ASK JONSEY : The Capacitor Ambassador

[FLICKOFLASH]

Need Caps or a wiring kit ? Need advice on wiring & cap values ? Ask the Capacitor Ambassador Jonsey !!!

About Jonesy :

I was Born in Benton Harbor Michigan 1n 1960, grew up listening to all kinds of good music. My Grandpa played banjo and harmonica. I started playing trumpet in the school band from 5th grade to 12th grade. Got the "Louis Armstrong" Jazz award when I graduated High School. Started tinkering with electronics when I was 12 or 13 and started playing and wiring on guitars when I was about 16-17 years old.

2008 I Have a small Music store here in Knox Indiana where I teach Music lessons 4 days a week and work on guitars etc....
I play & teach: Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards. mandolin, Bass guitar, Banjo, harmonica...I am currently teaching about 25 students a week of all ages.

The blues has always been a big part of my life and I enjoy studying blues history as well as the music itself. I am currently back to playing a Tele, but favored Strats during my club days.
Battle of the bands and songwriting contests as well as "garage band" have been a big part of my teaching style as well as one on one lessons. I also teach music theory & improvisation.

Among other things I am a carpenter by trade 20+ years and left that behind about 5 years a go to teach Music and build harnesses full time. I have also studied and taught several martial arts styles, hosted womens self defense classes and offered self defense to adults and kids.

Currently I am a power seller on ebay and have been designing and building a variety of custom and vintage style wiring harnesses for guitars and basses. Constantly searching out the best TONE caps and quality parts for my clients...

Thanks for Reading...
Peace, jonesy

ToneMojo.com Got your Tone-Mojo Working Baby?

[b-squared]

Jonesy--how 'about laying down how caps work in a guitar?

Why are Paper-in-oil (PIO) caps better than the ceramic disks that modern guitars come stock with?

BB

[jonesy]

Greetings Everyone,

Flick has already posted an Introduction about me from my website Tonemojo.com, and many of you may already know me from the MLPF. I get dozens of PM's and emails with all kinds of questions about what is the best type of capacitors and pots for various guitar set-ups. He also asked me what I thought about starting a thread here on Gear Talk where we could share information and answer questions about that kind of thing, and I thought that was a great idea. I love to talk TONE

Your wiring and caps are hidden "Under the hood" so to speak and don't jump out at you like a Maple flame top finish or MOP block inlays, but they a critical to your guitars performance. Just like the motor in a race car, performance is gained by using the best quality parts for any given application. Many stock wiring harness's & Caps are substandard IMO and can be easily upgraded by the average person.

If you have a project going on or are planning one in the future I would be more than glad to walk you through some wiring options. If you are not happy with the way your pickups sound and you have stock wiring, I suggest starting with a good quality PIO (paper in oil) Capacitor first before you replace them I have had many people tell me that swapping out their caps/wiring was more dramatic of a change in improved Tone then changing their pickups.

Good wiring controls and quality Tone caps actually let you guitar sound how it was meant to sound. A lot of stock wiring chokes off your Tone or adds harsh frequencies that sound unpleasant. Correct wiring will make a huge difference in the expressiveness of you guitar. Once you get your Tone dialed
in, it is much easier to express yourself and play the kind of Music you like you play.

I am looking forward to Posting wiring diagrams, pictures and helpful Links for those of you that like to tinker on your guitar.

Here is a picture of my 21 Tone Jimmy Page wiring for guitars...


Thanks & Peace, jonesy

[littlekenny]

hey jonesy, can a capacitor change brighten the sound of my guitar?

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by littlekenny

hey jonesy, can a capacitor change brighten the sound of my guitar?

Well it depends how you look at it. A capacitor is a filter that cuts off high frequencies as you roll off tone control and blend it into you circuit. Your guitar itself(the wood etc.)and pickups will have certain Tonal characteristics. The correct capacitor will enhance those qualities but does not make it brighter. A good PIO cap will "Open" up your Tone and make it clearer, fuller and more warm sounding.

An .022 cap is not as dark sounding as an .047 cap and so it may appear to brighten up sound, but it is just letting through more highs that were already there to begin with.

The trend lately in Les Paul's is to run a .015 cap on the neck and a .022 on the bridge. Your neck pickup is darker sounding than the bridge because of it's placement. By using an .015 on the neck it gives you more useful room to roll off your tone control before your Tone gets to muddy.

Changing out your pickups and pots, or using the 50's style wiring will add more brightness but the cap really doesn't. Does that make sense to you?

Hope that answered your question...??

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by b-squared

Jonesy--how 'about laying down how caps work in a guitar?

Why are Paper-in-oil (PIO) caps better than the ceramic disks that modern guitars come stock with?

