ASK JONSEY : The Capacitor Ambassador

[jonesy]

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

Uh, Yeah

[Bluesjam]

Johsey, I have a question. I have an orange drop cap in my strat. I was always told that orange drops were for strats, but I have some Jensen oil & paper caps in my stock. Do you think the Jensen would sound better than the orange drop?

[jonesy]

Johsey, I have a question. I have an orange drop cap in my strat. I was always told that orange drops were for strats, but I have some Jensen oil & paper caps in my stock. Do you think the Jensen would sound better than the orange drop?

The Real Orange drops are Spragues and are polypropylene capacitors and have pretty decent tone. They can be used in Strats, Teles P-bass, Les Paul, 335, SG etc..does not matter what king of guitar. The jensen may be PIO (paper in oil) and may sound smoother and have a more vocal tone. Check to see what the values are .022 is Fenders spec currently but anything from .015-.047 will be usable.
What type of pickups are in your Strat and what kind of music are you playing?

[Bluesjam]

Jonsey I have WB 6707 Hot Rod's set # 7. I also have the blender wiring kit from Acme Guitar Works.

[cudamax2343]

Got a youtube sound Clip of those 6707's, you care to share?

[jonesy]

Jonsey I have WB 6707 Hot Rod's set # 7. I also have the blender wiring kit from Acme Guitar Works.

Hey Really Nice Strat, bet those pickups Growl...did you happen to see what value cap you had? The Orange drop may have 223 on it etc? You know what your guitar sounds like with the Orange drop, I would try one of the Jensen caps that you already have and see what it does for Tone?

That is really the best first hand way to find what you are looking for. It may be better or it may be worse, and what works for someone else may not be quite right for you.

Swap out thee caps and you may want to toss in a volume bleed kit while you have the guard off, then put up a post here(pics are always cool) letting us know what you thought about the difference in caps???

Thanks & Peace jonesy

[Last LP]

Looking for an easy way to change my sound from muddy to brite using caps alone as the only MOD.

Any advice or am I just better off with the cheap ceramics that come standard on the less expensive Gibson LPs?

I'm planing on installing these to my Melody Maker, Vintage Mahogany as well as my BFG.

Are there any CAPS that would make a difference other than what is already in there?

Or, do I need to do the POTS too get to where I want. I only want to improve things just a bit. I don't plan on keeping these guitars but want to offer an inexpensive improvement that can be heard as well as seen when you remove the covers.

Thanks in advance!

[jonesy]

Looking for an easy way to change my sound from muddy to brite using caps alone as the only MOD.

Any advice or am I just better off with the cheap ceramics that come standard on the less expensive Gibson LPs?

I'm planing on installing these to my Melody Maker, Vintage Mahogany as well as my BFG.

Are there any CAPS that would make a difference other than what is already in there?

Or, do I need to do the POTS too get to where I want. I only want to improve things just a bit. I don't plan on keeping these guitars but want to offer an inexpensive improvement that can be heard as well as seen when you remove the covers.

Thanks in advance!

A good set of PIO caps would be your best bang for the buck and would be a great improvement over stock caps. Not sure muddy to bright is the best way to describe it, but PIO caps open up your sound, filter harsh highs and give you smoother more vocal Tone. New CTS, RS Pots would also help but would add to the cost if you are going to be selling them.

[Last LP]

Thank you very much jonesy.

Do you or could you PM me a source or post it here?

I'm sorry, but I new to this forum & are unsure of it's rules just yet but am learning.

[jonesy]

Thank you very much jonesy.

Do you or could you PM me a source or post it here?

I'm sorry, but I new to this forum & are unsure of it's rules just yet but am learning.

PM Sent...

[rybass]

Jonsey,

I was thinking about splitting my bridge coil with a push/pull so I could get the single coil sound on my humbucker guitar to make it more versatile. I have heard this weakens the output/ volume excessively when in single coil mode. Would it be more efficient to wire a push/pull pot with a cap that would cut some of the bass to give the illusion of the single coil without the split coil and the volume loss when engaged?

[JLH]

Jonesy,

This may have been covered in a past thread, but I did not see it.
What was a typical value for the caps in the 58-60's Les Paul Standards , is it safe to assume the bumble bees where P&O caps.
Also did they use different values for neck and bridge positions.

How is your stock / availability of Vitamin Q's (.022 & .015) ?

[jonesy]

Jonesy,

This may have been covered in a past thread, but I did not see it.
What was a typical value for the caps in the 58-60's Les Paul Standards , is it safe to assume the bumble bees where P&O caps.
Also did they use different values for neck and bridge positions.

How is your stock / availability of Vitamin Q's (.022 & .015) ?

