This video is exactly the kind of thing I love about your channel. You're empowering people to find their own tone by experimenting for themselves, instead of just giving your opinion on what is better than what. It inspires me to play around with things instead of just spending money on new guitars whenever I feel dissatisfied with my sound.
@@michaelcraig9449 Maybe you should just rewrite my whole comment so as to not offend your ideology. I'm sure you know what I'm trying to say better than I do.
You have demystified the capacitor quandary for many people. I've got an electronics engineering background and you show people the truth and a method for finding what value best suits their personal needs. God bless you brother.
I just found this channel and it has immediately become one of my favorite youtube channels. Thanks so much for helping empower people to know what the hell we're doing in a logical and thoughtful way Dylan.
Holy cow! I would go so far as to say capacitors alter the tone more than anything else I've heard. The shootouts between woods, frets, necks, body chambers, strings, nuts seldom make such stark changes compared to what I just heard. Amazing stuff.
As a general rule, 20% of a system causes 80% of the output for any machine. Just as you said, the electronics causes 80% of the sound you hear with an electric guitar. As for the other 20%, the human ear cannot make any distinctions.
i was talking with a small business that makes pre wired pot setups for strats and humbuckers... he said they used to go back and forth with customers about capacitors and types. they decided to use .022 for everyone and it seems everyone is happy. i find this interesting because i can hear a definite difference in different cap values.
This video was really useful, I tried following the link to get one of these kits but the link appears to be broken. Ide love to get one of these capacitor audition kits but dont know where i can get one. Does anyone know where i can find one
I just had an amazing experience with tone capacitors. The usual values, we know the differences in sound. Most of the time as soon as you set the potentiometer to zero the sound is muffled, unusable. With 0.015uf it is the least worst. I experimented with much lower values, between 0.0047uf and 0.0082uf. It sounds like a wahwah pedal stuck in the middle position, when the tone pot is at zero. With some mid/treble frequencies which are preserved. By choosing the right value I reached an extremely interesting and unique sound, and above all very usable. Not a dull, uninteresting sound. I tested these values with a single p90 junior LP (50's wiring). The sound is amazing. I think that for stratocaster style pickups or humbuckers, other values could be better, but not certain.
I did the same thing on one of my strats. I put a low value, pretty sure it’s .0022 Sozo cap on the bridge tone pot. And all the way at zero it’s acts like a mid boost. Sounds really great with gain. Rather than losing clarity it just accentuates the mid frequencies. It’s more like a tube screamer flavor knob. lol
@@Sulordan That’s it ! 👍 I never used tone pot until I did this mod. The only disadvantage is that you have to roll the pot to zero. Finaly a switch could replace the pot... I'm thinking about that 😉
OK, this is neat for tone knobs with capacitors of varying values. What if you have no capacitor in the chain of electronics ? At 1:23 of this video, the gist I get is that tone is subjective and DTT confirms that. Any guitar is going to have it's own signature tone without a capacitor that is based upon the tonal woods it's comprised of. The pick ups too, how hot they are, how many turns of wire, the gauge of that wire, the magnets type & strength. Even pickup height is going to effect the guitar's tone. If capacitors alter a guitar's tonal warmth, a guitar made from a softer tonal wood such as Alder is going to be warmer than a harder tonal wood such as Ash or Maple. Conceivable that you could make softer Alder, sound like harder Ash or Maple with the capacitor value tweaking with certain pick ups ? Traditionally, a volume pot is a linear control, tone is logarithmic. If I understand it relative to tone, that means each numerical indicator is not a equal increase/decrease in tone as it is for volume. And that should result in a range of tones that may not change much at a higher setting after 3, 4 or 5 as it would 0 to that majority of tone difference. The other day, I finally got around to taking the pick guard off. I saw no capacitor inside this 15 year old Squier Bullet I bought last summer for $ 25. Anyway I thought that's odd, doesn't have a capacitor but I do have a range of tones with the neck & middle pick up tone knobs. Subtle range of tones, but a range none the less. And I won't lie to any one, but at certain settings of tone, I actually prefer the Bullet to an Affinity Strat that I have, that I assume has a capacitor in the chain of electronics. The Affinity has a range that is pleasing just the same.
This absolutely debunks a continuing internet argument that it doesn’t make a difference in tone which cap you use if the tone knob is on 10. This clearly showed a difference. You really have some awesome vids. Subscribed!!!!!!!
Well done Dylan!! I'm about to put P90s in a hollowbody that have Humbuckers now, and I think I'll keep the capacitors even if 0,47 is recommended with P90s. I don't want a muddy bass and in your test the tone was useful even with tone control at 0 with the 0.22 but not with the 0,47. Of cause it save me a little soldering if I don't need to replace all electronics in a hollowbody.
this video does also demonstrate the problem in tweaking settings. there is so much someone could pick apart with the limitations of the demo you provided, and it's true; trying to make definitive demonstrations is damn near impossible. if you added more demonstration then there would be more time between the different settings, making it harder to compare the differences in sound, but more limited demonstrations provided a limited scope of sound changes. I love tweaking settings and values, but I also have a deep appreciation for 'well enough'. there are no perfect settings, more effort should be placed in reducing bad sounds than trying to find some perfect sound. In my limited group of musician friends I am complimented on my 'great tone', but I also spend the least time fiddling around with settings and I attribute my 'great tones' to me playing to the gear rather than trying to mod and set the gear to some mythical 'perfect setting'
I'd love to see you do a guitar build, and explain the "why" of everything you do. What do you check before beginning? Why did you recommend these pickups to the customer? What do less expensive or lower quality builders or factories overlook or skip to build faster/cheaper?
so you never answered the fist question?if If I have the volume and tone on 10 does the capacitor make a difference? does the capacitor only kick in when volume or tone is turned down??? awesome video....thank you
Thanks for this video. I just placed an order with you for my 94/95 Fender Foto Flame Tele which will be getting SD Vintage Tele pickups, 500K pots and .33 cap. Can't wait to improve the sound! Also a small donation for your videos.
