I just spent a couple hours testing treble bleed circuits for my tele with alligator clips which is much easier than soldering over and over but the dainty-ness of it all makes it cumbersome to actually play and switch them out. This box would be excellent for testing caps, resistors AND treble bleeds! This has definitely moved up on the priority list, great build!
I'm glad you found it useful 👍 I worked on a design years ago for a resitor contraption that let you dial up any value, but I never got around to building that one !
You can change to spring loaded Speaker terminals unless you were more permanently mount caps. I like the speaker terminals because I can swap in different values for side-by-side comparison of the caps when you've narrowed your preferences.
Thanks! It's a fun project, and something that you'll actually use (assuming you like testing and tweaking details like capacitors 😛 ). Good luck with your build, let me know if I can help with anything.
Hi, Mike - this looks like a fun and easy project, and one that will definitely facilitate more useful A/B (C/D/E/F) testing of circuits. Thanks for this generous contribution to us hobby builders. As for the name, since Flux Capacitor is taken, how about Flex Capacitor?
Greetings from a fellow Ottawan. How the heck did I not know you had a RUclips channel all these years? Why settle for one tone cap? I like to use something I got from Craig Anderton over 40 years ago: a bidirectional tone pot. Tone pot wiper goes to volume input lug, and each outside lug of the tone pot goes to ground through a different-value cap. I like to use a "standard" value cap (generally .022uf) on one side, and something about 1/5 to 1/4 that value on the other side (e.g., 4700pf). Because this constitutes what is effectively two tone pots in parallel, that requires hiking up the pot resistance. I use 1meg linear. When set to its midpoint, it becomes two 500k tone controls set to full treble (i.e., negligible cut). I would be nice if someone made a 1M linear pot with a centre detente, so you could rotate until you feel the little click, but alas, I've never seen one in the wild. But quite honestly, almost any position 40 degrees or so away from either end tends to be bright enough. The lower/smaller cap side provides a nice "rounding" of the tone, and can introduce a bit of a resonant shift. I like to describe it as "sanding off the edges". This stands in contrast to the dulling effect of the cap in the other direction. One of the perks is that all tonal changes are accomplished in half the rotation normally required by a conventional tone control. This makes it ideal for those who like to use "pinky wah" (producing a wah-like treble swell by quickly rotating the tone control). Rotary switches are great for many things. I made a little gadget for selecting the optimal current-limiting resistor for LEDS illumination. LEDs vary in how efficient and bright they are. What may be a suitable resistance for making an old-school red LED bright enough may result in a newer superbright one being blindingly bright. So, I have a little jig with a 12-position switch and a range of resistors from around 1k5 up to 18k. A 9V battery plugs into it and the LED gets inserted into a socket. I start from the highest resistance value, and work my way down until get a brightness that's suitable. What counts as "suitable" depends not only on the LED's brightness, but the background against which it will be seen. An LED against a dark background can afford to be a little dimmer, while one against a white or light background needs to be a little brighter. Handy little thing.
@@PotvinGuitarsThanks. It probably won't identify the *exact* resistance, but if, for instance, 4k7 is a little too bright and the next switch position of 6k8 isn't bright enough, that will provide an idea of what possible standard value will be optimal. It was something I found necessary because of a parts drawer chock full of different LEDs from different eras. A person could always use a pot, I suppose, and measure the pot resistance when you hit the sweet spot, but this is less cumbersome because one can know, in advance, according to switch position. Of course, choosing a cap *absolutely* requires a switch!
I built the first version (without LEDs) years ago, and I've used it to dial in every new model or new wood cobination build since. Sooo much easier the sodlering and re-soldering and...
Find more guitar-building how-to & DIY goodness here: potvinguitars.com/guitar-building/
That seems like a fun project, Mike. Thanks!
Thanks! Let me know if you build one :)
I just spent a couple hours testing treble bleed circuits for my tele with alligator clips which is much easier than soldering over and over but the dainty-ness of it all makes it cumbersome to actually play and switch them out. This box would be excellent for testing caps, resistors AND treble bleeds! This has definitely moved up on the priority list, great build!
I'm glad you found it useful 👍 I worked on a design years ago for a resitor contraption that let you dial up any value, but I never got around to building that one !
