no way you’re going to damage the instrument with
changing this part out (unless you’re just horrible at
soldering, in that case check out this video http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2T7crNnOA8) and the
results can be quite interesting. A good way to A/B is
to attach alligator clips to your tone pot and just swap
caps out with the clips to find the tone you are looking
for. Also, P- 90’s and other more specialized pickups
may benefit from different, more oddball values. I’ve
found that a 0.033µf compliments my P- 90’s quite well.
Now we need to discuss capacitor types. Different capacitor types do actually yield different tones.
Now, this is a subject that I see a lot of debate and
argument over. There are believers and non-be-lievers so we’re going to discuss the types without
getting too into the tones they provide. Then I’ll
provide a link to a video shootout that I’ve found
to be extremely well done and provides a good reference for the sound of different capacitor types.
The most common cap found in production line guitars
is ceramic. These are small disc-shaped capacitors that
are extremely cost effective and considered by most
tone connoisseurs to need immediate replacement.
There is nothing wrong with these capacitors, they do
the job they were intended to do which is shunt high
frequencies to ground. From what I’ve heard on these
guys is they have a bit of a grainy aspect to the highs
and really have no definitive character when rolled
down, they just sound kind of flat to me. Ceramic disc
caps are super cheap (usually a couple of cents each)
and easy to find. If you’re not too concerned with
the minutiae of tone, these work just fine. If you’re
picky like me, you may want to try something else.
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