Re. Pot and cap tolerances... If you are building guitars or modding them as a hobby, just get a multimeter. Then you can check actual cap and pot values and choose whatever is most appropriate. Have PAF's? Pick a pot on the low side of the tolerance range with a cap on the high side of the range. Have high output buckers? Go for one on the high side of the range with a smaller cap. It won't make a huge difference but it will make some difference.
Very informative short vids. Please, do 1) lower capacitors like 0.0022-0.01uF 2) 250-1meg Pots on same capacitor, especially all the way down, where in makes bump on cutoff frequency.
My very first preference on caps is to use audio potentiometers for tone, with linear I feel I have much less control over the turning of the knob. After that in my strats I like .047. Cheers!
I'm going to rig a .1 and a .022 up to a toggle switch next to my gilmour switch after hearing this. Seems like it'll be a fun little addition to the guitar.
Ok..that was the tone cap....now what is best for treble-bleed cap and resistor parallel circuit. I would prefer all the treble ( especially the higher trebles) at all volume settings but only the frequencies from say 3-5k and down being what is being removed
I have a wierd setup on a karera build a caster. The friend I got it from is no longer with us so it's hard to figure the mod he told Me it was set up for. So I've learned Solder and got a bunch of tools from graduating college for hvac. So I'm done building the guitar bone nut, painted it to psychedelic beauty, and just have to figure a few things out to hopefully preserve my dead friends og setup, this is the wire setup I've figured he'd made, I remember he built it to work as a humbucker,( I had no idea about guitar maintenance af the time). So he has Tele 60s style two holes, top pick up is I believe stock Tele rip off with a triangle like pickup. Under the bridge is an extra white ground wire, I'm pretty sure it's set for a humcaster, so that basically the two pickups can cancel out to the bridge? I want to add a piezo w/ 9volt pickup for hopefully a acoustic way to play,( I have plenty of guitars they all are stock I want this one to be different.), plus there are two 500 k pots, the volume pot I believe has a .022uv ( red compasitor looks corrects I'm sorry I have a hard time being a newb), video over
Another great vid! Thx. My Tele is wired with a push/pull 500K tone with .015 & .033. My 335 & 175 have push/pull with .022 & .047. Great tonal variations and allows me to dial it in, with various amps.
I do dig the experiments ... science & engineering is up my alley - thanks for the guitar tone tips! Inductive & capacitance reactance is what we hear - many value combinations could be right. I agree it's in the ears not necessarily depending on hard values
I just hook up my LCR meter to the pickup to determine the inductance. Then I shoot for 670Hz resonant peak and figure out how much capacitance it takes to get there. Any resonant peak between 600-700Hz will do.
really cool experiment! I was struggling with this capacitor sh. with my les paul korea with SeymDuncans Hot road. I tried diff pots and 2 capacitors. I will do this experiment for sure! great insight! thanks!
My Hagstrom Swede sounded very dark when I bought it. It has the regular tone knobs and an additional filter switch which adds another two capacitors or none, to the mix. Man, that got things extremely muffled. I swapped in a pair of .022’s and it brightened up the sound. I’m going to install my Super distortion picks in it and see what it sounds like then. It should be an improvement over the stock pickups.
Thank you so much for doing this video! I’ve been having muddy tone on a strat for the longest time and didn’t know what to do to make it sound clearer! Thank you!
This is why I use a 10 position (8 - 12 would be fine) Rotary Switch; remove the ball bearing in it (EASY!) & put a series of capacitors in it👍 EVERY position is EXACTLY the way you want it 😉
@@Ben-yy7io No Problem! The ball bearing is only there for the “click“ and to make you know exactly where the setting is but to be honest you don’t really need to know that once it’s twisted and it hits the sounds that you want then that’s fine Also you can still feel when the contact changes so you have that reassurance There is also the option of leaving the ball bearing in but bending the clip that secures it back so as to “weaken it“ ...try it? YMMV
@@Ben-yy7io I suppose so... Well, IF ya put Caps in it it is 0R if you put Resistors in then it can be like a Tone Pot or even a Vol Pot -depending how you wire it👍 It’s kinda more a ‘mechanical mod’ in that it alters how it FEELS more than how it behaves?
if you re making an Esquire, you can do sort of the same thing for the forward position (fixed rolloff). you can change the value and change how the pickup sounds when the pickup selector switch is all the way forward. I did this and was able to make all three positions usable to me because the rolloff was more subtle then if I used the value Fender historically did. the standard value was too muddy a tone to be usable in what I play. I noticed that most of the time I see an Esquire being played they only use 2 of the three positions and maybe that is why.
Really great video about this. Wow, the 0.047 cap muffles so much of the brightness out of the tone, especially at 5, 3 and 0 on tone knob. I'm curious what the differences are when playing with some crunch and solos. I have found that the tone of chords can be quite different than that of individual notes during solos, and there are big differences in tone between near the 3rd fret and up around 12-15th frets (which I think is where some guitars come alive). I'm always on the lookout for the "perfect" solo tone.
I would like to know what a musician should know about connecting his (amps, fx pedals) on a PA for let’s say his/hers first gig. Are there any factors to be considered in terms of safety What are the most common problems that hi/she might face that hi/she need to know how to solve or at least know what is causing them What is the sound enginiar expects of them to know when they do a sound check etc... :-) Forgive me if you have already made a video about this , I really enjoy your videos so far, I find them highly educational, thanks for sharing , keep up the good work!!
