talk to me about capacitors

[ksmith63]

So i've finally decided to order a full shred pu set for my ibanez and i'm worried about capacitors. The duncans are going to replace emgs so i know that i have to buy 500K pots, but what about capacitors? :smack:
Can i use the same capacitors that were connected to the emg pots?
Also what does changing the value of the capacitor do to my tone?
Any other usefull info would also help.

thanks

 

[Artie]

Re: talk to me about capacitors

The capacitor determines at what frequency the highs start to roll-off. The larger the number, the deeper into the bass the roll-off will be. For example:

If you used a .1uf, you'ld roll-off all the frequencies. It would act as a volume control.

Move up to a .047uf, and you'll roll off some mids with the highs. The tone control on zero would be a pretty "bassy" sound.

Move up to .022uf and you're affecting mostly highs. Thats a nice compromise for many.

Go all the way up to .01uf, and you'll just trim off the very highest treble. That makes a nice, subtle tone control.

And so on, and so forth.

 

[ksmith63]

Re: talk to me about capacitors

thanks artie

also is there any way for determining the value on the capacitors in the guitar now?

kevin

 

[Artie]

Re: talk to me about capacitors

Sometimes . . . it depends on the cap. Usually, you'll see a number like 223k or maybe 103k. The first two numbers are "significant digits". The last is the number of zero's, in picofarads.

So, 223 would be 22, with three zero's, or 22,000 pf = .022uf.
103 would be 10,000pf, or .01uf.
473 would be .047uf.

Some caps will just have printed on them the value. Orange Drops tend to say right on them: .022uf