Jun 21, 4. Posts: 3, With PAF-type low output humbuckers [like the Burstbucker 1 and 2 that come in the historic series, or the 57 Classics, or any number of boutique pickups], the 50's vintage-correct controls are K pots for both tone and volume, and. The 50's wiring makes the guitar a little brighter overall, gives more effect to the tone and volume controls, and keeps it a little brighter as the volume control is turned down compared to modern wiring.
With PAF type pickups, a. Smaller cap values roll off less bass. These considerations still apply to higher output pickups like the pickups that come in stock Les Paul Standards, but the pickups are more midrangy and muddier sounding than the lower output PAF type ones, so some people want different tone cap values or pot values for those.
If you've got a Les Paul standard with those high output pickups and K pots and you want more brightness and less mud, you could try the vintage values K pots all round and. Bigger pot values k versus the K that sometimes appears in Gibsons - brighter sound. I strongly disagree with that from my experience, I personally like the sound of paper-in-oil type caps in guitar tone circuits a lot better than polyester or ceramic or polypropylene caps.
My ears hear a nicer, fatter sound as the tone controls are in use with paper-in-oil caps. Jun 21, 5.
Vintage: Modern:. Jun 21, 6. Posts: 2, Don't forget, the tone cap values are pretty meaningless when the tone pots are full up, as the capacitor is effectively out of circuit and doing nothing no matter what it is. The only reason that Gibsons use the smaller caps is to match the behavior of their pickups, which have less treble response and higher inductance than typical Fenders.
These were the Sprague-manufactured capacitors Gibson used during the late 50s. You can tell the difference because the oil-filled versions have a filler cap protruding from one end with the leadout wire soldered into it.
At the other end, the wire goes straight into the capacitor body. The Astron capacitors that Gibson started using in are lesser known, but we recently encountered them in the early Duggie Lock Burst. Research suggests these are metal foil capacitors in ceramic tubes.
Sometimes they were branded Lafayette and those tend to be even cheaper. In fact, it could be beneficial. While measuring pots is a valid exercise, capacitor choice is more subjective. Instead we gather a small selection of vintage and NOS capacitors and conduct some blind tests.
During testing they are identified only by number and we make notes during the testing process. Our time spent with the Duggie Lock Les Paul was illuminating from a tonal perspective. Things start getting a bit muffled around 4.
This is a nice-sounding capacitor that measures bang on 0. Even so, the guitar retains brightness and with the tone rolled back to half way, note definition is better than the Hyrel. However, the dynamics feel a bit compressed and with a slight loss of sparkle combined with some graininess in the upper mids, we find that this capacitor obliges you to play harder to sound good.
Even so, the guitar sounds clear and feels like it has a slightly higher output. There is a quacky wah quality, but the Q is less pronounced than with the Hyrel. We also find the wah effect changes with playing dynamics — becoming more apparent as you play harder. With the tone fully up the guitar is chimey and smooth, and when rolled back low string definition is retained because the very lowest frequencies are attenuated along with the treble.
As expected, the value has drifted upwards — to 0. Reading 0. Even so, we do have a favourite: the 0. The centre frequency even appears to change slightly depending on the volume and tone settings. So, the tone acts as both a treble roll-off and a rudimentary parametric equalizer — depending on how the controls are set.
If you listen carefully you can hear this with regular k pots and 0. The five capacitors — a mix of vintage and NOS models — that we put to the test. This is the big one, and if you get the right type of pickups in your Les Paul it can have a very profound effect. At the very least your P or PAF replicas will need to have suitable alnico magnets, steel parts with low carbon content, plain enamel magnet wire and no wax potting.
In the case of PAF replicas, the coils will be slightly mismatched. If you can get those bases covered, you may wish to research the tones associated with different grades of alnico and decide whether you want early-style Ps with A3 or late 50s-style with A5.
Also research the range of DC resistance readings of vintage pickups and consider how that will impact tone. An old pro-audio old adage says the best microphone in the world is the one you have.
What it means is that so long as a mic is of a certain standard, great results can be achieved by applying technique and ingenuity. If the sound is too bright, you move the mic to somewhere where the sound is a little darker. If you need more treble you can do the opposite, and you can balance the low frequency content by altering the proximity of the mic to the instrument being recorded.
So how does this relate to pickups? Our test set of original Gibson P pickups. Although the scope for adjustment is physically restricted, adjusting pickups is very much akin to placing microphones. This is particularly true with microphonic vintage-style pickups like PAFs and Ps, because they are extremely sensitive to height settings. The only tools needed are your ears and a screwdriver.
With the pickups set low relative to the strings, you get a darker and more mellow tone but it may lack bite, aggression and output. Moving the pickup closer to the string will increase output and make the tone brighter.
We take our time getting the bridge just right, always shooting for an even string-to-string balance from bass to treble. You may notice that low strings lose definition if the neck pickup is set too low. We were perfectly happy with this procedure until the Duggie Lock Burst came along and opened our eyes to other possibilities. We soon noticed the bridge pickup was set far lower than usual, but the pole screws were jacked high above the covers to compensate. You may also want to try this.
Unsolder one end of one tone cap. Then, get someone to temporarily solder the other end of just one of the two caps in place. But really, why bother doing that? The standard caps are both. If you go higher. Don't worry about the voltage ratings, doesn't matter in a guitar.
And I'm not going to get back into that discussion with Steve, test some yourself and see what you like. Sean French New member. Joined Jan 23, Messages 4, I really like PIO. I have NOS Gudeman's in my guitars. Electric Lloyd New member. Joined Feb 5, Messages 3, Electrolytic caps: good 2. The cap bleeds off the high frequencys to ground as you rool back the tone control. Electric Lloyd said:. Razor said:. I use the. They're just great caps, no matter how you slice it!
I would agree with that. But an extra point here. When you subsequently start to remove treble by rolling back the tone pot, there is by definition a 'loss of tone'. So it's like, "Now that I've restricted the treble response of my guitar, NOW I can hear that this cap has a great tone".
Also, whilst the electronics world is aware of anomalies between types of caps, these effects will not be heard in the limited bandwidth of an electric guitar, and certainly not in the aforementioned passive tone control circuit given the way in which it operates; crudely filtering off treble.
Not that there is anything wrong with that per se, we've been happy with the system for decades, but it will not highlight any 'hi fi' like anomalies as MAY be exhibited by cap choice. In the 'hi fi' case, even very experienced sound engineers argue over the truth. In a guitar's passive tone control? Y'know, at source, caps used for tone controls cost mere pennies cents to make.
There's people making a lot of money rebadging, re-inventing and generally re-spinning the whole deal wrt tone caps. Don't be sucked in, the caps in your guitar are fine for purpose. Change their VALUE for a different effect, but don't worry about the make or type unless it's for looks or 'vibe'. Joined Jun 14, Messages This thread was a great read. I love learning new things. Joined Jan 13, Messages 1, Steve UK. Your pushing of the fact that hearing differences between caps is bunk is the same blah blah as those who push so hard that hearing the differences is truth.
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