Very helpful because it confirms what I have been suspicious of for some time now, especially considering conformational bias towards/within marketing and how the template has been set and another point by who? I mean who was it, I say was because how long has this been unchallenged, yes I believe there are many out there and proven by this video and more like it that have differences, like the guy who made a comprehensive comparison test on pickups, well it was meant to be tone wood on electric guitars, getting to the point- eventually after trying a few set ups where he stuck a set of single coils on a plankof wood at 25.5inch scale length thewoodwas plained pine cls 4X2" timber a cutting he just picked up off the floor, this then with a comparison to a big brand guitar company guitar proved that it was irrelevant that tone wood is worth the cost in my opinion, he then went on to further hammer the theory of tone wood and more reinforced that pickup height is more important when he strung a set of 10s across the gap between two benches in his workshop, the pickups obviously had to be fixed so th scale too, so the bridge(this is all based on a simple tele bridge and pickup configuration) th bridge was secured far enough on one end to allow room for the bridge pickup only and woah did it sound just like anything you would expect if you paid goodmoney for it! This was all done as Controlled an experiment as possible as far as I could see, and the.amp settings were same in each instance and the pickups I'd have to look up the video again its been a while, so I absolutely love when goo dfolks like yourself and other like you Dylan pick up th mantle and show us the truth so that we can make informed decisions based not on what marketing says is best, I mean we're just asking to be suckered when we type in a Web search for "what is best filer... blah blah?" This kind of video is about informing by show and tell, it is one of the more honest videos and that speaks highly of your character as a person and a maker/builder of quality parts for electric guitars, I live in the UK so I naturally get my gear from nearby I try before I buy but there's just some things that most haveto uy online, electrical components that are THE very basic of components within that industry not talking about music, so I don't do searches for guitar pots or capset I find out the generic names and go from there and the price difference is much less, especially in bulk over 100, en 10 of there's a difference, which burns meup with the question "why the fcuk do electric guitars cost so much!!??" Especially when you break down guitar to its parts and quantities including the wood treatment colour coat and gloss and pishing- the tools cost more! But once you've figured out a way to buy and accumulation of what youneed while still making guitars and selling them at the same time- you can hire equipment that will be a fraction of the cost and still be able to make our first guitar and sell it for enough for that tool you just hired, then onto the next so onto fourth. We are being robbed with our eyes and ears wide shut or worse wide open when you still know and still allow yourself to be bummed in broad daylight by big dick brand names that I have less respect for now than when the companies founders designed and made the.tele the strat etc. Anyway big rant over 😊 Love your work, the time and effort you put into making this whole decision making process much simpler and clearer by using the truth big ❤ from Scotland laird Farquhar (Lord farquard) its pronounced like Parker but obviously with an F.
I just put a pearly gates in my player strat. It came as a HSS and now I don’t get the combined middle and tapped Humbucker in the second position. I guess the wire colors function aren’t the same as the original Fender....
I'm a firm believer in fit feel and sound... I've just personally found everytime I put any sort of limit on what's the best or not good enough there will be a time when I'm made to look stupid... which I why there prolly a guitar out there made out of ply wood wit a crooked neck and a pickup a guy made work out of 4 different pickups and it sounds amazing or to him is the best guitar he's ever played... so the tone wood argument is valid but on a personal level meaning in that certain case the stars aligned sort of thing
Thank you so much for making this vid! I have started making my own amp and was wondering how the different values change the sounds. Most sites and forums try to describe it. That wasnt helping me. Then i found your vid and I GET IT NOW! Thank you! You are awesome!
I don’t know much about capacitors, but . It seems the higher the number just gives you more of a frequency range . Ie.. .22 will only go to .22 .. .47 will go to .47 .. it changes the value of your tone knob . Correct me if I’m wrong
In just a few videos you have opened my eyes and answered so many questions I've had since I opened up my very first electric guitar back in 7th grade in 1980. Thank yoiu for making it easy to learn and understand
I heard a difference, even though my cell phone speaker. I'm wondering if modern wiring versus vintage 50's style wiring would give the same results, because 50's style connects the tone control to the volume output instead of the input.
Dylan I need to get .033uf cap for my strat (running 250k pots) and a .068uf cap for my j bass(after installing a Leo Quan bridge it seems to bright with a .047uf. Tried a 0.1uf cap - muddy as the Ohio River bottom
Thanks! Very helpful in understanding how the caps address overall tone and also how effects the response when you turn it down. About to start my first tel build and plan on using a push pull pot to give me 2 options. probably start with a .015 and a .033. I'll be using a SD Hot Stack in the neck and SD Little 59 HB in the bridge.
Very helpful... left me back at conventional choices (.047 for singles) but now I'm confident it's the right choice. I might drop down one notch and test just for kicks, but it looks like the way to go.
Thank you for making this, Dylan! I just ordered a kit to replace the pots, switch, & jack and it was hard to make a decision on what I wanted. I went for .047 and if I don't like how it sounds, I'll switch it out and see what I like better. 2 legs makes it simple. Even at 10, it had less highs/more low end. Maybe if you had 500k pots on single coils, the .047 might be OK. YMMV Edit: those were 500k pots? If that settles it lol. Putting the 047 in with my single coils and 500k pots I ordered. I've got some 2 wire humbuckers but I'm not sure I can use them like that.
This video made me think about the grease bucket tone configuration. I like what a 0.047 does in the first half of rotation but for next half i started to like what a 0.022 does. I could join 2 caps so to start with .047 and end with a ".022".
