Capacitor Questions

[tazzboy]

Originally Posted by tdowns

Yes I have. Here is a Radio Shack equivalent if you want to pay 10x more to get it locally.

Yeah I have Radio Shack near by that sells these.

[Bruce Bennett]

Originally Posted by tdowns

A pound of feces weighs the same as a pound of diamonds. A 0.022µF mylar cap is the same as any other 0.022µF cap of any material for a guitar tone application. There is no Rube Goldberg machine inside a capacitor.

while I agree with this post and the one below it, I should be pointed out that like caps of different construction...
One of these "pounds" can sold for a "feces" load of cash while the other you can't even give away.

that said. your second post while again I agree I would like to point out that a "Smoother" action of the tone control can be achieved by useing Mylar over say Ceramics. and that I have seen ( O-scope) a similar further "smoothing" when useing say a Auri-cap high resolution but that was also coupled with the addition of a higher value pot resistance.

My personal fav is a 1 meg linear pot with a .1 auri-cap.. very smooth with a bit of upper mid attenuation and the unique ability to get a sortof Mid boost/bite control if you use the tone control backed off to about 7-8 as your normal tone.

just my .02

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by Bruce Bennett

.........

I would like to point out that a "Smoother" action of the tone control can be achieved by useing Mylar over say Ceramics. and that I have seen ( O-scope) a similar further "smoothing" when useing say a Auri-cap high resolution but that was also coupled with the addition of a higher value pot resistance.

.........

Very respectfully Bruce, it appears you have consumed the snake oil from Auri-cap.

I do agree that using a 1meg pot will give smoother control, but there is nothing about the Auri cap that will make that difference.

[dmike0619]

Thanks for kind comments on the guitar...
It's my 1st build & I was very ambitious! There is no piece of wood on this guitar that I didn't start from scratch, so it has been a fun adventure! I'll admit that I was afraid to carve the neck after I had already inlayed the fingerboard and glued it to the neck, but it wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be...
BTW, after I get my Vitamin Q's in the mail and try them out with the clip leads & play around with different, cheaper caps, I may have some Vitamin Q's for sale...

[jefrs]

Er, I got a switch in one guitar which I can use to swap over to different caps.
I cannot hear a blind bit of difference between finest polyester and a tested same value ceramic, nor can I see anything when I analyse the spectra in CoolEdit.

I bought a lucky bag of ceramics from Tandy (Radio Shack) years ago and I haven't run out yet, but I will admit to using mylar or better in my guitars because they are more consistent. I always use an audio or log pot for tone because I find them to have a more usable gradual range, whereas the linear type give me nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, mud. But hey, ymmv.

There is some difference in frequency response in cap types but only when you get into r.f. at vhf and uhf, I'm reliably informed that ceramics become useless then, but to 20kHz audio... ?

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by jefrs

Er, I got a switch in one guitar which I can use to swap over to different caps.
I cannot hear a blind bit of difference between finest polyester and a tested same value ceramic, nor can I see anything when I analyse the spectra in CoolEdit.

I bought a lucky bag of ceramics from Tandy (Radio Shack) years ago and I haven't run out yet, but I will admit to using mylar or better in my guitars because they are more consistent. I always use an audio or log pot for tone because I find them to have a more usable gradual range, whereas the linear type give me nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, mud. But hey, ymmv.

There is some difference in frequency response in cap types but only when you get into r.f. at vhf and uhf, I'm reliably informed that ceramics become useless then, but to 20kHz audio... ?

Big +1

[smokerjoe34]

I have been using the cheapo chicklets from radio shack on my builds and they r working just fine !! I have squandered my money on the vitamin Q's and so on but have learned a thing or 2 since !!

[BadHorsie]

After reading this post I was curious about the caps that I had for my upcoming Tele project. I tested two orange drop .047 and one Mylar/Film .047cap. One of the OD caps tested .046 the other OD cap and the Mylar/Film cap tested .045 respectively. I guess It would be good to measure them so that you know exactly what the cap measure so if you like what your are hearing you can reproduce it with the exact same value of cap theoretically (I know there are other variables).

[tazzboy]

Probably good idea it sounds like tone caps and Pots don't read what they are supposed to be. I've had pots that have read 450K to 480K. Probably won't hurt for me to invest in Multimeter that read Capacitors.

[BadHorsie]

It is funny that you mention pots. Out of about 10 500k alpha pots only one measured 500k. The rest were somewhere at or below 490. Thanks a lot guys now I am putting the multimeter on everything.

P.S. If you are going to get a multimeter tazzboy get a quality digital auto-ranging one. They are worth the money.

[irishtele]

Dont really know anything about capacitors but that is a nice guitar!
I like the inlay! :P

[tazzboy]

Originally Posted by BadHorsie

P.S. If you are going to get a multimeter tazzboy get a quality digital auto-ranging one. They are worth the money.

I plan to do just that.

[tdowns]

If you get a multimeter that measures capacitance, you will need to know about the capacitance offset and subtract it from the measurement. The capacitance meter function will read the capacitance of the leads and the internal parasitic capacitance with nothing connected. Get the leads in the same position as you will when probing the cap and write down the reading. That is referred to as the capacitance offset. Probe the cap, and subtract the offset value.

[tazzboy]

I don't suppose you have article written up on how do to it correctly Terry?

[tdowns]

I figured the post above would be self explanatory.

[zvonik]

One of the coolest things about Telecasters is that you can change out the pots and caps without lifting the pickguard or loosening the strings. Absolutely no excuse not to buy a dozen different caps and try them. If you keep the soldering iron hot, you might get six caps per hour tested. I always rub the screws over a bit of bar soap to lube them a bit so I don't grind out the screw hole. I always put something under the flipped over tone controls when soldering to prevent "aging" marks on the finish.

Personally, I like a tone pot and cap that makes a wah sound when rotated. The pot value will make a bit of difference, the cap value will make a different amount of rotation of the pot. Unless you play mostly CCW, the cap value isn't that critical. Matching the tone change per turn to another guitar might be comforting though.

Darned Teles don't have numbers on the knobs. You've got to use your ears.

[jarrodmichael]

Originally Posted by zvonik

Darned Teles don't have numbers on the knobs. You've got to use your ears.

Yes - exactly

[tazzboy]

No but Les Paul's do.

[tazzboy]

Originally Posted by tdowns

If you get a multimeter that measures capacitance, you will need to know about the capacitance offset and subtract it from the measurement. The capacitance meter function will read the capacitance of the leads and the internal parasitic capacitance with nothing connected. Get the leads in the same position as you will when probing the cap and write down the reading. That is referred to as the capacitance offset. Probe the cap, and subtract the offset value.

So terry what tolerance % would you recommend for caps?

[teleman4u]

I have set there and swapped caps with my LP using aligator clips. Ceramic, Hovland, Jensen, old Spragues, Orange Drops, Sozo's and there was an audible diffence with each brand. Of course the value is more important as is tolerances, but I wanted to find out for myself what all these caps were about and so I did.