Username: Password:

Author Topic: Right capacitor for Master tone?  (Read 7733 times)

Contrition.Josh

  • Junior Flyweight
  • *
  • Posts: 49
Right capacitor for Master tone?
« on: September 01, 2012, 03:12:10 PM »
I'm not very familiar on to topic of wiring, but I am somewhat of a tone chaser, so I am looking for something to improve my current setup. I own a great schecter hellraiser c-1 fr, which I fitted with a pair of aftermaths. I wanted to go all-out and got some shadow killpots for my two volume pots, and a Tonestyler tone pot for my master tone.. Both of these purchases were somewhat of letdown, since the killpots aren't reliable, and the Tonestyler is a bit to harsh for my taste. But enough about that, I am now planing on buying some bk 550k pots, but I'm curious about how the tone caps work? Do I buy one for each pickup, which is then wired from their separate volume pots onto the master tone or do I just buy one cap since there's just one tone pot? I honestly don't have a clue about wiring stuff, but always enjoy learning something new about the instrument (:

Dmoney

  • Welterweight
  • ****
  • Posts: 3577
Re: Right capacitor for Master tone?
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2012, 03:37:52 PM »
https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/downloads/schematics/general/humbuckers/2_hum__2_vol_1tone__3_way_toggle.pdf

you do it like this. The 3 way toggle is connecting either or both pickups to the tone pot and output jack. you only need one cap.

The way it works is that the some frequencies over a certain point will find it easy to pass through the cap, while lower frequencies don't. The pot itself is a variable resistor that keeps the cap away from the signal to some degree by making it tough for the audio to get to it. If you turn the pot down (less resistance between the signal and the cap to ground) then more higher frequencies can get through the resistance of the pot, then skip to ground through the cap while lower frequencies will still struggle.

A smaller value cap raises the point as which frequencies will be attenuated and vice versa for a larger cap.

you can think of it like a corridor. the narrower the corridor is (smaller the cap) only the thinnest people (higher frequencies) can get through. If you make the corridor wider then more average sized people can get through, bigger people might squeeze through, but some people will be so fat that they won't even try to squeeze through and they'll just go around (to the output jack).

so you can play with values. .022uf, 0.33uf, .047uf and see what you think. Other people here will have more of an opinion on the effect of the value.

Also, the material used in the cap can have an effect. Polypropylene Vs Paper in Oil. I've used the BKP paper in oil cap and it sounded nice. However I don't tend to use the tone control much and I even removed it from my PRS CE. So I can't help much on that front


EDIT: looking at that PDF, I think there is a wire missing from the back of the tone pot to either of the volume pots, otherwise the tone pot and guitar bridge isn't grounded.
« Last Edit: September 01, 2012, 03:51:20 PM by Dmoney »

Contrition.Josh

  • Junior Flyweight
  • *
  • Posts: 49
Re: Right capacitor for Master tone?
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2012, 06:34:36 PM »
Ah okay thanks! that actually clarified a great deal, but the next question is then which value pot i should get that fits with both the neck and bridge pickup?

Dmoney

  • Welterweight
  • ****
  • Posts: 3577
Re: Right capacitor for Master tone?
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2012, 08:55:07 PM »
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=HSS_1v_1t_5w

here is another way to look at it. though you'd ditch the 5 way. Here SD have gone for a .047uf cap with an HSS setup.

http://www.axesrus.com/CAPS.htm
here they are saying larger caps lower the frequency at which high end starts to be rolled off by the tone pot, but that even if your tone pot is on 10 it still has some effect. (they didn't 0.033uf either)

id just test a few out.
maybe from here...
http://www.bluebellaudio.com/ click on capacitors and it'll say 'under construction'. click the full stop and you'll see the page. If you click on 'orangedrop' you can see a list of bits. the .022uf, .033uf and .047uf are all about a quid. I'd just get one of each and have a play around. Someone on this forum may even be able to hook you up with a couple. Maybe one of the luthiers.

maybe you could try using two caps. one from each volume pot to the same lug on the tone pot. hmmmmmmm. I've never seen wiring like that though (which doesn't mean much).

also remember to be careful when soldering caps so you don't fry them.

Contrition.Josh

  • Junior Flyweight
  • *
  • Posts: 49
Re: Right capacitor for Master tone?
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2012, 12:15:44 PM »
Hmm i was kinda thinking about just getting a Jensen bkp 0.022, since I'm not all for trying several different caps because I'd have to pay the guitar store to do the solder work for me. It just seemed like the best one of the two that bare knuckle have?

Dmoney

  • Welterweight
  • ****
  • Posts: 3577
Re: Right capacitor for Master tone?
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2012, 12:17:41 PM »
sounds like a good plan. I've got a plate kicking about with a Nailbomb and Irish tour on with a 0.022uf Jensen. Sounds great.

FELINEGUITARS

  • Middleweight
  • *****
  • Posts: 6609
  • London & Southeast's Number 1 BKP stockist
    • http://www.felineguitars.com
Re: Right capacitor for Master tone?
« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2012, 02:10:38 PM »
The Jensen will be a good choice - since I started using them I haven't regretted it or even considered using anything else as long as space permits
www.felineguitars.com - repairs & custom built
Great fretwork!
Buy your BKPs & Earvana from ME!