Great test! Thanks a lot! Awesome work! It confirms happilly my decision on my first Tele kit-build as a newbie to put 0.15 caps (240-ish pots) with the Fender noiseless N3, and not the generic 0.47 tonekiller!! Thats the tone and pot-action I like!! Yiiipiiayyooo! Keep rolling, Dylan. Request: a vid about difference and pros/cons refering adio vs. linear pots (edit: you did allready, thanks... )
the woodof the body is only part of the overall weight of the guitar,, you have to consider the weight of the electronics and the hardware as wel in the total weight of the whole guitar,,my Strat started out at about 7.2 lbs and after I add more pots and the added weight of locking tuners and the reas like the heavier trem block replacing the cheap pot metal block it came from China with the weight total will be more even though the body alone will be less when the control cavity is enlarged to accommodate the added controls it started as a bog standard Strat with 3 pots standard tuners and single coil pick ups it;s ending up with 3 quad rail humbuckers and 6 pots (3 push/pull 500k vil and 3 500k vol pots as well as adding a bypass switch and adding led lighting inside the cavity for effects...yep same on I've been talking about for a while its all stripped and partially refinished and the electronice are all wired up and ready for installation as soon as the body is done adding a titanium nut too light and really durable roller string trees as well as roller saddles in the gridge....going all out with this one for the fun of it to see how well my plan goes the next build will include the Tele pick up you built with the other builder that you sent to me a wile ago...got a pick up now need a guitar to put it into...got a Strat first and the Tele is next..and then the other major types get a place in the line up you know SG ,,and a Les Paul then maybe an ES-335 eventually a custom shaped body with a few new tricks I thought up on my own,,,this is a newer hobby for me and at my age I get to indulge myself a bit,,, no hurry and get it the way I want it by doing it all myself.... I can't afford to resto mod a cclassic car like I would love to do but a guitar is s,aller and cheaper to do in the long run..
Hi, just a question or idea, is it possible to place a small toggle switch which would change between 2 types of capacitors, if yes, how would we wire it?
Great video! On the comment about tone wood....thank you! I believe the tone you get is more dependent on how well the instrument is put together along with good hardware and electronic. A few years ago I played with a friend I have known for thirty years. When I first met him he was playing an SG copy. It sounded soo good. When we last played he still had that same guitar. By then it had become a true relic with real road worn areas. Did I mention this guitar still sounded great. When I looked at some of the areas where the paint was gone I was amazed to see a plywood body. So does the wood in the body make a difference? I would still say yes, but not as much as some would believe. Too many variables such as neck material, strings and how about this. Maybe it’s the driver and not the car. I beat you hand a hello kitty guitar to EVH and you would be amazed.
Hey Dylan. I totally agree with you about tone wood. How does Fender and Gibson still have there own distinct core tone?? Even if both guitars are double humbuckers? I have a John 5 squire. And it still has a fender core tone. I hope this makes sence. Thanks.
Hi Dylan I have a question for you If I put quarter pound tele pups and 500k pots with oil and paper caps with treble mod will it sound good please give me feed back thanks and I love this Chanel great work any help would be helpful thanks
This video is exactly the kind of thing I love about your channel. You're empowering people to find their own tone by experimenting for themselves, instead of just giving your opinion on what is better than what. It inspires me to play around with things instead of just spending money on new guitars whenever I feel dissatisfied with my sound.
Dont say empowering.. that sounds like pc soyboy nonsense..He is teaching you. You are learning.
@@michaelcraig9449
Maybe you should just rewrite my whole comment so as to not offend your ideology. I'm sure you know what I'm trying to say better than I do.
Damn straight! 👍
I'd bet $10 both of you bitches have beards and can't change a tire.
@@kevinteller7735
How did I get into this masculinity contest? I was just trying to be nice to Dylan and say thankyou.
You have demystified the capacitor quandary for many people. I've got an electronics engineering background and you show people the truth and a method for finding what value best suits their personal needs. God bless you brother.
Love the way the .015 sounds on that guitar!
We like your nerdery. It's among the best informed guitar nerdery out there.
I just found this channel and it has immediately become one of my favorite youtube channels. Thanks so much for helping empower people to know what the hell we're doing in a logical and thoughtful way Dylan.
thanks so much man!, Thanks for supporting us at Dylantalkstone.com too!!
Holy cow! I would go so far as to say capacitors alter the tone more than anything else I've heard. The shootouts between woods, frets, necks, body chambers, strings, nuts seldom make such stark changes compared to what I just heard. Amazing stuff.
As a general rule, 20% of a system causes 80% of the output for any machine.
Just as you said, the electronics causes 80% of the sound you hear with an electric guitar. As for the other 20%, the human ear cannot make any distinctions.
I am so happy i found your channel. Its one thing read the information on google , but youve cleared up so many things for me and my friend. Ty
Short answer, Fender:.010uf Gibson:.022uf
i was talking with a small business that makes pre wired pot setups for strats and humbuckers... he said they used to go back and forth with customers about capacitors and types. they decided to use .022 for everyone and it seems everyone is happy. i find this interesting because i can hear a definite difference in different cap values.
This video was really useful, I tried following the link to get one of these kits but the link appears to be broken. Ide love to get one of these capacitor audition kits but dont know where i can get one. Does anyone know where i can find one
I just had an amazing experience with tone capacitors. The usual values, we know the differences in sound. Most of the time as soon as you set the potentiometer to zero the sound is muffled, unusable. With 0.015uf it is the least worst. I experimented with much lower values, between 0.0047uf and 0.0082uf. It sounds like a wahwah pedal stuck in the middle position, when the tone pot is at zero. With some mid/treble frequencies which are preserved. By choosing the right value I reached an extremely interesting and unique sound, and above all very usable. Not a dull, uninteresting sound. I tested these values with a single p90 junior LP (50's wiring). The sound is amazing. I think that for stratocaster style pickups or humbuckers, other values could be better, but not certain.
