Guitar Tone Capacitor Values

Guitar caps are used to manipulate specific frequencies to shape tone.

Guitar tone capacitor values.

Let s dig in a little bit and figure out what a tone capacitor is doing to your guitar signal first. There are many values used in the wide range of guitars on the market but the tests here focus on these two values. Capacitance is defined as the ability of a component to store an electrical charge. Tone capacitors tone capacitors are the most misunderstood component in a guitar.

A common value for a tone capacitor in guitars is 0 022 microfarads or 0 022uf as an abbreviation. How you integrate it into your wiring plan adds another dimension to the manipulation of your tone. Guitar capacitors explained what do capacitors do. Depending on the cap s value or capacitance the effect can go from slightly warmer 2200 6800pf to a woman tone 0 01 0 047uf up to completely dark and clinically dead 0 1uf and higher.

A lower value capacitor in the 01uf range could result in a more usable tone with more tone control travel between the brightest and darkest tones. The bottom line is that there are too many tonewoods pickup models foot pedals amps etc. The tone pot potentiometer controls how much of the guitars signal is sent to the tone cap to have its highs removed. A larger value that rolls off high frequencies to a greater degree is 0 1uf.

The tone pot s resistance is the same for all signal frequencies. The smaller the capacitor like 022 015 or less the less the treble is removed. Capacitor impedance z capacitor 1 2 π f c where f frequency and c capacitance. The 0 022uf value is still the standard today.

The easiest way to think of a tone capacitor is that in the typical tone circuit they are a high frequency removal device. That affect your tone to give a general answer. A capacitor is a device that stores electricity. If you need very dark and bassy tones this value may work for you.

If you re trying to go from one to the other one picofarad is 1 millionth of a microfarad ex. The principles learned apply to other values as well. Standard tone pots are between 250k ohms and 1000k ohms 1 meg. The value of a capacitor is measured in farads but the capacitances we re dealing with for our humble guitar circuits are small and are most commonly measured in microfarads µf or picofarads pf.

In the golden days of electrical guitars fender and gibson used tone caps with a very high capacitance 0 1uf 0 05uf and 0 047uf 0 022uf depending upon the time period. By far the most popular values are 250k which are typical in fenders and 500k which are typical in gibsons.