Re: best single coil for drop c and hard rock
well caps are really a matter of taste. the traditional setups you almost always see in any guitar are .047 mfd caps and 500k pots with humbuckers, or .022 mfd caps with 250k pots for single coils. these are excellent reference points, but I'd highly recommend trying different values for caps and seeing which ones you like best. each cap has a characteristic "cutoff" frequency, which increases as the capacitance decreases. so if you have a .047 mfd cap and your axe is sounding a bit too muddy, you can try switching to .022 mfd, since the cutoff frequency is higher and you will retain more of your high-end. you can find lots of different/uncommon caps on antique electronic supply, but most places you will be hard pressed to find anything but .022 and .047 mfd caps.
the cap is always in the circuit and will have a slight effect even with tone set to ten, and sometimes I've found this to improve the sound, like if your pickups are sounding a bit too edgy or harsh. but you can also use no load tone controls which remove the tone from the circuit at ten, and so you will have a slightly brightened sound with no treble cutoff. my strat has a .022 mfd cap in it, but most people would probably put a .047 in it. anyway what I would recommend for you is trying it with your stock cap first which is most likely a .022 mfd cap, and if you want to darken your tone a bit switch to a .047 one. it's actually a good idea to try both anyway even if you like the sound, just so you can see what your options are and what effect various parts of the tone circuit have. this will help you to attain your ideal sound in every guitar you own as you gain experience customizing guitars.