I did the same thing on one of my strats. I put a low value, pretty sure it’s .0022 Sozo cap on the bridge tone pot. And all the way at zero it’s acts like a mid boost. Sounds really great with gain. Rather than losing clarity it just accentuates the mid frequencies. It’s more like a tube screamer flavor knob. lol
@@Sulordan
That’s it ! 👍
I never used tone pot until I did this mod. The only disadvantage is that you have to roll the pot to zero.
Finaly a switch could replace the pot...
I'm thinking about that 😉
OK, this is neat for tone knobs with capacitors of varying values. What if you have no capacitor in the chain of electronics ? At 1:23 of this video, the gist I get is that tone is subjective and DTT confirms that. Any guitar is going to have it's own signature tone without a capacitor that is based upon the tonal woods it's comprised of. The pick ups too, how hot they are, how many turns of wire, the gauge of that wire, the magnets type & strength. Even pickup height is going to effect the guitar's tone. If capacitors alter a guitar's tonal warmth, a guitar made from a softer tonal wood such as Alder is going to be warmer than a harder tonal wood such as Ash or Maple. Conceivable that you could make softer Alder, sound like harder Ash or Maple with the capacitor value tweaking with certain pick ups ? Traditionally, a volume pot is a linear control, tone is logarithmic. If I understand it relative to tone, that means each numerical indicator is not a equal increase/decrease in tone as it is for volume. And that should result in a range of tones that may not change much at a higher setting after 3, 4 or 5 as it would 0 to that majority of tone difference.
The other day, I finally got around to taking the pick guard off. I saw no capacitor inside this 15 year old Squier Bullet I bought last summer for $ 25. Anyway I thought that's odd, doesn't have a capacitor but I do have a range of tones with the neck & middle pick up tone knobs. Subtle range of tones, but a range none the less. And I won't lie to any one, but at certain settings of tone, I actually prefer the Bullet to an Affinity Strat that I have, that I assume has a capacitor in the chain of electronics. The Affinity has a range that is pleasing just the same.
This absolutely debunks a continuing internet argument that it doesn’t make a difference in tone which cap you use if the tone knob is on 10. This clearly showed a difference. You really have some awesome vids. Subscribed!!!!!!!
Mygabrielle74
Nope. I can`t hear any differences.
You are doing the Lort's work, Dylan. Thank ya!
Love the video! I really noticed a difference between the 33 and the 47 at zero. Keep it up!
"It is your guitar!" well said!
Well done Dylan!! I'm about to put P90s in a hollowbody that have Humbuckers now, and I think I'll keep the capacitors even if 0,47 is recommended with P90s. I don't want a muddy bass and in your test the tone was useful even with tone control at 0 with the 0.22 but not with the 0,47. Of cause it save me a little soldering if I don't need to replace all electronics in a hollowbody.
This is one of the most useful videos on guitar that I've ever seen on youtube! Thanks Dylan, just what I needed.
this video does also demonstrate the problem in tweaking settings. there is so much someone could pick apart with the limitations of the demo you provided, and it's true; trying to make definitive demonstrations is damn near impossible. if you added more demonstration then there would be more time between the different settings, making it harder to compare the differences in sound, but more limited demonstrations provided a limited scope of sound changes.
I love tweaking settings and values, but I also have a deep appreciation for 'well enough'. there are no perfect settings, more effort should be placed in reducing bad sounds than trying to find some perfect sound. In my limited group of musician friends I am complimented on my 'great tone', but I also spend the least time fiddling around with settings and I attribute my 'great tones' to me playing to the gear rather than trying to mod and set the gear to some mythical 'perfect setting'
gumbilicious1
You get the point. !!!
I'd love to see you do a guitar build, and explain the "why" of everything you do. What do you check before beginning? Why did you recommend these pickups to the customer? What do less expensive or lower quality builders or factories overlook or skip to build faster/cheaper?
so you never answered the fist question?if If I have the volume and tone on 10 does the capacitor make a difference? does the capacitor only kick in when volume or tone is turned down??? awesome video....thank you
Thanks for this video. I just placed an order with you for my 94/95 Fender Foto Flame Tele which will be getting SD Vintage Tele pickups, 500K pots and .33 cap. Can't wait to improve the sound! Also a small donation for your videos.
I've heard nothing about tantalum caps for use in the guitar, I'm getting ready to try one . . .
Re. Pot and cap tolerances...
If you are building guitars or modding them as a hobby, just get a multimeter. Then you can check actual cap and pot values and choose whatever is most appropriate. Have PAF's? Pick a pot on the low side of the tolerance range with a cap on the high side of the range. Have high output buckers? Go for one on the high side of the range with a smaller cap. It won't make a huge difference but it will make some difference.
Very informative short vids.
Please, do 1) lower capacitors like 0.0022-0.01uF 2) 250-1meg Pots on same capacitor, especially all the way down, where in makes bump on cutoff frequency.
Pickup makers don't want us to know what happens when you try tone caps below 10 nF.
My very first preference on caps is to use audio potentiometers for tone, with linear I feel I have much less control over the turning of the knob. After that in my strats I like .047. Cheers!
I'm going to rig a .1 and a .022 up to a toggle switch next to my gilmour switch after hearing this. Seems like it'll be a fun little addition to the guitar.
