pots, orange drops etc

phaeton

Ok, I need wisdom and info on this subject, so fran, i'm expecting lots from you.

Anyway, what kind of stuff can you do to a guitar by fitting new pots, capacitors, drops etc and what kind of stuff have you done to yours?

Spitfire

Cap values rather than cap types have a more pronounced effect on a guitar's tone.

Changing pot values tends to alter the treble response, higher rated pots such as the 1Meg ones in a Jaguar lead to a brighter sound because less treble bleeds to ground.

In my opinion the most interesting passive tone circuit for a guitar is the 'varitone' as used by Gibson and Gretsch (in their tone switch circuit), I've built variations of this circuit for 5 or 6 guitars now, including one in a Fender Jaguar. It gives you several tonal options by producing notched frequency dips at various points in the spectrum (defined by different cap values).

AnotherTool

The type of capacitor does alter the sound too, i read a few articles on the subject about three months ago, can't even remember where i found it.

Spitfire

Only marginally, a change in the capacitance value has a far more noticable affect on the sound. IMO the price of bumblebees,etc is rarely justified in sonic terms unless you are restoring a vintage instrument and you want it back to original specs.

AnotherTool

Yeah you are right, of course the value has a massive effect on your tonal spectrum, but it does make a slight difference.

I looked everywhere for that article, couldn't find it, but what i know is that the "orange drops" are the most preffered (it's all a matter of opinion with anything to do with the guitar), and if you read the bottom of this one i found, you avoid the ceramic disc ones.

http://www.ultimateguitargear.com/ken_f ... ter2_1.htm

It doesn't go into any detail, and i've never really played around with a load of caps in the same instrument using the same setup, so it's your choice (as always).

Spitfire

Ceramic caps are used widely by many manufacturers including Fender, Gibson and Gretsch. For example AV Jaguars use ceramics as did pre-CBS ones. I've only ever seen Japanese jags with more expensive mylar caps.