Best Caps for a Les Paul

Kebabkid

I don't know too much about caps and wondered what people have found to be the best ones for a Les Paul.

I don't want the sound to be overbright but I do want good volume knob graduation and clean-up.

Recommendations, pros and cons etc?

Thanks

OilCityPickups

I use and recommend orange drop caps  as the wires are nice and stiff and easy to bend and have stay for mounting.

However capacitor makes and types actually make no difference at all provided the caps are in spec ... don't be persuaded you need paper in oil caps that's bullshit/snake oil of the purest form :-) Those folks who charge you a fiver to fifty quid for a cap are simply perpetuating a myth for financial gain ... ie ... ripping you off. 

  A value of 0.022 uF is normal ... though some folks like a 0.015 uF for neck pickups. 

Kebabkid

OilCityPickups said:

I use and recommend orange drop caps  as the wires are nice and stiff and easy to bend and have stay for mounting.

However capacitor makes and types actually make no difference at all provided the caps are in spec ... don't be persuaded you need paper in oil caps that's bullshit/snake oil of the purest form :-) Those folks who charge you a fiver to fifty quid for a cap are simply perpetuating a myth for financial gain ... ie ... ripping you off. 

  A value of 0.022 uF is normal ... though some folks like a 0.015 uF for neck pickups. 

Cheers Ash

SteveRobinson

Kebabkid said:

I don't want the sound to be overbright but I do want good volume knob graduation and clean-up.

What Ash says.

Also, the tone capacitor won't affect the volume taper.

The value just determines where the frequency cut off is on the tone control. The bigger the value, the lower the cut-off. I.e. a 0.022µF cap will cut the treble, a 0.047µF cap will cut the mids too leaving only the bass.

BillDL

Instead of having to keep soldering and de-soldering capacitors to test out different values I would suggest getting a couple of 0.015uF, 0.022uF, and a 0.033uF capacitors and a two short lengths of thin wire with small clips on each end.  That way you can remove the existing capacitor (or even just de-solder one leg), clip the wires to the leg and casing of a pot and then clip each of the capacitors in turn to the wires outside the guitar while comparing.

Danielsguitars

I use linear volumes for a much better controllable taper, most are all done by about 7 so I stopped using log pots 

Sporky

Another orange drop vote - they are also the only capacitors that taste different. Unless that's Smarties.

Kebabkid

Thanks everyone and Sporky's sounds the most delicious

OilCityPickups

Sporky said:

Another orange drop vote - they are also the only capacitors that taste different. Unless that's Smarties.

Ah this explains why my orange drop caps seem to run out fast ... @Sporky sneaks in and eats them! 

CarbonCopy

I like a maple cap with a Les Paul.

OilCityPickups

CarbonCopy said:

I like a maple cap with a Les Paul.

The Edge liked a woolly one with an Explorer ... 

Kurtis

OilCityPickups said:

I use and recommend orange drop caps  as the wires are nice and stiff and easy to bend and have stay for mounting.

However capacitor makes and types actually make no difference at all provided the caps are in spec ... don't be persuaded you need paper in oil caps that's bullshit/snake oil of the purest form :-) Those folks who charge you a fiver to fifty quid for a cap are simply perpetuating a myth for financial gain ... ie ... ripping you off. 

  A value of 0.022 uF is normal ... though some folks like a 0.015 uF for neck pickups. 

Just to add confusion...

Capacitors are rarely the value that they say they are. Generally speaking the better quality ones will have a lower tolerance. Some are around 5% while cheap ceramics can be over 20% out.

This doesn't mean that the closer tolerance one will have the correct value for you and your guitar, being way off could give it exactly the value you want. 



The confusion comes from people attributing any changes to the material/manufacturer etc. when it's all to do with the ACTUAL value.
Which, unfortunately, often varies between material/manufacturer etc.

roberty

Danielsguitars said:

I use linear volumes for a much better controllable taper, most are all done by about 7 so I stopped using log pots 

I switched to using lin vol recently, too. Loads better

Kittyfrisk

BillDL said:

Instead of having to keep soldering and de-soldering capacitors to test out different values I would suggest getting a couple of 0.015uF, 0.022uF, and a 0.033uF capacitors and a two short lengths of thin wire with small clips on each end.  That way you can remove the existing capacitor (or even just de-solder one leg), clip the wires to the leg and casing of a pot and then clip each of the capacitors in turn to the wires outside the guitar while comparing.

Like this kind of thing? I agree 

Kittyfrisk

Also, I remembered seeing this a while back & thought it looked like a cool idea if you were doing a lot of testing.
https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-ideas/online-resources/learn-about-guitar-pickups-and-electronics-and-wiring/how-to-let-your-ears-find-the-best-tone-cap-for-your-guitar-/

BillDL

Yeah, that's a pre-made treble pass filter circuit for the volume pot and you can have ones of different values to clip on and test quite quickly while the sounds are still in your head.  The fancy little StewMac one with a switch or switches would be fine if you were doing it on a regular basis, but it doesn't have to be elaborate at all.  Just two dangly wires clipped to the tone pot's solder tag and to the ground that can be clipped and unclipped to capacitor legs outside the guitar.  You could even use two wires bared at the ends and 4 blobs of Blu-Tack to hold the bare ends in place

Kittyfrisk

I like these too.

rossi

Kurtis said:

OilCityPickups said:

I use and recommend orange drop caps  as the wires are nice and stiff and easy to bend and have stay for mounting.

However capacitor makes and types actually make no difference at all provided the caps are in spec ... don't be persuaded you need paper in oil caps that's bullshit/snake oil of the purest form :-) Those folks who charge you a fiver to fifty quid for a cap are simply perpetuating a myth for financial gain ... ie ... ripping you off. 

  A value of 0.022 uF is normal ... though some folks like a 0.015 uF for neck pickups. 

Just to add confusion...

Capacitors are rarely the value that they say they are. Generally speaking the better quality ones will have a lower tolerance. Some are around 5% while cheap ceramics can be over 20% out.

This doesn't mean that the closer tolerance one will have the correct value for you and your guitar, being way off could give it exactly the value you want. 

As I  used to make all this stuff oin the 60's at Plesseys and Thorns  the +/- tolerance on all this stuff was unbelievable and often way off spec and that was the military spec often and the pickup  type coils would be  even more variable .So if you bought a Les Paul  with all the high tolerences installed it would sound way different to a lower tolerence  version ,although it would be explained by snake oil bollox .

Thats the bitter truth folks .I was there .I wound em ,encapsulated them,passed them ,failed them ,at STC we threw them in the river  to hide the reject rate and still let rejects through   and chatted up the birds on the assembly lines .

Rocker

Don’t forget about the tone controls on your amplifier......

PAL

Amp,Tube type.Speakers. Strings and how the guitar is wired ( Modern or 50s ) can have an effect on guitar sound !

guitargeek62

CarbonCopy said:

I like a maple cap with a Les Paul.

Michigan / East-coast / hard maple for the best figure and character imo. Sycamore can be an interesting alternative too.

That said, all ‘hog LPs are just lovely things indeed - and an all Limba/Korina build is the sweet-spot for me as it’s usually a smidge brighter than typical stocks of african mahogany.