Capacitor question

[adoxtater]

Ok, so I'm building a guitar project (getting damn near finished too WOOHOO!!) and I have most all the parts except capacitors, and I'm a bit stumped as to what I need. Here's the info on the guitar:

Kramer Pacer Custom II
Bridge: Seymour Duncan Distortion
Mid: Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails
Neck: Seymour Duncan Cool Rails
Controls: 1 Vol, 2 tones, 5 way, master on/off kill

So I'm using 500k audio taper pots for this, and my question is what value caps should I use? I welcome any and all "schooling" on the art of caps as well, so feel free. I'm an electronics flunky haha. I can wire a guitar to where it works, but shit if I know what it is I'm doing :ROTF: Thanks guys!


Here's the guitar btw...

[RacerX]

oOH, i LOVE THAT GRAPHIC

[adoxtater]

Thanks bro! I haven't even gotten it completed yet and its damn LOUD hahaha

[RacerX]

Maybe check out this thread http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62483

[straycat]

Well done Ron.You get a gold star on your report card.Love that graphic too.

[charvelguy]

I really dig that graphic with the bear claw/tooth inlays. That paint job has a really nice flow to it too.

[slo100]

In the thread Ron refers to there is a link to RS guitarworks that Straycat referenced to in his posts.

You can buy caps from this page: http://www.rsguitarworks.net/rsstore/index.php?cPath=45

I like .022mf caps in humbucking equipped guitars, personally. My experience is that caps with higher values can give you that "blanket over your speakers" tone when rolled off heavily. These are a bit more expensive than Radio Shack junkers. However, you can go to the 'Shack and pickup some .015, .022, and .047 values for a few bucks and hear for yourself how they differ in frequency rolloff. When you've settled on a value grab some premium caps from RS or ebay to maximize your tone.

Depending on your style and the type of music you play you may find yourself not ever touching the tone control. Also depending on your rig, signal path, and level of gain/distortion used...you may never hear the difference between a $.59 Radio Shack cap and a $15 RS cap.

[toejam]

However, you can go to the 'Shack and pickup some .015, .022, and .047 values for a few bucks and hear for yourself how they differ in frequency rolloff. When you've settled on a value grab some premium caps from RS or ebay to maximize your tone.

+1. The .047mf will be darker sounding, though, and they're usually used in basses. I had one in an old poplar Dinky with a Tone Zone, and it was definitely darker/warmer sounding. The lower values will be brighter.

[adoxtater]

I really dig that graphic with the bear claw/tooth inlays. That paint job has a really nice flow to it too.

Yeah dude, he did a great job painting it. I can't wait to finish it and string it up! The pickups just arrived and now I'm just waiting on the pots

In the thread Ron refers to there is a link to RS guitarworks that Straycat referenced to in his posts.

You can buy caps from this page: http://www.rsguitarworks.net/rsstore/index.php?cPath=45

I like .022mf caps in humbucking equipped guitars, personally. My experience is that caps with higher values can give you that "blanket over your speakers" tone when rolled off heavily. These are a bit more expensive than Radio Shack junkers. However, you can go to the 'Shack and pickup some .015, .022, and .047 values for a few bucks and hear for yourself how they differ in frequency rolloff. When you've settled on a value grab some premium caps from RS or ebay to maximize your tone.

Depending on your style and the type of music you play you may find yourself not ever touching the tone control. Also depending on your rig, signal path, and level of gain/distortion used...you may never hear the difference between a $.59 Radio Shack cap and a $15 RS cap.

Thanks for the info! I'm normally playing pretty heavy music... metal mostly. Is there a big difference between mf and µF caps? I grabbed a couple from Radio Shack, but now I notice they are µF...

[straycat]

The RS /hovland caps are very high end audio caps.The RS/ Hoveland guitar cap was designed exclusively for guitar application.The point is the guitar cap gives you a more transparent clearer tone.It takes out the mud.Different applications take a different value cap..022 is the most common..047 rolls off more of the highs leading to a darker tone..0047 is great to hook to the vol pot say in a strat set up 250k vol ,tone, tone it keeps the clarity of the singles and rolls of some of the harshness of the 1,3and 5 positions.
If you have an incredibly bright guitar try a .047 cap that might help.