How To select the right capacitor for your guitar! 3 tips - Dylan Talks Tone  

I have been an electronics engineer for 45 years and I approve this message. It's the value of the capacitor that makes the difference. I worked on telecommunications systems back when there was still dial tone and long distance phone calls. Keeping grandma's voice sounding like warm, sweet grandma when she's 2,500 miles away, converted to microwave, bounced off of two satellites, and amplified through 35 miles of buried cable is way more complex than electromagnetic transduction of a wiggling guitar string, and we didn't fret over the tweeky little differences in capacitors like tone-chasers do. Just like fish don't buy fishing lures (but fishermen do), guitars don't buy tone capacitors, but guitarists do, and there will always be someone there to sell what the guitarist will buy, even if the end result is exactly the same.

Dylan...man,, I usually dont make comments on any videos but this one deserve it, I am engineer in electronics and I think not even my teachers explained the basics of signal and capacitors as well as you did (maybe you just skip a little explanation about capacitive reactance) but viewers will undertstand the Rx effect, congratulations Dylan, it was perfectly explained with all basic details, and mainly what I appreciate on videos is the use of common sense, and no out of topic comments (you did it perfectly) I enjoyed it very much, I saw other of your videos and you have the perfect vision to make a great electronics basics Bible for audio and instruments, let us know if you do it, thanks in the name of other viewers, great job

Finally found someone that thinks about this stuff on the level that I do!!! Subscribed with pleasure.

This is the best guitar tech channel in RU-vid.

I haven’t monkeyed around with any parts on my two guitars, a S and a LP, but just watching these videos and understanding how the bits work has helped me to get a much better tone out of both.

This is why I love your videos, you explain things clearly & to the point so the average person can understand it. You've got a talent for this. Keep up the great work!

Thank you Dylan, very well explained. Please don't change your competent, friendly and caring way of talking to people. Very refreshing to see that this still exist!!

Hey Dylan, I really enjoy your talks as they take the topics to common sense level. I am an electrical engineer and these talks give different perspectives to consider relative to tone and circuit design for my customers. Great channel.

I love how you can make anything easy to understand. Now I understand exactly how this works so I can experiment with my guitar.

You missed the most important factor. The vast majority have their pot on “10”. Meaning very little signal is going through the cap (to ground) to begin with. So even if you change the cap value or remove the cap and pot from the circuit -its going to make very little difference.

Dylan’s on his game on this one! Thanks!

Just subscribed! Came for the info, stayed for the knowledge! Much appreciated!!

I can always count on you to help explain things to me.

What about the flux capacitor??? It’s what makes time travel possible lol

Well done.... good talk!

Very cool, thank you Dylan. You made it simple to understand. I didn't have a problem understanding, I just simply never learned about capacitors.

Well said Dylan! Thank you sir! 👊🤠

I’m back , love this guys common sense approach. Thanks D.

You are so much help Dylan you break it all down.

Excellent explanation, Dylan. As far as types of capacitors for audio go, generally, the caps used for audiophile type stuff (away from guitars) are polystyrene and polypropylene. But really, the biggest difference is in the player - don’t worry about your cap, concentrate on your practice and your learning. Steve Vai isn’t in a twirl over caps, I promise you all.

Great explanation, thanks!

It was helpful to me some years back when it finally sunk in was the realization that a capacitor is like a battery that is capable of taking on an energy charge up to its maximum while bleeding it back in return to the circuit as it encounters a drop. This cleans up the waveform as it takes on incoming surges and smoothes out the voltage drops by giving some back after a peak. I was trying to run a d.c back-up beeper for use as a warehouse door bell and it wouldn't sound. First I attempted swapping the power supply for more amps, thinking car batteries have more amps, but still no sound. Then the radio shack guy said maybe my voltage wasn't clean enough and sold me a 4700mfd capacitor and a choke coil, 130 decibels of highly amped beeping was an instant result! Lesson learned...

Very helpful, straightforward and concise. Do you still sell the test kits you mentioned in this video? I don't see them on your site. Thanks!

Dylan great video and explanation, just went through this exercise with my VM Squire Jazzmaster, the best combo for me was 1Mg Linear Taper Pots with .033 caps, I was talked into the 500k pots but like you said "you can't ad tone back in" ... there's your next T shirt graphic !!

Very helpful. Thanks

Great explanation - Short and sweet 👏

As soon as this dude said, "don't nerd out about it" the first thing I did was went and opened up my guitar

Good stuff - nothing cluttered or confusing!

