Guitar Tone Capacitor Types

We all use pickups capacitors tone caps and pots as tone shapers.

Guitar tone capacitor types.

We have a few different types of tone caps available. With your guitar s tone pot wired into the circuit pre capacitor the tone pot controls how much high frequency content is rolled off by the capacitor. Quite often the capacitor will be of the ceramic disc variety resembling the image in fig 1. Tone control enables you to change the sound including how you mute or blend the signal from guitar pickups.

However using resistors in a guitar can open up new tonal possibilities as well. Tone control capacitor types. The easiest way to think of a tone capacitor is that in the typical tone circuit they are a high frequency removal device. A larger value that rolls off high frequencies to a greater degree is 0 1uf.

Audio grade polypropylene dielectric material is extremely stable and accurate across a wide range of frequencies and. Highest quality tone capacitor available. One end soldered to the pot s arm and the second leg is soldered to the bottom of the pot or somewhere else in the ground circuit. Tone capacitors are the most misunderstood component in a guitar.

A common value for a tone capacitor in guitars is 0 022 microfarads or 0 022uf as an abbreviation. In a guitar you re not hearing the cap itself you re hearing what the cap is impeding. High tolerance leads to a very unpredictable tone from one guitar to another because the actual value of the capacitor can vary wildly. The type of cap is not as important as the value of the cap for guitar.

Not all guitar capacitors sound the same even if they share the same values and you may be surprised at the sonic difference such a small component can make. Guitar pots are used to affect and control volume and tone. I ve marked the capacitor wires in blue and given a top and bottom view of the wiring setup it s a fairly standard setup and even though yours may appear a bit different the capacitor tone pot are likely the same. The chance of getting the correct value is low when using capacitors.

Orange drop 022 microfarad tone capacitors. Cornell dubilier orange drop 022μf tone capacitors for guitar and bass pack of 2. I often receive e mails and calls from guitarists who don t use the tone control at all mostly complaining about tones that are darke and lifeless hotspots when closing the tone pot and a basically useless taper of. Remember the tone cap is always part of the guitar circuit and it even influences the tone when the tone pot is fully opened.

When you think of tone shaping a couple of items might come to mind. Volume control speaks for itself. The smaller the capacitor like 022 015 or less the less the treble is removed this is because the filter frequency shifts higher so more high frequency remains. Types of guitar potentiometers.

A resistor is a device with a measurable amount of resistance simply put a resistor impedes the flow of or resists electricity.