Upgrading pots + capacitor for C-bomb - advice?

[witeter]

Hey guys ive always had a sneaking suspicion that the luthier who installed my cbomb has never done it 100% right-regardless of that i am hoping to upgrade the electronics-so... what pots and capacitor do i need? for the tone pot is it best to have 250k? 500K? cheers!

[Sancho]

Check out BKPs own line of pots and caps. You need 500.
What do you suspect the luthier did wrong?

[Philly Q]

Check out BKPs own line of pots and caps. You need 500.

Or the BKP custom 550k ones.

I haven't tried them myself yet, but heard nothing but good reports.

[witeter]

so would that be 500k pots for volume and tone?
well when he first gave it back to me the guitar sounded underpowered , it lacked punch, everything-i took it back and he said he changed the capacitor and it sounded much better! however it never has lived up to the tag of harmonics flying all over the place, which i read a lot regarding cbombs-anyways i thought by upgrading this itll give the pup a better chance to shine..

[witeter]

oh yeah i was deffinetely going for the bkp ones

[Sancho]

I've been thinking about upgrading as well, my HD doesn't sound as it should either.
First some troubleshooting to determine the source though.

[witeter]

Yes its just cos when i asked another luthier who has done  a lot of work for me since (and installed a CS with a BK pot which sounds great!) about what the previous luthier said that he 'changed the capacitor' to make it sound better, he seemed very puzzled. So not sure what he did tbh - So wanna change the electronics and have a good look at whats been done, and make sure the cbomb can shine

[Sancho]

I think the only difference the capacitor makes is when you're using the tone pot, no?
Tech guys have a way of baffling you with bull$h!t...

I need to buy a new soldering iron and start doing my own work again.

[witeter]

Yep exactly, i dont think it shd affect the power of a pickup... so it makes me think he basicxally gave me a load of bull and changed something else...hence i wanna get it seen at properly. And that guy is actually an official BKP dealer aswell-good job i like to persevere with things cos someone else could've gone away thinking that BKP pups are cr@p-which they obviously are not!

[Philly Q]

so would that be 500k pots for volume and tone?

Yeah, that's the standard setup with humbuckers.

Sometimes people use a 1Meg volume pot to brighten a dull-sounding humbucker, or 250k to tame a bright one.  But most of the time 500k (or 550k) will do the job.

The value of the volume pot seems to be more crucial than the value of the tone pot - I've never really been clear what effect changing the value of the tone pot has.  With humbuckers, you'll usually find manufacturers use 500k for both volume and tone.  With single-coils, 250k.

[Philly Q]

I think the only difference the capacitor makes is when you're using the tone pot, no?

I think that's essentially true.  But even with everything on 10 the cap is still part of the circuit - it's not completely bypassed - so it's having some effect on the tone, however subtle. 

People who recommend boutique paper-in-oil caps (or similar) usually seem to maintain that they improve the tone even if you don't use the controls much.  Snake oil?  Maybe.

[FELINEGUITARS]

I think the only difference the capacitor makes is when you're using the tone pot, no?

I think that's essentially true.  But even with everything on 10 the cap is still part of the circuit - it's not completely bypassed - so it's having some effect on the tone, however subtle. 

People who recommend boutique paper-in-oil caps (or similar) usually seem to maintain that they improve the tone even if you don't use the controls much.  Snake oil?  Maybe.

No - not snake oil in my opinion
I have regularly swapped out caps for OIP ones and found a fab improvement in tone

Sometimes it takes away an annoying shrill or brittle high end - especially if replacing the "nasty" little ceramic disc ones that Gibson have been fitting don't know why they sound bad but I know that swapping them makes a huge improvement.

Sometimes a customer has fitted Riff Raffs in an SG and found the tone isn't what they had hoped for at all but as soon as they swapped the caps it was 100% right - so they can be a very important part of the equation

[Philly Q]

^ So there we go, I'll believe this chap.   
 
Just to confirm, Jon, this improvement is there even with the tone on "10"?

[djpatb]

Before redoing everything, I would also make sure that no wires are grounding out in the cavity, and make sure to play with the pickup height and pole height to see how that affects "power".

[darkbluemurder]

I think the only difference the capacitor makes is when you're using the tone pot, no?

I think that's essentially true.  But even with everything on 10 the cap is still part of the circuit - it's not completely bypassed - so it's having some effect on the tone, however subtle. 

People who recommend boutique paper-in-oil caps (or similar) usually seem to maintain that they improve the tone even if you don't use the controls much.  Snake oil?  Maybe.

No - not snake oil in my opinion
I have regularly swapped out caps for OIP ones and found a fab improvement in tone

Sometimes it takes away an annoying shrill or brittle high end - especially if replacing the "nasty" little ceramic disc ones that Gibson have been fitting don't know why they sound bad but I know that swapping them makes a huge improvement.

Sometimes a customer has fitted Riff Raffs in an SG and found the tone isn't what they had hoped for at all but as soon as they swapped the caps it was 100% right - so they can be a very important part of the equation

I have made similar observations when I tested various caps with a P90 equipped guitar. Started with a Sprague Orange Drop 22nf as a base line. First I disconnected the tone pot to see what the pickups sounded without the load of the tone pot and cap. I then reconnected the tone pot and replaced the Orange Drop with a Mallory M150 of the same value. The M150 dulled the high end somewhat even with the tone pot turned up full and added a bit of a nasal quality. I then used a Xicon MPP of the same value. This cap seemed to affect the unloaded sound least and sounded clearest with the tone pot down.

I also like the TAD PIO caps. They are also very clear sounding as guitar tone caps - I also tried them in some amps and disliked them with a passion. It would certainly be interesting to compare them to the BKP Jensens but I haven't got around to that yet.

Cheers Stephan