Hey bud😉 That schooled-me on capacitors! Thanks for the delivery/explanations. 🤘

Thank you, i've been looking for this info fro a while!!

A DPDT mini toggle connected to 2 different value capacitors can alter the tone of your guitar - some manufacturers of guitars call this a bright switch.

Thank God for your channel focusing more on the electronic side which to me is about 99.99% of the guitars tone. Some people talk tonewoods...and im sick and tired of that discussion.

Great video I have been binge watching you channel..Great job man.

I saw a switch from a Stewart McDonald video that had a .022 cap and a.047cap so one could choose between them. I got the idea to have a 12 pin substitution box with 12 choices. The values and the different kinds of caps so my customer can choose the tone for themselves……It works great. It’s a hassle for a Strat,but we’ll worth it.

Very informative. Thanks.

Fantasic!

Brillant explanation, finally got it!

Really useful information. Thanks for this! Just subscribed.

I love your videos! It really helps me when "modding" my guitar! SO IF I GET IT RIGHT... HIGHER NUMBERS ON MY CAP = LESS BRIGHTNESS? :)

Thanks Dylan.Always great stuff !

Cheers. I need to revise my basic electronics, and your channel does it. Subbd.

The cap does far less than most people think. In fact, unless you turn the tone pot almost all the way down, its value and dielectric material are irrelevant. For 3/4 of the tone control's rotation, you could just use a piece of wire instead of the cap. For most of the sweep, it's actually the pot that cuts the treble, due to its impedance loading. When the tone pot is almost all the way down, the cap is there in part to stop the pot muting the signal, and also to lower the resonant frequency of the pickup. If you know the inductance and capacitance of your pickup(s) the frequency shift created by the cap is easy to work out with the simple LC resonance formula. Believe it or not, a passive tone cap can certainly boost a band of frequencies. The net result is energy loss of course, but that is all above the resonant peak created by the cap. Just how much "boost" you get depends on the impedance of the pickup relative to the impedance load of the the pots and whatever the guitar is plugged in to, plus the capacitive load of your guitar cable.

Regarding guitar cables, Rattlesnake and Runway Audio (sold here) seem to be competitive premium low-capacitance cable offerings. As with my Lava ELC cables, I have no doubt that they both sound wonderful out of the box. Seeing no indication that Runway is made with oxygen-free copper, however, I will opt for Rattlesnake. I live 3 miles from the ocean and am concerned that the Runway might be more prone to corrosion over a period of years. YMMV.

Adam jones from Tool. uses a .047 ..600v. So the Volts dont make a difference…can i put a .047 …100v and it will sound the same? Thanks awesome video.

Great video Dylan. I'd like to purchase a Cap Kit. Link is down on website. Please let me know how to proceed. Thanks!

A good explanation! This is a non-nerd version. Perfect

Great video and explanation!

Hey Dylan, have you ever wired a 6 rotary switch with different capacitors?

Thanks Dylan, gr8 info!

Well, we should also discuss the resistance of the pots too. Recently i replaced the ceramic pickups in my Squier Strat with alnico ones. I also replaced the stock 500k pots with 250k ones. And I got rid of the little green cap, replacing it with a .22mFd "orange drop" cap. This cap and the 250k pots gave the hot new alnico V pickups a great warm sound with enough highs left to provide a perfect balance.

So I have a Epiphone 56 gold top 😊that I converted 😊to a deluxe. I replaced the P90’s to Gibson mini humbuckers. If I put .047 or .033 caps in it, 😅will it make it sound more like a full size humbucker?

Can you just put a capacitor between the leads from the pickup before you send to the tone pot, I'm doing an off set tele build where I can change out the front single coil with a mini humbucker just by swapping out the pickguard, having trouble figuring out what type of pots and caps to use, going to use 1/4 female plug for pickup changes, and of course I want a 4 way tone set up,but I'm going to use a push pull pot instead of changing the switch.

Dylan, I bought a Chinese May guitar that was made really well very impressed but I play metal/doom music through my guitars but wanted to know what capacitors and pots should I probably put in it? To replace these Chinese made things. Let me know your thoughts if you have time, I just like the heavy deep thick sounding doom metal

Do you still sell the test kit? I went to your site and it isn’t anywhere to be found. Love the site. So much to learn.

Dylan or anyone out-there ....has anyone tried wiring in a " variable capacitor" into a potentiometer so ww could fine tune the frequency and then adjust with potentiometer? In cheopo transistor radios the dial used to find channels is a " variable capacitor" mica usually.