I use 500 k audio on all my guitars brings single coils to life in my humble opinion. Thanks for the video Dylan good stuff.I judge for myself.
Would be nice to look at the wiring diagram with only one single coil pickup.
love the sound when you place the 33uf cap.very rich sound!!
Ok..that was the tone cap....now what is best for treble-bleed cap and resistor parallel circuit.
I would prefer all the treble ( especially the higher trebles) at all volume settings but only the frequencies from say 3-5k and down being what is being removed
First day on your channel, I love it. Thanks. Seriously.
Good stuff Dylan! I've learned a ton from watching your channel the past year or so. Thanks for all the work you put in!
I have a wierd setup on a karera build a caster. The friend I got it from is no longer with us so it's hard to figure the mod he told Me it was set up for.
So I've learned Solder and got a bunch of tools from graduating college for hvac.
So I'm done building the guitar bone nut, painted it to psychedelic beauty, and just have to figure a few things out to hopefully preserve my dead friends og setup, this is the wire setup I've figured he'd made, I remember he built it to work as a humbucker,( I had no idea about guitar maintenance af the time).
So he has Tele 60s style two holes, top pick up is I believe stock Tele rip off with a triangle like pickup. Under the bridge is an extra white ground wire, I'm pretty sure it's set for a humcaster, so that basically the two pickups can cancel out to the bridge? I want to add a piezo w/ 9volt pickup for hopefully a acoustic way to play,( I have plenty of guitars they all are stock I want this one to be different.), plus there are two 500 k pots, the volume pot I believe has a .022uv ( red compasitor looks corrects I'm sorry I have a hard time being a newb), video over
Another great vid! Thx. My Tele is wired with a push/pull 500K tone with .015 & .033. My 335 & 175 have push/pull with .022 & .047. Great tonal variations and allows me to dial it in, with various amps.
I do dig the experiments ... science & engineering is up my alley - thanks for the guitar tone tips! Inductive & capacitance reactance is what we hear - many value combinations could be right. I agree it's in the ears not necessarily depending on hard values
I just hook up my LCR meter to the pickup to determine the inductance. Then I shoot for 670Hz resonant peak and figure out how much capacitance it takes to get there. Any resonant peak between 600-700Hz will do.
I AGREE WITH YOU THAT CAPACITORS TYPE DOES NOT MATTER ON TONE... CERAMIC, OR THE ORANGE DROPS.
really cool experiment! I was struggling with this capacitor sh. with my les paul korea with SeymDuncans Hot road. I tried diff pots and 2 capacitors. I will do this experiment for sure! great insight! thanks!
Thanks for explaining how to experiment, I need to get a kit.
Thanks so much this made me realize Ii want to go brighter with my PIO cap for tele .022 not .033
yes i cut trees the density grain and texture varies alot even in one tree
My Hagstrom Swede sounded very dark when I bought it. It has the regular tone knobs and an additional filter switch which adds another two capacitors or none, to the mix. Man, that got things extremely muffled. I swapped in a pair of .022’s and it brightened up the sound. I’m going to install my Super distortion picks in it and see what it sounds like then. It should be an improvement over the stock pickups.
Good information goes a long long way. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you so much for doing this video! I’ve been having muddy tone on a strat for the longest time and didn’t know what to do to make it sound clearer! Thank you!
Good to know, my Gretsch 5420 is a bit dark. I think this would be a great solution.
Thank you!
I've been playing since 1991 and I don't think ive turned the tone down yet... although sometimes I wish I could turn it to 11!!
This is why I use a 10 position (8 - 12 would be fine) Rotary Switch; remove the ball bearing in it (EASY!) & put a series of capacitors in it👍
EVERY position is EXACTLY the way you want it 😉
How do the two plates on the rotary switcvh make cointact without the ball bearing?
@@Ben-yy7io
No Problem!
The ball bearing is only there for the “click“ and to make you know exactly where the setting is but to be honest you don’t really need to know that once it’s twisted and it hits the sounds that you want then that’s fine
Also you can still feel when the contact changes so you have that reassurance
There is also the option of leaving the ball bearing in but bending the clip that secures it back so as to “weaken it“ ...try it? YMMV
@@BeesWaxMinder Ah so it's kind of like a variable capacitor?
@@Ben-yy7io
I suppose so...
Well, IF ya put Caps in it it is 0R if you put Resistors in then it can be like a Tone Pot or even a Vol Pot -depending how you wire it👍
It’s kinda more a ‘mechanical mod’ in that it alters how it FEELS more than how it behaves?
Thank you so much for this demonstration, You "Rock" !
You should have put the link for the other video about the potentiometers
Thank you thank you thank you for this demo.
if you re making an Esquire, you can do sort of the same thing for the forward position (fixed rolloff). you can change the value and change how the pickup sounds when the pickup selector switch is all the way forward. I did this and was able to make all three positions usable to me because the rolloff was more subtle then if I used the value Fender historically did. the standard value was too muddy a tone to be usable in what I play. I noticed that most of the time I see an Esquire being played they only use 2 of the three positions and maybe that is why.
Really need to do this with a Strat - SSH - as you use 500K pots with the tele - then compare no tone circuit to tone circuit
Really great video about this. Wow, the 0.047 cap muffles so much of the brightness out of the tone, especially at 5, 3 and 0 on tone knob. I'm curious what the differences are when playing with some crunch and solos. I have found that the tone of chords can be quite different than that of individual notes during solos, and there are big differences in tone between near the 3rd fret and up around 12-15th frets (which I think is where some guitars come alive). I'm always on the lookout for the "perfect" solo tone.
