Telecaster tone cap

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benjammin308

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I'm giving a MIM tele a serious upgrade with a set of Gravelins.  The tiny cheap stock tone cap needs to be replaced on looks alone, what do you recommend?

 
My default go-to in the shop, singles or humbuckers, guitar or bass, is an orange drop .022, unless someone specs something different.

 
.022uF is great for general use and has a smooth range across the travel of the knob but in some guitars can still be too bright. .047uF is the classic Fender choice and works especially well if you like doing tone swells. For some players, .015uF is plenty for trimming a bit of treble off. One guy I know loves .033uF!

Personally, I'd go with .047uF.

Or, a.022uF...because if you find yourself wanting more, you can always add another .022uF or .015uF right next to it (parallel) to massage the frequency and range of the sweep.

There's not much of value from .068uF on up but if you want to play around and see what that sounds like, give it a go! Caps are cheap and experimentation there can get some pretty cool results.

 
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I've heard that there is little tonal performance difference between capacitor types, and that the high priced "paper in oil wrapped in goat scrotum" types are more dick measuring than utility.

Any thoughts?

 
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My first thought is don't tell the high-dollar cap guys their amps and all their pedals are filled with non-high-dollar capacitors, poor dopes will go broke addressing all those tonal nirvana shortfalls. 

 
killerteddybear said:
I've heard that there is little tonal performance difference between capacitor types, and that the high priced "paper in oil wrapped in goat scrotum" types are more dick measuring than utility.

Any thoughts?
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I would agree. I've tried a few of the more expensive PIO caps and while there was a subtle difference, whether it was an improvement or not I can't say for sure either way. Sprague Orange Drop cap are well-made and function as they should. I like the Mojotone Dijon Foil/Film caps a lot too.

 
killerteddybear said:
Imagine my surprise when I found out 'Mojotone Dijon' is a real product.
I thought you were having a bit of fun!
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Such a hilarious and smarmy name for a cap! Perhaps my appreciation for these are clouded by how good I think the name is.. but really, they DO sound pretty dang great! I use the .047uF versions in my P and J basses and am very satisfied. Reports from guitar players I've hipped these to say the same thing.

 
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