CAPS, POTS and upgrades ... mystery?

[blaster710]

I have a 1995 Les Paul Classic in great shape. I like the tone I get from it - but I have grounding, hum and control issues. Before I bought it, someone switched-out its' GIBSON Classic '59's and installed VooDoo '59's in their place - but did a terribly messy job in the process.


To correct and upgrade, I've ordered a new wiring harness from DAVID JONES, incl. the best CTS 550K pots and new production .022 oil filled caps, all pre-wired by hand including pigtails for both of the VooDoo pups.


My question is - does anyone have a recommendation re. the caps? Sprague. Bumble Bee, Orange drop - what? I like the tones I get now (just not the hum and V&T issues.) I could use your help ... thnx in advance.

I have an original 2000 set of GIBSON humbuckers .... 490r and 498t .... let me know if you are interested.

 

[Liko]

Re: CAPS, POTS and upgrades ... mystery?

The caps you have in there now look like Orange Drops (or some similar poly/mylar film capacitors, which are what you want nowadays unless you're going total vintage with oil caps). They might be salvageable; definitely worth a few minutes with a soldering iron and a multimeter to pull em out and check em. If you can't or won't reuse them, their value (at least the one I can see at the top) is .047uF, not .022uF (that's a common spec for Fender guitar tone circuits), so if you like what you have but want them new and unsullied by sloppy soldering, order a pair of Sprague .047uF Orange Drops.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: CAPS, POTS and upgrades ... mystery?

Regarding cap values, listen to the sound demos of this article, by Frank Falbo himself.

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/23145-cap-and-pot-trade

 

[blaster710]

Re: CAPS, POTS and upgrades ... mystery?

thanx everyone. I'll put your advice to good use ///

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: CAPS, POTS and upgrades ... mystery?

The caps, per se, will not add or decrease any hum issues you're having. Absolutely nothing wrong with Orange Drops. I have to agree that is a pretty bad wiring job. There are a couple solder joints that actually look ok. The rest...not so.

Gibson Classic '59's??

 

[Mincer]

Re: CAPS, POTS and upgrades ... mystery?

I would see no reason to change the caps, unless you want a different value than you have now.