I would like to know what a musician should know about connecting his (amps, fx pedals) on a PA for let’s say his/hers first gig. Are there any factors to be considered in terms of safety What are the most common problems that hi/she might face that hi/she need to know how to solve or at least know what is causing them What is the sound enginiar expects of them to know when they do a sound check etc... :-) Forgive me if you have already made a video about this , I really enjoy your videos so far, I find them highly educational, thanks for sharing , keep up the good work!!
I am 100% a user of lower value caps in my guitars. It makes the tone knob much more functional for me (which means I actually use it now).
Very helpful because it confirms what I have been suspicious of for some time now, especially considering conformational bias towards/within marketing and how the template has been set and another point by who?
I mean who was it, I say was because how long has this been unchallenged, yes I believe there are many out there and proven by this video and more like it that have differences, like the guy who made a comprehensive comparison test on pickups, well it was meant to be tone wood on electric guitars, getting to the point- eventually after trying a few set ups where he stuck a set of single coils on a plankof wood at 25.5inch scale length thewoodwas plained pine cls 4X2" timber a cutting he just picked up off the floor, this then with a comparison to a big brand guitar company guitar proved that it was irrelevant that tone wood is worth the cost in my opinion, he then went on to further hammer the theory of tone wood and more reinforced that pickup height is more important when he strung a set of 10s across the gap between two benches in his workshop, the pickups obviously had to be fixed so th scale too, so the bridge(this is all based on a simple tele bridge and pickup configuration) th bridge was secured far enough on one end to allow room for the bridge pickup only and woah did it sound just like anything you would expect if you paid goodmoney for it! This was all done as Controlled an experiment as possible as far as I could see, and the.amp settings were same in each instance and the pickups I'd have to look up the video again its been a while, so I absolutely love when goo dfolks like yourself and other like you Dylan pick up th mantle and show us the truth so that we can make informed decisions based not on what marketing says is best, I mean we're just asking to be suckered when we type in a Web search for "what is best filer... blah blah?" This kind of video is about informing by show and tell, it is one of the more honest videos and that speaks highly of your character as a person and a maker/builder of quality parts for electric guitars, I live in the UK so I naturally get my gear from nearby I try before I buy but there's just some things that most haveto uy online, electrical components that are THE very basic of components within that industry not talking about music, so I don't do searches for guitar pots or capset I find out the generic names and go from there and the price difference is much less, especially in bulk over 100, en 10 of there's a difference, which burns meup with the question "why the fcuk do electric guitars cost so much!!??" Especially when you break down guitar to its parts and quantities including the wood treatment colour coat and gloss and pishing- the tools cost more! But once you've figured out a way to buy and accumulation of what youneed while still making guitars and selling them at the same time- you can hire equipment that will be a fraction of the cost and still be able to make our first guitar and sell it for enough for that tool you just hired, then onto the next so onto fourth. We are being robbed with our eyes and ears wide shut or worse wide open when you still know and still allow yourself to be bummed in broad daylight by big dick brand names that I have less respect for now than when the companies founders designed and made the.tele the strat etc.
Anyway big rant over 😊
Love your work, the time and effort you put into making this whole decision making process much simpler and clearer by using the truth big ❤ from Scotland laird Farquhar (Lord farquard) its pronounced like Parker but obviously with an F.
Good experiment of tonal differences .
Thanks for the video! Surprise to hear that 500k pot with .015uf cap sounds good on neck pick-up.
Great channel mate you make sense. What setup would you recommend for a creamy neck pickup sound?
I just put a pearly gates in my player strat. It came as a HSS and now I don’t get the combined middle and tapped Humbucker in the second position. I guess the wire colors function aren’t the same as the original Fender....
I'm a firm believer in fit feel and sound... I've just personally found everytime I put any sort of limit on what's the best or not good enough there will be a time when I'm made to look stupid... which I why there prolly a guitar out there made out of ply wood wit a crooked neck and a pickup a guy made work out of 4 different pickups and it sounds amazing or to him is the best guitar he's ever played... so the tone wood argument is valid but on a personal level meaning in that certain case the stars aligned sort of thing
Wow! Very cool... To me the pots continued to sound progressively warmer/darker... I don't remember what I have in mine. Time to check! Thanks!
Thank you so much for making this vid! I have started making my own amp and was wondering how the different values change the sounds. Most sites and forums try to describe it. That wasnt helping me. Then i found your vid and I GET IT NOW! Thank you! You are awesome!
Actually, I’ve been staying away from the .0 47 but now I think I like the sound.
I don’t know much about capacitors, but . It seems the higher the number just gives you more of a frequency range . Ie.. .22 will only go to .22 .. .47 will go to .47 .. it changes the value of your tone knob . Correct me if I’m wrong
I’m glad you’re putting up these videos they are really good you also had some pick ups did you send your friend McKnight I’m gonna look into they
what a cool way to listen and experiment!
The real question is, what value pots and caps does Beyonce like?
Which value
Great video! Have to wonder ... a tone sample at the start of each demo with no capacitor.
What kind of guitar is that? I dig the look.
In just a few videos you have opened my eyes and answered so many questions I've had since I opened up my very first electric guitar back in 7th grade in 1980. Thank yoiu for making it easy to learn and understand
I heard a difference, even though my cell phone speaker. I'm wondering if modern wiring versus vintage 50's style wiring would give the same results, because 50's style connects the tone control to the volume output instead of the input.
Thanks for all the great videos and knowledge
Like the 0.15 cap for the tone. I like bright and you can hear it in the demo. Thanks!!!
.15 is bigger, not smaller. Darker, not brighter.
This is the best demo about capacitors!