BB

Well BB you know what a good set of PIO caps can do for your Tone, and you told me you really liked the sound of the .015Q/.022 I just sent you for you LP

A capacitor is a Filter, ceramic disc(baked clay) caps tend to be a little bitey and harsh IMO. The Mineral Oil in the PIO caps is a much better Filter for Audio applications. They are much smoother and more ambient, and seem to Filter out the harsh or unpleasant frequencies. Polypropylene or Orange drops caps are even better than than the ceramic disc caps but IMO still not as good as a PIO(paper in oil)capacitor like a Sprague Vitamin Q or GOODALL etc.
Mylar is also used, those are the little green or dark red caps, I feel those are substandard as well...

Thanks for the Question...

[littlekenny]

cool jonesy, thanks.

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by littlekenny

cool jonesy, thanks.

You are welcome bro, that is what I am here for...

[cudamax2343]

How about running a pickup straight to the Input jack. I have done this to several of my Guitars and it seems the pickup is hotter and fuller. Do you actually loose output thru cap and controls?

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by cudamax2343

How about running a pickup straight to the Input jack. I have done this to several of my Guitars and it seems the pickup is hotter and fuller. Do you actually loose output thru cap and controls?

Neil Young has a mini toggle switch on his old Black Les Paul that does exactly that, bypasses all the guts and goes straight to the input jack. Everything in the signal chain will effect your sound even your patch cord.

The guitars that you did that with may have had Stock Caps that were "Choking" off your Tone as well, so it sounded better without them in the mix.
The Pots will do same thing to some extent since they are not true bypass.

Good question...

[cudamax2343]

I hear that in the 50's and early 60's Gibson used caps from the U.S military hence the old original sought after bumbble-bee's

Like these original 1959 Bumbble-Bee's below in a Les Paul


And these 1960 Gibson les paul Astron capacitors


And this 1955 one


So my question to you is, besides a chance to post some of my old photos is this. I have for years this old RCA TV, I think from the 50's or 60's


And this RCA 50's or 60's Radio's all with the original tubes


without taking them apart, is there a treasure of old caps in old stuff like this to be used in Guitars. Ever played with old, real old caps in guitars before?

[cudamax2343]

How about this. Was cruising the Dimarzio site the other day and with there pickups they had this General pot recommendation of a 500k pot to go with a humbucker and then said if you run a real long guitar cord to use a 1meg/ohm pot?

Any thought's on that one. What would a say 30ft cord do to your sound?

[cudamax2343]

Hate to Bombard-ya with a shit load of Questions, but you've been answer-in so.

I hate when I roll off the volume and loose output. I mean, I play a lot with both on (bridge and neck) and I love the growling sound when a pickup is full-on, but can not use-em both because of the neck pickup just, well you know over-powers the bridge. So I'm forced to roll the volume back and that reduces the pickup output and I loose my growl

Have-you anything kinda like a stereo balance knob or a kinda fade switch knob, that will allow me to have both pickups full-on (for the growl) but have something that will allow me to blend volume on each pickup without loosing output?

[Blue]

Welcome Jonesy!

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by cudamax2343

I hear that in the 50's and early 60's Gibson used caps from the U.S military hence the old original sought after bumbble-bee's

Like these original 1959 Bumbble-Bee's below in a Les Paul


And these 1960 Gibson les paul Astron capacitors


And this 1955 one


So my question to you is, besides a chance to post some of my old photos is this. I have for years this old RCA TV, I think from the 50's or 60's


And this RCA 50's or 60's Radio's all with the original tubes


without taking them apart, is there a treasure of old caps in old stuff like this to be used in Guitars. Ever played with old, real old caps in guitars before?

Nice photos, yes I have had dozens of old caps like that, that I have used to build harness's or have sold for Tone caps. I still have a lot of old wax an paper caps, lot's of .047 BEE's and a lot of mixed lower value BEE's as well.
I am not sure what is inside them but it is possible? I have pulled a lot of BEE's from old organ chassis from late 40's & 50's. If there was a way to peak inside without destroying them that is what I would do. Just because there are old caps in there doesn't mean that they are in useful range for guitar caps. .10-.010 mfd

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by cudamax2343

How about this. Was cruising the Dimarzio site the other day and with there pickups they had this General pot recommendation of a 500k pot to go with a humbucker and then said if you run a real long guitar cord to use a 1meg/ohm pot?

Any thought's on that one. What would a say 30ft cord do to your sound?

Depends on the quality of the cord, cheap cord yeah could darken it up...good cord no problem. I run an 20' cord into my crybaby and then another 20' cord back to my amp, that's 40' and I have never had any problems?? I have 1Megs in my Blue beater Tele "Levi" it has a pair of the Fender Deluxe SCN pickups. Bridge is hair over 13.0K stacked and the neck read 12.65k. Hot stacks but bright clear single coil Tone. I love them for Rock and Blues. They are wound hot so I went with the 1Megs for Clarity and more gain.

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by Blue

Welcome Jonesy!

Hey Thanks Blue, Glad to be here
Cool avatar by the way...

