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Post subject: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 3:17 pm
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While watching an embroiled discussion unfold on another forum, which shall remain nameless, I decided to do a little searching for myself because there were a few things mentioned I wasn't 100% certain of.
I suspected a lot of it was hooey but wanted to know for sure so I typed "the truth about tone capacitors" into my search engine and found this video.
I hope you find it interesting.



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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 4:18 pm
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Yup.
Always understood this to be the case from all of my electronic training and experience.
The one factor that can make a difference is making sure that the outside wrap of the foil is connected to the ground side.
It's not critical, and makes no difference in the tone, but it does provide a slight improvement to shielding... not likely noticeable if your control cavity is already properly shielded.

Same goes for the hookup wire and insulation. Cloth push-back insulation is convenient because it won't melt if you apply too much heat, but electrically it makes no difference, likewise no difference between 18ga and 28ga wire at the voltage/current levels present.
The only potential difference is the benefit of using actual 4-conductor cable with a foil shield, with the shield bonded to ground... but again that is only useful for noise reduction. Really not useful on a Strat, but it is a consderation on a Les Paul, Jaguar, or other model where the signal path is longer.
The difference in capacitance between two parallel cloth and teflon insulated wires is insignificant at audio frequencies.

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 6:03 pm
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Interesting. Great post, Matt. I’m not the electronics Ninja like you and Rich, but I did use capacitors in days of yore when car stereos were backyard installations on most every street corner as AM radios took a hike for the latest deck to spew tape all over the floor. I think that was last weekend. :wink:
Those installs called for speakers and crossovers often simplified with capacitors. I don’t recall how or why . . . only when I did that. Two old capacitors from my ‘64 Pontiac install are sitting in my tool kit on standby. :P
Unless the need arises, I’ll leave the axes to you two. Still, I think I actually lurned sumpin’.

Your thread and post(s) are sure to be of interest for others, Matt, and your experience is a great addition, Rich.

It all helps to make a great Forum.

FSB

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 7:18 pm
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LOL @ FSB

I promise you .... I am no electronics Ninja .... not by a long shot.

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 7:31 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
LOL @ FSB

I promise you .... I am no electronics Ninja .... not by a long shot.

Ah so. So sorry Mattosan. :lol:
FSB

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 7:44 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
LOL @ FSB

I promise you .... I am no electronics Ninja .... not by a long shot.

Ditto.
There's "Trial by Fire"
And "Trial and Error"
Some of us have all three going on... but at least the trial went well

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 8:08 pm
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CB91710 wrote:
BMW-KTM wrote:
LOL @ FSB

I promise you .... I am no electronics Ninja .... not by a long shot.

Ditto.
There's "Trial by Fire"
And "Trial and Error"
Some of us have all three going on... but at least the trial went well

Well, I use to rip apart my stereos and repair them until one day I had some expensive quad headphones with a hand held processor. I loved those cans.

Well, they needed a simple soldering job for a broken cable. The crap soldering iron wasn’t temperature controlled and poof! :shock: An adjacent wire the thickness of a hair disappeared and that was it. A couple of years after the company said that they would fix or replace their headsets no matter what the condition - for life! I’m sure conditions applied. I never got to find out. Waaaaaah! :cry:
Nowadays, as I get older so does a lot of my electronics all at the same time or not long after. Some stuff is newer with the thinking that it will last for some time. Wrong! Format changes. Now, I am lucky to have old gear that doesn’t work or soon to have new gear that doesn’t work. Sheesh!

I’ll probably have a lot of freed up capacitors. :lol:
FSB

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 6:34 pm
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Hi...I too am sadly a victim of the capacitor Hypefest.

However, I recently installed a NOS 0.1uf ceramic cap in my Aerodyne Strat during a re-wiring episode.
The article suggest that ceramic caps can be microphonic. Is that true?

Why would 1960's era Stratocasters have ceramic caps if they suffer from microphonics?

Thanks

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 6:53 pm
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BasementBob wrote:
The article suggest that ceramic caps can be microphonic. Is that true?
If it's a concern, tack it down to the pot with a dab of silicone to dampen vibration.
Quote:
Why would 1960's era Stratocasters have ceramic caps if they suffer from microphonics?
Not a whole lot of high-gain amplifiers in the 60s.

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:07 pm
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I'm sure GilgaFrank would be happy to know he's been vindicated.
https://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=89405&hilit=filter

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:56 pm
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spacewolf wrote:
I'm sure GilgaFrank would be happy to know he's been vindicated.
https://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=89405&hilit=filter
Bingo! Great find, Spacewolf. :D
FSB

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:11 pm
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There are times when I miss Frank.
Troublesome that he was.
He was an acquired tasted, to be sure but the kept me on my toes.
He made me work for it.
He made us all work for it.
A monster player to boot.
Better than I and I don't concede that to everybody.

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Post subject: Re: The Truth About Tone Capacitors
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:23 am
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I miss Frank myself, I always enjoyed reading down a thread and hitting a GilgaFrank bomb! :lol:


8)

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