My Jazzmaster HH has a .1uF and 250k tone pot. I love the tone more than my Les Paul’s .047uF and 500k pot

Hey Dylan good morning, what's the difference in sharing a capacitor between 2 tone knobs compare to using a seperate capacitor for each tone knob?

On 1 of my guitars we have a TBX tone pot. Is it all the same on this 1? Also I keep my tone controls at mid way -5 and use them from there mostly. Almost never at 10. Or for that matter never at 0 either. On my L Paul I changed the pots, caps and wiring. For caps I used .011.

Is there a plus minus in what way you have to solder it in? I mean does it matter where the ends goes on the pots?

Have you ever tried REALLY low values for a Strat like .0047, .0033, or .0022 (yes that decimal is correct). I recently tried a .010 and it was life changing so I’m thinking go trying even lower or will it not be noticeable enough?

Hey Dylan can you explain how an electrolytic capacitor works in the context of tone control of a guitar? Is it fine to use one?

A quick question. Couldn't you just put say a higher value capacitor like a .047 and be done with it? One capacitor to rule them all so to speak. I ask because in my thinking you control the resistance with the tone knob anyway. If you want high frequencies you turn the tone knob all the way to 10 and if you want low you turn it to 0 and adjust what you want somewhere in the middle. Plus you can control the tone with the amp settings as well. I'm not sure if that was really the way to ask that question. Just trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. Also curious what you would have with no capacitor at all. I guess it would be really jangly.

Dylan- I never use the tone knob. Always on '10'. I don't even want a tone knob on my next guitar. DO I need a cap at all now ? thanks

Hello Dylan. Thanks for the clear explanation on many guitar related things.could you explain to me how the cap. value effects the volume pot 'curve' i.e in terms of swells or leaning into (or out of )a fuzz pedal.what is the essential purpose of a capacitor in a guitar circuit;are we talking it removes unnecessary treble frequency i.e.reduces the icepick effect you often get with some teles.?could you just leave the capacitor out of the circuit?anyway thanks for the vids and keep making those p-90 s cause I want to buy 1 when i get my dough together.all the best.

Hey, I'm interested in one of those capacitor kits you had mentioned in the video, but can't find it on your site. Are you still selling those?

Not sure if this has been asked.. But do you actually have to have a capacitor in your guitar. Can you play with out them.

Hi Dylan! So I've got alnico-Vs put on my cheap tele recently. However, the alnicos do not seem to be doing justice to guitar's output hence I bought a pair of 500k beta pots hoping it would make any difference to my guitar's output. Please suggest how do I go about it.

Good to hear you use nanofarad values ,as 22 nanofarads is easier to order then .022 microfarads.. Yes all capacitors of that value can sound the same regardless of color and price.

What about no caps? Is tone the only consequence, or is there something else?

you state some good values but are you saying pico, nano or micro? That's going to be another key factor as to how much swing you get.

So... What is the difference between a lower value capacitor, and a treble bleed? Is there ever a need for both?

Hey Dylan, what is the proper way to store pickups in the long term (could of months/years if they are proximity to each other (like keeping boxes of Rials over a strat single coil)? Will that degauss my pickups or is it safe (Iplenty of people have told me not to use steel wool near a guitar because the ferrite will mess up the battery. Surely close proximity to each other will wreck them? WHat should we do? Love the show, youre rerally starting to get a groove

Finally somebody that doesn't speak in riddles.

There's basically 3 values that matter when it comes to capacitors in an electric guitar: No.1 - The Capacitance Value, measured in Farad (F). But since 1F is a unit simply too large to be practical when describing the electrical applications in a guitar it is most commonly described in μF = microfarad, nF = nanofarad or pF = picofarad. This value is the most important. No.2 - The Tolerance, measured in plus/minus a certain percentage (±%). This value describes how potentially reliable the capacitance value really is. If you have a capacitor with a value of 0.022μF but ±20% tolerance, that means the actual capacitance might be anywhere between 0.0176μF and 0.0264μF, and of course, the larger the capacitance stated on the capacitor is, the further away from that value it might actually be. Tolerance is probably the most overlooked value when it comes to capacitors. No.3 - Voltage DC (V or VDC). Now, as Dylan stated, this is not important for capacitors in guitars. As long as the cap has perhaps 0.5V you're fine. You could have a 10000V capacitor on your pot and it wouldn't make any difference, except for the fact that the capacitor would be unnecessarily big and it might become a problem fitting it into the control cavity of your guitar. Finding the right capacitance value for your pots is not a problem, the one thing that might be a bit harder is finding a low as possible tolerance. Many retailers doesn't even write the tolerance in the product description I've noticed. But when you start asking them you soon find that the standard tolerance for the capacitors we see everywhere is in fact ±10% or even ±20%, which is awful. ±5% is a bit harder to find but can be done with some effort. And if you want to go below that to ±2% or ±1% then you will have to absolutely scour the web, write to retailers and even manufacturers. Finding the lowest tolerance on your capacitors takes a bit of work and luck but I think it's worth it in the end. ALWAYS buy more than you need, measure them properly and pick out the ones closest to their intended value before soldering them to your pots.

