardly ever do it on a Strat.

If you find the ceramic disc too edgy you can reduce the crunch by switching to a Poly chicklet or Poly Orange Drop, reduce it further with a Mylar Orange Drop or almost totally eliminate it with a Vitamin-Q type paper in oil cap. That is pretty much the distortion/crunch/edge order in caps stable enough to use in a guitar tone circuit. Ceramic, Poly-Chicklet, Orange Drop Poly, Orange Drop Mylar, Vitamin-Q. (Some people use paper in wax caps but the wax caps are extremely heat sensitive and don't take temps over 110 F very well because the wax starts to melt. Therefore even though they sound fantastically smooth, I don't use or recommend them. Mylar Orange Drops are the next most heat sensitive but are stable to 105 C or about 221 F. If your axe gets to 221 F I am pretty sure the tone cap is the least of your worries.)

One source for vintage caps is axegrinderz dot com. There is some interesting reading about how cap selection impacts tone on their site also. But for a Strat with vintage tones I'd use vintage ceramic discs. Today's ceramic discs just are not the same.

One final word about caps. There is a tolerance factor printed on them. With ceramic discs this is up to 20%. So a 0.1uF ceramic cap can actually read from 0.08 to 0.12 and still be in tolerance. Either have it checked before you buy or at least before you install to make sure you are using one really close to 0.1uF which is sort of a happy medium and actually the ideal value specified in the design. There is a lot of difference between a brighter sounding 0.085 and a darker 0.115 when compared to one reading 0.099. I'd go with the one reading closest to 0.1. Value variations in the tone cap is another of the many variables that explains why two otherwise identical instruments often sound a bit different. Checking the cap for it's actual value is not a step I'd personally skip on any cap selection, even on a mod of a cheap Asian copy.


Okay, I have a question for you Brother Dave. I have Texas Specials in my Strat, and wondering which cap can really brings out the special in the Texas Specials? At the moment I have a .47uf in it, because I also have a humbucker in the bridge.

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Post subject: Re: what capasitors ?
Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:39 pm
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Mixing the two pickup types I'd use this exact diagram with the mixed pot values:

http://support.fender.com/service_diagrams/stratocaster/013-3100C_SISD.pdf

I'd use the exact stated values in ceramic discs. (Your 0.047 is essentially the same as a 0.05 due the huge tolerance factor in ceramic disc caps.)

Yes there is a treble bleed in this diagram.

Once you have it set up like this then I'd re-evaluate the tone and see if I think the single coils sound too bright or the humbucker sounds too muddy and modify cap selection from there if needed. For example you might wind up eventually with a lower value treble bleed cap. Still I'd start with the 0.022 specified because it might work out fine and whatever value I would wind up with will be in that ballpark anyway.


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