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Hey guys.

I'm re-wiring some guitars for a local school, and was wondering if you could tell me what value capacitors to use on an Epi LP Special II?

They don't have to be great quality 1s (I've been told to re-wire them as cheaply as possible) like Orange Drop's etc, just a value of Capacitor would help me out no end.

Thanx for any info.

Craig

*Bump*

.022 mfd should work pretty well.


Originally Posted by Alvin Lee Fan.022 mfd should work pretty well.

Thanx for the reply

And if you don't .022 mfd try .047 mfd. Either one will work nicely.

Use .02 Orange Drops...you'll retain more mids when you turn down the tone control than if you use .047. .047 will result in a more muffled tone. Lew


Originally Posted by LewguitarUse .02 Orange Drops...you'll retain more mids when you turn down the tone control than if you use .047. .047 will result in a more muffled tone. Lew

Interesting you say that. When I put a .047 red panasonic cap in with a JB in a alder body it was just what the doctor ordered. Perhaps it would be muffled with a lower output pickup?


Originally Posted by ErikHInteresting you say that. When I put a .047 red panasonic cap in with a JB in a alder body it was just what the doctor ordered. Perhaps it would be muffled with a lower output pickup?

Muffled might've been the wrong word. The thing is, the larger the capacitor the more mids are sent to ground and removed from the audio signal when you turn down the tone control. So .02 will retain more mids and just send the treble to ground compared to .047. A cap is basically a highpass filter: it filters out the highs and blocks the lows and mids from passing through it..and you can control the cutoff point by using a cap with a high number or lower number (I'm keeping it simple and non-technical here...) So a .02 will block more mids from passing through it than .03 or .047 would. And .03 would block more mids than .047 but would allow more mids to pas through it than .02 would. You can adjust your tone control to taste by using .02, .03 or .04 or .047. I hope I said that right! Lew


Originally Posted by LewguitarMuffled might've been the wrong word. The thing is, the larger the capacitor the more mids are sent to ground and removed from the audio signal when you turn down the tone control. So .02 will retain more mids and just send the treble to ground compared to .047. A cap is basically a highpass filter: it filters out the highs and blocks the lows and mids from passing through it..and you can control the cutoff point by using a cap with a high number or lower number (I'm keeping it simple and non-technical here...) So a .02 will block more mids from passing through it than .03 or .047 would. And .03 would block more mids than .047 but would allow more mids to pas through it than .02 would. You can adjust your tone control to taste by using .02, .03 or .04 or .047. I hope I said that right! Lew

I think you went backwards about halfway through but I get it. It starts by saying .02 will retain more mids than .047 then later on it says .02 blocks more mids than .047.


Originally Posted by ErikHI think you went backwards about halfway through but I get it. It starts by saying .02 will retain more mids than .047 then later on it says .02 blocks more mids than .047.

One end of the cap is attached to ground...to the back of the tone control pot. .02 retains more mids in the audio signal than .047 would because .02 blocks those mids from going through the cap and going to ground instead of staying in the audio signal. See?

The tone control is like a gate to ground. Without a capacitor between the output of the tone control and ground, when you turn down the tone control it would send your whole signal from the pickup to ground when turned to zero...you'd hear nothing.

With a capicitor between the output of the tone control and ground, you'd allow highs to pass through the tone control to be eliminated from the audio signal but lows/mids would be blocked from quot;escapingquot; to ground. So you'd lose your treble but not your bass. That's why when you turn a tone control down to zero you lose treble but you can still hear the bass.

And the size of the cap determines the cutoff point and whether you'd be passing just highs to ground, or dipping into the midrange and sending them to ground too.

Lew


Originally Posted by LewguitarOne end of the cap is attached to ground...to the back of the tone control pot. .02 retains more mids in the audio signal than .047 would because .02 blocks those mids from going through the cap and going to ground instead of staying in the audio signal. See?

The tone control is like a gate to ground. Without a capacitor between the output of the tone control and ground, when you turn down the tone control it would send your whole signal from the pickup to ground when turned to zero...you'd hear nothing.

With a capicitor between the output of the tone control and ground, you'd allow highs to pass through the tone control to be eliminated from the audio signal but lows/mids would be blocked from quot;escapingquot; to ground. So you'd lose your treble but not your bass. That's why when you turn a tone control down to zero you lose treble but you can still hear the bass.

And the size of the cap determines the cutoff point and whether you'd be passing just highs to ground, or dipping into the midrange and sending them to ground too.

Lew

Gotcha. That makes better sense. I think I got lost with the quot;blocks from passingquot; part of your first answer after reading this. I need to get back in to doing more electronics. I'm starting to forget what I learned already...lol. Most of the time I go by ear and after having a .022 mfd cap for so long I decided to just try .047 to see what it sounded like.

Thanks for great explanation.

Thanx for the posts guys

I'm sure either a standard 0.22 mfd or .047 mfd Cap will be fine

Craig

When in doubt, you can use two .022 capacitors quot;in-parallelquot;* to equal the tone capacity of one .047 cap. Remove one of them if the highs diminish too much...to the .022 level.

You can use two .047 caps quot;in-seriesquot;**! The total value will be in the .022 range. If that combo does not seem effective enough, remove one of the caps...and you will now have the full .047 value available to remove more deeply remove the highs from your fiddle.

*Wire them like a siamese-twin before installation.
**Wired hand-to-hand like a couple in love walking in the mall, before installation.

If you get a bulk pack of caps, you will have pleny of caps left over anyhow. If you want the cleaner look (and who doesn't), you can always buy a pack of each! The tolerance of these inexpensive components is on the order of 20%.

gotta gooooo!

Thanx for the post Sludgenutz

I'll pickup several .022s and .047s and then have a play about, see what works best