So if a tone pot didn't have cap it would just be another volume knob?

I know this is an old video, but I'm curious... what do two capacitors of equal value, one more expensive than the other, do differently? Why is one more expensive than the other.

I recently changed a bridge pickup to semour Duncan Invador in the Yamaha Pacifica 012 (SSH, 5 WAY switch) guitar. (Volume pot 500K, Tone 250K) However I am experiencing reduced volume and tone on position 2 (neck and middle blend) and position 4 (middle and bridge blend). All other three positions have developed a continuous hum as well. I am unable to find a solution to this. I have checked the circuits they are accurate. Please HELP.

Question. I put a .47 cap as a treble bleed since I lost a lot of the highs when turning the volume down. It sounds better but looses the bottom end as I turn down. Much better than before but I would rather just keep the tone but lower the volume. This is on a SSH strat. Bare knuckle pups. Any ideas.

My question is...Can a bad or worn cap cause you to loose top end tone when the tone is all the way up ? I mostly play lead with it wide open and I just listened to a tape of this same guitar through the same amp from 30 years ago and the pick harmonics were way brighter and livelier.

What value of capacitor do you recomend to cut extra low end in a guitar?

😧 🤦🙋*raises hand* Awwww shit....ive nerded out about it. What am i supposed to do? Ive got these 0.015uf and 0.022uf paper oil caps that are 600 volts....ummm also ive got almost the exact same ones but they have this Vitamin q oil stuff. Will the fact that they are 600 volts vs other ones that are 100, 200, 300, etc? And what us the difference between regular paper mineral oil caps and the vitamin q ones? Im a metal guy trying to get as much "clarity" and gain (of course, cliche i know). Big fan of your channel by the way!!!

Thanks Dylan! The Curve of the Knob! :-)

You rock!

I have a 64P 90 it’s very basic sounded in my telecaster any suggestions

from your vidio what you did was the higher the number the richer and deeper was the tone

If its function is to filter off frequencies could you run a guitar without a tone cap

Cool vid! Hey, I have a question- do you think that the capacitors affect the overall pickup sound when the tone or volume knob is all the way up? I found people online say yes and some say no

What’s the best one for a cv tele

No one better than Dylan,…. Just sayin

How can I roll some of the treble off of my bridge stratocaster. Pickup. My stock tone pot when rolled down just gets more muffled. And woofie. I just want to take some of the spike off my bridge. Pickup. Thx.

My cap doesn't have a marking on it so I asked my manufacturer what it is, they said 0.104uf. does that sound right for active pickups?

What's your current stance on this? I watched another video where you were pretty absolute about capacitors not making a difference scientifically, no matter what type it is, that a cap is a cap and only the value matters, just said that you also do sell different type of caps on your website for people who want them. Here you say that scientifically it can make a difference, because of the different materials between the plates having a different dielectric value. So what do you currently think about caps, regarding the tone?

what will be the benefits of a high action fret guitar vs a low acction fret guitar in relationship to tone? thanks!

I heard that ceramic capacitors are microphonic and thus not for tone control use. I've always used them because the ARE easily salvaged. I've not noticed ant bad effects. Could be microphones is good?!

Thanks for more information, I'd enjoy understanding the relation to resistance in guitar pickups and tone, or is there even a relation between that, why is one humbucker 4.39 ohm, at the neck and another guitars 6.31 ohms, can that be a relation between resistance (magnetic field it generates) and tone.

Anyone know what value comes in a 50's baja telecaster? I checked and it doesn't say but it's the ones with the circular knobs between and it has two, a big one and a smaller one.

Ok Dylan, the drop caps in my axe have nothing printed on them so I have no idea of their value/range. Is there an easy way to get the values?

What's a good number for a HSH setup?

Thank you! Awesome explanation! 2:05 So, if we follow this logic, is a .0022uf capacitor a bass cut filter?

What's your opinion about '50s wiring where the capacitor bridges the pots compared to conventional wiring where one leg of the capacitor goes immediately to ground?