It would be interesting to do a demo on 250k, 500k, and 1 Meg pots to a telecaster.
Dylan I need to get .033uf cap for my strat (running 250k pots) and a .068uf cap for my j bass(after installing a Leo Quan bridge it seems to bright with a .047uf. Tried a 0.1uf cap - muddy as the Ohio River bottom
Can I add a capacitor just to my neck pickup to make it brighter without affecting the bridge pickup tone on a tele with 1 volume and 1 tone control?
Thanks! Very helpful in understanding how the caps address overall tone and also how effects the response when you turn it down. About to start my first tel build and plan on using a push pull pot to give me 2 options. probably start with a .015 and a .033. I'll be using a SD Hot Stack in the neck and SD Little 59 HB in the bridge.
Very helpful... left me back at conventional choices (.047 for singles) but now I'm confident it's the right choice. I might drop down one notch and test just for kicks, but it looks like the way to go.
Thank you for making this, Dylan! I just ordered a kit to replace the pots, switch, & jack and it was hard to make a decision on what I wanted. I went for .047 and if I don't like how it sounds, I'll switch it out and see what I like better. 2 legs makes it simple. Even at 10, it had less highs/more low end. Maybe if you had 500k pots on single coils, the .047 might be OK. YMMV
Edit: those were 500k pots? If that settles it lol. Putting the 047 in with my single coils and 500k pots I ordered. I've got some 2 wire humbuckers but I'm not sure I can use them like that.
Very clear the comparison... thanks for the great job
Dylan can you speak about the Fender TBX tone pot ,and the Fender S -1 switch? Details
What’s the standard Cap on a USA Tele?
excellent vid! useful empirical goodness. liked & subbed.
This is why to put in what sounds good to ear!
Great stuff, love your vids.
This video made me think about the grease bucket tone configuration. I like what a 0.047 does in the first half of rotation but for next half i started to like what a 0.022 does. I could join 2 caps so to start with .047 and end with a ".022".
Does Wood type matter in an Archtop with microphonic pick ups.
Hi Dylan
As always Xlnt video. Just a thought I’d love to see you evaluate the Hofner 500-1 bass controller.
I couldn't tell the difference, except, that the .047 sounded muffled. I'm guessing that means less sizzle.
Shoulda did this experiment with a les paul junior... Single p90 pickup. Keep it simple and sweet.
Or w a tele bridge pickup 🙄
Great test! Thanks a lot! Awesome work! It confirms happilly my decision on my first Tele kit-build as a newbie to put 0.15 caps (240-ish pots) with the Fender noiseless N3, and not the generic 0.47 tonekiller!! Thats the tone and pot-action I like!! Yiiipiiayyooo! Keep rolling, Dylan. Request: a vid about difference and pros/cons refering adio vs. linear pots (edit: you did allready, thanks... )
Could you use a dpdt to switch between to diffent capacitors?
Ceramic caps sound different too.
No.
the woodof the body is only part of the overall weight of the guitar,, you have to consider the weight of the electronics and the hardware as wel in the total weight of the whole guitar,,my Strat started out at about 7.2 lbs and after I add more pots and the added weight of locking tuners and the reas like the heavier trem block replacing the cheap pot metal block it came from China with the weight total will be more even though the body alone will be less when the control cavity is enlarged to accommodate the added controls it started as a bog standard Strat with 3 pots standard tuners and single coil pick ups it;s ending up with 3 quad rail humbuckers and 6 pots (3 push/pull 500k vil and 3 500k vol pots as well as adding a bypass switch and adding led lighting inside the cavity for effects...yep same on I've been talking about for a while its all stripped and partially refinished and the electronice are all wired up and ready for installation as soon as the body is done adding a titanium nut too light and really durable roller string trees as well as roller saddles in the gridge....going all out with this one for the fun of it to see how well my plan goes the next build will include the Tele pick up you built with the other builder that you sent to me a wile ago...got a pick up now need a guitar to put it into...got a Strat first and the Tele is next..and then the other major types get a place in the line up you know SG ,,and a Les Paul then maybe an ES-335 eventually a custom shaped body with a few new tricks I thought up on my own,,,this is a newer hobby for me and at my age I get to indulge myself a bit,,, no hurry and get it the way I want it by doing it all myself.... I can't afford to resto mod a cclassic car like I would love to do but a guitar is s,aller and cheaper to do in the long run..
Hi, just a question or idea, is it possible to place a small toggle switch which would change between 2 types of capacitors, if yes, how would we wire it?
Great video! On the comment about tone wood....thank you! I believe the tone you get is more dependent on how well the instrument is put together along with good hardware and electronic. A few years ago I played with a friend I have known for thirty years. When I first met him he was playing an SG copy. It sounded soo good. When we last played he still had that same guitar. By then it had become a true relic with real road worn areas. Did I mention this guitar still sounded great. When I looked at some of the areas where the paint was gone I was amazed to see a plywood body. So does the wood in the body make a difference? I would still say yes, but not as much as some would believe. Too many variables such as neck material, strings and how about this. Maybe it’s the driver and not the car. I beat you hand a hello kitty guitar to EVH and you would be amazed.
Hey Dylan. I totally agree with you about tone wood. How does Fender and Gibson still have there own distinct core tone?? Even if both guitars are double humbuckers? I have a John 5 squire. And it still has a fender core tone. I hope this makes sence. Thanks.
Scale length affects tone more than anything
Nice segment!
Hi Dylan I have a question for you If I put quarter pound tele pups and 500k pots with oil and paper caps with treble mod will it sound good please give me feed back thanks and I love this Chanel great work any help would be helpful thanks