Posted by Peter Taylor on February 23, 2010 at 8:28am
Just got a real cool gold Bridge Humbucker and have been looking at wiring it up with volume and tone, have noticed the need for a capacitor, but any diagrams i look have do not have what size to use. I am sure someone here could HELP ME PLEASE..
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...Thanks for the info ..on the link..lots of help
David Lloyd said:
Hi Peter, You are most welcome. Have you thought of adding a piezo also? All you need extra is a piezo and 3 way switch. You then wire as for a telecaster (see wiring diagrams http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/cbgwiringelectronics/forum/topi...) substituting the piezo for one of the magnetic pickups. It gives you 3 different tonal qualities (mag pup/both/piezo) I did a quick video previously to explain the differences in sound to give you an idea of what you can end up with. http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/comparing-cbg-pickups. For some reason a tone capacitor has no effect on piezo tone (different electrical characteristics).
Regards,
David
What is the difference between 250K & 500K pots?
Either 250K or 500K pots can be used with any passive pickups however the pot values will affect tone slightly. The rule is: Using higher value pots (500K) will give the guitar a brighter sound and lower value pots (250K) will give the guitar a slightly warmer sound. This is because higher value pots put less of a load on the pickups which prevents treble frequencies from "bleeding" to ground through the pot and being lost. For this reason, guitars with humbuckers like Les Pauls use 500K pots to retain more highs for a slightly brighter tone and guitars with single coils like Stratocasters and Telecasters use 250K pots to add some warmth by slightly reducing the highs. You can also fine tune the sound by changing the pot values regardless of what pot value the guitar originally had.
How to choose the right tone capacitor for guitar and bass?
Most guitars and basses with passive pickups use between .01 and .1MFD (Microfarad) tone capacitors with .02 (or .022) and .05 (or .047) being the most common choices. The capacitor and tone pot are wired together to provide a variable low pass filter. This means when the filter is engaged (tone pot is turned) only the low frequencies pass to the output jack and the high frequencies are grounded out (cut) In this application, the capacitor value determines the "cutoff frequency" of the filter and the position of the tone pot determines how much the highs (everything above the cutoff frequency) will be reduced. So the rule is: Larger capacitors will have lower cutoff frequency and sound darker in the bass setting because a wider range of frequencies is being reduced. Smaller capacitors will have a higher cutoff frequency and sound brighter in the bass setting because only the ultra high frequencies are cut. For this reason, dark sounding guitars like Les Pauls with humbuckers typically use .02MFD (or .022MFD) capacitors to cut off less of the highs and guitars like Strats and Teles with single coils typically use .05MFD capacitors to allow more treble to be rolled off. Keep in mind that the capacitor value only affects the sound when the tone control is being used (pot in the bass setting) The tone capacitor value will have little to no effect on the sound when the tone pot is in the treble setting.
Thanks Dave, could not get link to wiring, but got video ok, that thing has everything..lol
yes had thought of running both....
David Lloyd said:
Hi Peter, You are most welcome. Have you thought of adding a piezo also? All you need extra is a piezo and 3 way switch. You then wire as for a telecaster (see wiring diagrams http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/cbgwiringelectronics/forum/topi...) substituting the piezo for one of the magnetic pickups. It gives you 3 different tonal qualities (mag pup/both/piezo) I did a quick video previously to explain the differences in sound to give you an idea of what you can end up with. http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/comparing-cbg-pickups. For some reason a tone capacitor has no effect on piezo tone (different electrical characteristics). Regards, David
Hi Peter,
You are most welcome.
Have you thought of adding a piezo also? All you need extra is a piezo and 3 way switch. You then wire as for a telecaster (see wiring diagrams http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/cbgwiringelectronics/forum/topi...) substituting the piezo for one of the magnetic pickups. It gives you 3 different tonal qualities (mag pup/both/piezo) I did a quick video previously to explain the differences in sound to give you an idea of what you can end up with. http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/comparing-cbg-pickups. For some reason a tone capacitor has no effect on piezo tone (different electrical characteristics).
Regards,
David
If you go to this link down the right hand side is a good capacitor guide http://www.axesrus.com/axeElectronicsCaps.htm
I realise you are not UK based but you should find them easily on-line.
When you solder a cap it is often advised that you use a "heatsink" (basically a crocodile clip) between the cap and the bit being soldered to stop heat damage.
Replies
David Lloyd said:
What is the difference between 250K & 500K pots?
Either 250K or 500K pots can be used with any passive pickups however the pot values will affect tone slightly. The rule is: Using higher value pots (500K) will give the guitar a brighter sound and lower value pots (250K) will give the guitar a slightly warmer sound. This is because higher value pots put less of a load on the pickups which prevents treble frequencies from "bleeding" to ground through the pot and being lost. For this reason, guitars with humbuckers like Les Pauls use 500K pots to retain more highs for a slightly brighter tone and guitars with single coils like Stratocasters and Telecasters use 250K pots to add some warmth by slightly reducing the highs. You can also fine tune the sound by changing the pot values regardless of what pot value the guitar originally had.
How to choose the right tone capacitor for guitar and bass?
Most guitars and basses with passive pickups use between .01 and .1MFD (Microfarad) tone capacitors with .02 (or .022) and .05 (or .047) being the most common choices. The capacitor and tone pot are wired together to provide a variable low pass filter. This means when the filter is engaged (tone pot is turned) only the low frequencies pass to the output jack and the high frequencies are grounded out (cut) In this application, the capacitor value determines the "cutoff frequency" of the filter and the position of the tone pot determines how much the highs (everything above the cutoff frequency) will be reduced. So the rule is: Larger capacitors will have lower cutoff frequency and sound darker in the bass setting because a wider range of frequencies is being reduced. Smaller capacitors will have a higher cutoff frequency and sound brighter in the bass setting because only the ultra high frequencies are cut. For this reason, dark sounding guitars like Les Pauls with humbuckers typically use .02MFD (or .022MFD) capacitors to cut off less of the highs and guitars like Strats and Teles with single coils typically use .05MFD capacitors to allow more treble to be rolled off. Keep in mind that the capacitor value only affects the sound when the tone control is being used (pot in the bass setting) The tone capacitor value will have little to no effect on the sound when the tone pot is in the treble setting.
Seymour Duncan have great diagrams you can search here http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/
you click on the "make your selection" arrow and it will give a host of options. I have also used the ones from artec sound http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/ it is a pdf document which has the usual wiring options.
Regards,
David
yes had thought of running both....
David Lloyd said:
You are most welcome.
Have you thought of adding a piezo also? All you need extra is a piezo and 3 way switch. You then wire as for a telecaster (see wiring diagrams http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/cbgwiringelectronics/forum/topi...) substituting the piezo for one of the magnetic pickups. It gives you 3 different tonal qualities (mag pup/both/piezo) I did a quick video previously to explain the differences in sound to give you an idea of what you can end up with. http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/comparing-cbg-pickups. For some reason a tone capacitor has no effect on piezo tone (different electrical characteristics).
Regards,
David
If you go to this link down the right hand side is a good capacitor guide
http://www.axesrus.com/axeElectronicsCaps.htm
I realise you are not UK based but you should find them easily on-line.
When you solder a cap it is often advised that you use a "heatsink" (basically a crocodile clip) between the cap and the bit being soldered to stop heat damage.
Regards,
David