MOD GARAGE
DIRK wACKER
The Stratocaster Cap Switching Mod
Hello, and welcome back to “Mod Garage.”
I’ve received several emails asking about
using different tone caps in a Stratocaster, so
I’d like to show you a cool little mod to do
so. I hope you remember the column about
seperating the both Stratocaster tone controls from each other (the Tone-Split Mod).
This gives you the ability to use individual
tone caps for the middle and neck pickup
tone controls, or with another little mod, two
individual tone caps for the bridge and neck/
middle pickup positions. This is very handy
if you want a bigger tone cap for the bridge
pickup, because this pickup has the most
twang and bite.
For example, you could use a 0.022uF cap
for the bridge pickup and let’s say a 0.01uF
cap for the middle and neck pickup, which
are warmer sounding anyway and don’t need
such a big tone cap. This is also very useful
if you want to combine different values plus
different types of tone caps. Not long ago,
I had a customer who wanted a vintage-sounding bridge pickup on his Strat, but with
a very warm and jazzy tone from the neck
pickup. We ended up with an NOS 0.02uF
Sprague High Voltage ceramic cap from the
‘60s for the bridge pickup and another NOS
0.05uF paper-in-oil cap out of military supply for the middle and neck pickup. This is a
perfect mod to fine-tune the tonal structure
of each pickup, but what if you want to have
two different tone caps for one pickup? It’s
possible, read on.
Understanding Your Options
You can use this “cap switching” mod not
only on a Stratocaster, but virtually all tone
controls in every guitar. In a nutshell, this mod
adds a switch with two capacitors, and you
can toggle between them. You don’t need
much for this mod, just two tone caps of
your choice and an SPDT (single pole, double
throw) switching device. This can be a small
toggle switch or a push/pull and push/push
pot. Why would want this? There are several
scenarios where this mod can help. Say you
want two caps of the same value but very
different types to achieve different sounds—
for example, a 0.022uF High Voltage paper-waxed or paper-in-oil cap for the neck pickup
tone control to achieve a very warm and jazzy
clean tone, and a 0.022uF Orange Drop cap
for a raunchy, punching distorted tone. The
midrangy sound of these caps is very helpful
for defined overdrive sounds and will help
you to cut through any mix. Try this with a
paper-waxed cap and you’ll be disappointed.
Or, perhaps you want two caps with different
values to shift the range of the tone control? The smaller the cap, the more precisely
controllable it is. This is especially helpful
when you want to warm up your tone only
slightly. For another example, you can use
a 0.05uF cap to achieve very dark and jazzy
neck pickup lead tones, plus a 6800pF cap
for a lot of warm tonal shades when playing
rhythmn. Naturally, you can also use different
types of caps with different values. The possible combinations are virtually endless and
the versatility of your guitar will be greatly
enhanced. Another benefit of this mod is that
you can combine it with any other mod we’ve
discussed during the last few months.
The Mod
First, you have to decide if you want to use an
additional mini-toggle switch or a push/pull or
push/push pot. Normally push/pull and push/
push pots have a DPDT switch, instead of the
SPDT required for this mod—but you can use
only half of the DPDT switch. After installing
your switching device, connect the two caps of
your choice as shown on the diagram below.
If the leads of your caps are long enough, you
can twist the legs that aren’t soldered to the
switch together, put a little solder on them
and connect them to the tone pot.
Instead of the normal SPDT switch, you can
also use a single-pole on/off/on switch, with
an extra, neutral switching position in the
middle. Connected as shown, the middle
and the neck pickup are disconnected from
the tone circuit in the middle position of
the switch, which is very similar to a no-load
pot. This will give you a resonance peak of
approx. +3dB—a noticeable sonic difference!
Alright, that’s it! Stay tuned for more Strat
mods coming next month, when we’ll talk
more about tone caps for Strats. Until then...
keep on modding!
Dirk Wacker
Dirk Wacker lives in Germany and has been addicted to
all kinds of guitars since the age of five. He is fascinated
by anything that has something to do with old Fender
guitars and amps. He plays country, rockabilly, surf and
Nashville styles in two bands, works regularly as a
studio musician for a local studio and writes for several
guitar mags. He is also a confessing hardcore DIY guy
for guitars, amps and stompboxes and runs an extensive
webpage, singlecoil.com, about these things.