You can change to spring loaded Speaker terminals unless you were more permanently mount caps. I like the speaker terminals because I can swap in different values for side-by-side comparison of the caps when you've narrowed your preferences.
That's a great tip, thanks!
I'm still in the woodworking phase of my first build... I hope to be able to make use of this some day. Great video!
Thanks! It's a fun project, and something that you'll actually use (assuming you like testing and tweaking details like capacitors 😛 ). Good luck with your build, let me know if I can help with anything.
Way cool!! I'll have to put that on the future project list. I love how calm and peaceful your videos are 😎
Thanks! My days aren't always calm and relaxed, but I'm in my happy place when I get to tinker with projects in the shop 🙂
Hi, Mike - this looks like a fun and easy project, and one that will definitely facilitate more useful A/B (C/D/E/F) testing of circuits. Thanks for this generous contribution to us hobby builders.
As for the name, since Flux Capacitor is taken, how about Flex Capacitor?
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it 🙂
Thanks Mike! Interesting.
Glad you liked it!
Greetings from a fellow Ottawan. How the heck did I not know you had a RUclips channel all these years?
Why settle for one tone cap? I like to use something I got from Craig Anderton over 40 years ago: a bidirectional tone pot. Tone pot wiper goes to volume input lug, and each outside lug of the tone pot goes to ground through a different-value cap. I like to use a "standard" value cap (generally .022uf) on one side, and something about 1/5 to 1/4 that value on the other side (e.g., 4700pf).
Because this constitutes what is effectively two tone pots in parallel, that requires hiking up the pot resistance. I use 1meg linear. When set to its midpoint, it becomes two 500k tone controls set to full treble (i.e., negligible cut). I would be nice if someone made a 1M linear pot with a centre detente, so you could rotate until you feel the little click, but alas, I've never seen one in the wild. But quite honestly, almost any position 40 degrees or so away from either end tends to be bright enough.
The lower/smaller cap side provides a nice "rounding" of the tone, and can introduce a bit of a resonant shift. I like to describe it as "sanding off the edges". This stands in contrast to the dulling effect of the cap in the other direction. One of the perks is that all tonal changes are accomplished in half the rotation normally required by a conventional tone control. This makes it ideal for those who like to use "pinky wah" (producing a wah-like treble swell by quickly rotating the tone control).
Rotary switches are great for many things. I made a little gadget for selecting the optimal current-limiting resistor for LEDS illumination. LEDs vary in how efficient and bright they are. What may be a suitable resistance for making an old-school red LED bright enough may result in a newer superbright one being blindingly bright. So, I have a little jig with a 12-position switch and a range of resistors from around 1k5 up to 18k. A 9V battery plugs into it and the LED gets inserted into a socket. I start from the highest resistance value, and work my way down until get a brightness that's suitable. What counts as "suitable" depends not only on the LED's brightness, but the background against which it will be seen. An LED against a dark background can afford to be a little dimmer, while one against a white or light background needs to be a little brighter. Handy little thing.
Hey! The LED / Resistor chooser is a great idea. I'm going to put one on my electronics To-Do list 👍🙂
@@PotvinGuitarsThanks. It probably won't identify the *exact* resistance, but if, for instance, 4k7 is a little too bright and the next switch position of 6k8 isn't bright enough, that will provide an idea of what possible standard value will be optimal. It was something I found necessary because of a parts drawer chock full of different LEDs from different eras. A person could always use a pot, I suppose, and measure the pot resistance when you hit the sweet spot, but this is less cumbersome because one can know, in advance, according to switch position. Of course, choosing a cap *absolutely* requires a switch!
I think I need to build one of these!
I built the first version (without LEDs) years ago, and I've used it to dial in every new model or new wood cobination build since. Sooo much easier the sodlering and re-soldering and...
This is Awesome! Can I buy your tester?
Well, I don't actually build them to sell. Maybe if enough people were interested... You should take a shot at making your own :)
I only have 1 screwdriver. Think I could make it through?
Well... 😀
I would name it the "flex capasitor".
To be honest, I almost always call it either the "Flux Capacitor" (apologies to Doc Brown), or the "Capacitor Thingy" 😛