Peace, jonesy

[cudamax2343]

Kool I'll for a price on some stuff. Do the older caps generally produce a better sound than newer ones. What does "mfd" stand for and can the values of the caps be checked on a Multi-meter in the same manor as a pickup to determind it's value?

[cudamax2343]

Originally Posted by jonesy

Depends on the quality of the cord, cheap cord yeah could darken it up...good cord no problem. I run an 20' cord into my crybaby and then another 20' cord back to my amp, that's 40' and I have never had any problems?? I have 1Megs in my Blue beater Tele "Levi" it has a pair of the Fender Deluxe SCN pickups. Bridge is hair over 13.0K stacked and the neck read 12.65k. Hot stacks but bright clear single coil Tone. I love them for Rock and Blues. They are wound hot so I went with the 1Megs for Clarity and more gain.

Kool and thanx's for the pickup combo tip with a 1 meg

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by cudamax2343

Hate to Bombard-ya with a shit load of Questions, but you've been answer-in so.

I hate when I roll off the volume and loose output. I mean, I play a lot with both on (bridge and neck) and I love the growling sound when a pickup is full-on, but can not use-em both because of the neck pickup just, well you know over-powers the bridge. So I'm forced to roll the volume back and that reduces the pickup output and I loose my growl

Have-you anything kinda like a stereo balance knob or a kinda fade switch knob, that will allow me to have both pickups full-on (for the growl) but have something that will allow me to blend volume on each pickup without loosing output?

Yeah it's called a "screwdriver" get one and lower the neck pickup and or raise the bridge pickup, until they balnce how you want them to...then you can run the both wide open without any problems?

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by cudamax2343

Kool I'll for a price on some stuff. Do the older caps generally produce a better sound than newer ones. What does "mfd" stand for and can the values of the caps be checked on a Multi-meter in the same manor as a pickup to determind it's value?

A lot or actually most all of the old caps are PIO, (paper in oil) and yes they sound great. You need to find the right value though, and sometimes the leads are cut short. I solder new leads on and put a little piece of cloth wire on for shield, works for me...
mfd is micro farad, it is a unit of measurement .022 is a reading in micro vs pico u...I always use mfd to avoid confusion and it seems to be the common norm with Fender & Gibson Caps....Multimeter has to have a setting for capacitors, uf mf pf..many small ones don't unless it is good one.

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by cudamax2343

Hate to Bombard-ya with a shit load of Questions, but you've been answer-in so.

I hate when I roll off the volume and loose output. I mean, I play a lot with both on (bridge and neck) and I love the growling sound when a pickup is full-on, but can not use-em both because of the neck pickup just, well you know over-powers the bridge. So I'm forced to roll the volume back and that reduces the pickup output and I loose my growl

Have-you anything kinda like a stereo balance knob or a kinda fade switch knob, that will allow me to have both pickups full-on (for the growl) but have something that will allow me to blend volume on each pickup without loosing output?

I think even with a blender control one or the other has to be faded in or out so it is still reducing pickup volume to get that balance. If the "screwdriver" does not fix it you may want to think about swapping out one of you pickups to get a better balance between the two, not sure what to tell you on that one?

[FLICKOFLASH]

I am develping some 7 string projects. Being the 7 string pickups have higher ohm readings does that effect the values of caps that will be needed as well ?

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by FLICKOFLASH

I am develping some 7 string projects. Being the 7 string pickups have higher ohm readings does that effect the values of caps that will be needed as well ?

Well you always need to pair the right pots with pu's as well. PAF's are usually 8-9K ohms so 500k pots work well. Not sure how hot yours are wound, but I ended up using 1Meg pots for my SCN pickups in my Tele. The bridge is over 13.0K and the neck is 12.65k, they would have sounded dark and muddy with 250K pots, and probably would have been OK with 500k's, but the 1Meg give them the most gain an clarity. So check out what your pu's are wound at and we can use that as a guide. I have been using a lot of the .015Q's and I have one in my Tele with those SCN's and it works great for me. If you don't roll off your tone much than a .022 may be a better cap for you.

[BOBBO]

A regular King of Caps !!!!

[jonesy]

I don't know man, the ambassador title was not my idea...
Interesting PAF thread BTW

[lifele55]

Hey Jonesy, I've still yet to fix up those caps you sent! WHOA! Talk about lack of time...

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by lifele55

Hey Jonesy, I've still yet to fix up those caps you sent! WHOA! Talk about lack of time...

I here you Bro, only so many hours in the day. Man... you are missing out on some good Tone upgrades, better take a day off and work on your guitar If you need help just let me know ok? Peace, jonesy

[BOBBO]

Originally Posted by jonesy

I don't know man, the ambassador title was not my idea...
Interesting PAF thread BTW

You think I'm a CLOWN by choice !!!!!!!

[cudamax2343]

Is there any kind-a insider shit that I missed on that thread that maybe BOB-BO would like to confess or share with all of us.

To make it a little more interesting. Everybody loves a Clown or a Joker involved in a good scandal. Ha Ha.