V-Cap - Capacitors - Les Paul

Triburst said:

For what it's worth, I used to be firmly on the side of the "musical capacitors" argument. And I still replace ceramic caps, and go with either vintage or reproduction caps in my own guitars because I like them. My vintage black beauties in my '68 Custom RI are definitely NOT PIO's, but the bumblebees in my other historics are. And my vintage 59 Junior is all original.

Anyway, It's an old article, but luckily it was archived on the "wayback machine" internet archive. Linked HERE.

You'll see that the ceramic caps (especially the low voltage ones) do not have the same linear track that most of the other types have -- it's more "S" shaped. So it's very slightly different, but does it matter? Can you compensate for that by slightly turning the knob? I think the answer is "yes." Once you know the settings you like, and have turned the knobs accordingly and remember how you like it, you're there.

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Zentar said:

If you are lucky enough to still have a Radio Shack near you; go check out their caps.

I recommend not spending over $2-$4 on a cap. Decent Orange drops run around 89c a piece at RS.

The oil or wax caps are made to aid in cooling like a water cooled barrel on a WWI Browning machine gun.

Guitar caps don't get hot. They don't even get warm.

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PaulD said:

The information in the article relates to capacitors that are in the signal path and how they affect an audio signal that passes through the capacitor. The tone capacitor in a guitar circuit is NOT in the signal path, the only signal that passes through the capacitor are the higher frequencies that are being "dumped" to ground, the signal coming out of the guitar does not go through the capacitor.

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Triburst said:

In my quick reply, I should have used "commonly used in the Les Paul circuit." Note my posts. My point was "Yes, there's a difference between various types of capacitors." But I think it's negligible, and you can make up for it with knob settings.

Oh, and you're welcome. :rolleyes

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PaulD said:

Your recommendation not to spend money on guitar capacitors is good advice. Your comment that oil or wax caps are made to aid cooling is incorrect, paper in oil capacitors and wax covered capacitors are old technology and were made that way because those were the materials available at the time, modern materials such as polyester film have largely replaced these now. It is nothing to do with cooling, capacitance in an electrical circuit does not generate heat.

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Zentar said:

Agreed.

I think the big Bumble Bee caps are popular today because they look cool but they have no function beyond what a tiny ceramic cap has. I would love to have Bumble Bees in my Standard but they cost more than some guitars I've bought. I think they cost like $50 a piece don't they? A farad is a farad. A 47uf bumble bee does the same thing as a 47uf orange drop or a 47uf ceramic.

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