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A couple of questions:

I have two capacitors in my guitar - they're dark green and have a number stamped on them

2A104J

How can I determine their value?And tone controls are stamped

B500K

I know they are 500K ohms - but doesn't the quot;Bquot; indicate linear or audio taper? I can't remember for sure

Thanks,
Rick


Originally Posted by RW JamesA couple of questions:

I have two capacitors in my guitar - they're dark green and have a number stamped on them

2A104J

How can I determine their value?And tone controls are stamped

B500K

I know they are 500K ohms - but doesn't the quot;Bquot; indicate linear or audio taper? I can't remember for sure

Thanks,
Rick

104J......Means it's a .1 mfd rated for 5%
The B at the end of your 500K pot should mean quot;Linearquot; taper,as A is normally Audio taper...


Originally Posted by STRATDELUXER97104J......Means it's a .1 mfd rated for 5%
The B at the end of your 500K pot should mean quot;Linearquot; taper,as A is normally Audio taper...

Really? .1? Isn't that kind of high?

Thanks for the information...

Rick


Originally Posted by RW JamesReally? .1? Isn't that kind of high?

Thanks for the information...

Rick

.1 is an old vintage Fender value and it's high by my standards and by most players standards today....The norm is more like .015,.02,.022,and .047

Okay... I guess I'll change out to new capacitors - I've read here that the orange drops are pretty good. I'm guessing I'll go for .022 - but they're cheap enough I may just buy two of each and swap them out if I need to.

What about the pots? I seem to recall reading recently that linear pots are good for the tone controls, but I may want to go with an audio pot for the volume. I usually play with the volume somewhere between 2 and 4 (the sound guy keeps telling me to turn down). So I was thinking that the audio pot may give me a little more to play with.

Is 500K good for all these? Or should I consider 250K?

Not directly related, but I'm also thinking of a push-pull in the volume so I can switch in the bridge pickup along with the neck.

So anyway... any recomendations about where I should order these parts? (I'm assuming NOT Radio Shack). I've heard Black Rose was good - but I thought I read something about them changing owners or something?

Thanks,
Rick

GuitarElectronics.com is real good also, and not too far from you in Phoenix.

I agree, guitarelectronics is great to order from. I just got a '59 and a pearly gates and a couple caps from them. Ordered Wed., arrived Friday, with free shipping from ordering the Duncan's.

Guitarelectronics looks good - and I like that they are in a closer time zone...

But still what size? 250K or 500K? ...linear or audio? for both the volume and tone pots?

Did some searches and found the following opinions...

for tone - linear or reverse 500K

for volume - audio -- but still - 500K or 250K? Not sure what the difference will be. I'm guessing 500K since that is what I have now - and maybe this is stupid but perhaps the 250K won't bring the volume down all the way?

I'll go with 500k for humbuckers and 250k for single coils as a start. It is more or less the industry standard. You can always change that if you don't like it.

I also have those parts available in my store.

www.martinsixstringcustoms.com