The early 54 Lp's had the tigers in them and then around 56, 57 I think they started using the .022 400v Bees red red orange. Sometime early to mid 60's they switched to the 160P Sprague black beauties. All those caps were PIO, just different case construction and a few variations. Gibson has alway used .022 for both pickups in most of their guitars. The .015 in the neck, .022 bridge has been a trend among players. PM sent about Q's...

[rybass]

Bump for my question above.

[jonesy]

Jonsey,

I was thinking about splitting my bridge coil with a push/pull so I could get the single coil sound on my humbucker guitar to make it more versatile. I have heard this weakens the output/ volume excessively when in single coil mode. Would it be more efficient to wire a push/pull pot with a cap that would cut some of the bass to give the illusion of the single coil without the split coil and the volume loss when engaged?

You can split a humbucker into single coil mode, but it will never quite sound like a Strat single coil because of the humbucker coils being wound weaker. Capacitors cut off high frequencies, not low frequencies so by wiring a cap to push pull it would cut highs not lows making it sound bassy not crisper.

[FLICKOFLASH]

I never got into this Capacitor swapping deal yet & am wondering how much of effects does different values have ? & are there any comparison video or clips of the same guitar with different caps to compare ?

[jonesy]

I never got into this Capacitor swapping deal yet & am wondering how much of effects does different values have ? & are there any comparison video or clips of the same guitar with different caps to compare ?

No video clips here, but I often install a pair of alligator clips in my wring so I can quickly change out a tone cap and compare it to another.This way you can really tell which one works the best with your set-up.

When your Tone is on 10 the capacitor has very little effect on Tone. As soon as you start to roll off your Tone control the cap begins filter (cut-off) the higher frequencies. An .047 will get dark quicker than a.022, a .015 can be rolled off even more before it becomes to bassy. They all have there own Tonal characteristics.

Paper in Oil Caps seem to produce a smoother, more vocal tone and filter out more of the harsh frequencies. I recommend installing a set of good caps before you replace your pickups. You may find it was not your pickups that were lacking but your tone caps.


Say you have your amp set Hot/High gain and you are playing on your bridge pickup and it seems to have a little to much "Bite" or seems a little harsh on the top end. Try rolling off the Tone just a little maybe to 7-8(sweet spot) and you should hear it fatten up and become a bit thicker. That's how good caps works.
I have a bunch of Russian PIO caps on the way, two types and I am eager to test them out and see how they compare to the Sprague HYREL & Vitamin Q's.
So far I installed a pair of the Russians in my 79' Paul, .047 on bridge(Vintage Dimarzio Super distortion) and a .022 on the neck(T-Top) and they are very warm sounding and have Great Tone. I will be doing more testing against the Spragues later in the week and should have more details on the Russian PIO.

Peace, jonesy

[jonesy]

Thank you very much jonesy.

Do you or could you PM me a source or post it here?

I'm sorry, but I new to this forum & are unsure of it's rules just yet but am learning.

PM Sent..

[^AXE^]

What ???

[jonesy]

Sweet find Axe...Snag the two .047 Bees in the lower right corner, yellow, violet, orange and then red the red means 200V. Great PIO caps for Tele Strat, maybe even P-90 or LP. I cant' see the values printed on the tan capsules marked sprague. Says KOOLOHM? whats printed on it? .01-.1 M or uf will work for guitar or bass?

[^AXE^]

So the little ones are nothing to keep around ?
And I'll head back to the shop and have a look at the Koolohm...

I have another old GE amp and a Capehart as well...

[jonesy]

All the little ones with stripes are actually carbon resistors, don't throw them out, but you can't really use them in your guitar for tone etc.

[jonesy]

What ???

Those are .047 M 200V PIO Bumble Bees caps...

[banditguitarist1]

So I heard alot about the benefits of the 50's style harness, I have been thinking about doing a 50's harness on my Studio but what exactly will this do for my Studios tone? And are 50's style Harness' available for sale?

[jonesy]

If you look at any of the wiring diagrams you will see that the way the tone caps are connected from tone to volume lugs is what makes 50's wiring and modern wiring different. They are actually are very similar 50's uses center lug of volume to connect cap to. 50's also gives you back a little bit of treble and upper mids that modern takes away.

[huey]

jonesy, im on my way

[huey]

did you spell your name wrong in the title "jonsey"?? i thought its jonesy

[jonesy]

did you spell your name wrong in the title "jonsey"?? i thought its jonesy

Yeah it's Jonesy, Flick spelled it that way bro

[huey]

Yeah it's Jonesy, Flick spelled it that way bro

FLICK, you gotta do your research

[banditguitarist1]

After Christmas I am defiantly ordering a set of Spragues from you Jonesy and putting them Studio into a 50's style wiring!