Pros and cons of replacing the cap on your tone pot?

[guitup too]

So I've seen a little bit about replacing the cap across the tone pot of the guitar with a different or better one. I'm sure some of the members here can fill me in on the pros and cons of this and maybe which type and value of cap to use. The guitar is my 77 Ibanez Rocket Roll V with Super 70 pickups. Thanks in advance.

 

[LP Freak]

Do you usually run your tone on 10?

 

[guitup too]

Yes, always.

 

[JakeAC5253]

Don't overthink it. If the guitar has sentimental/vintage value and you've never modded something before, let something else be your project guitar. If the guitar is just a workhorse players' guitar then swap that bitch out.

 

[LP Freak]

Yes, always.

The cap only takes effect when you back the tone knob down. Nice guitar BTW.

 

[guitup too]

Ahh, OK. So replacing the cap would help retain some of the highs when the pot is turned down, right? What about the fact that the cap in the guitar now is 34 years old? Still no affect with the tone on 10?

 

[LP Freak]

Ahh, OK. So replacing the cap would help retain some of the highs when the pot is turned down, right? What about the fact that the cap in the guitar now is 34 years old? Still no affect with the tone on 10?

Nah.

 

[JakeAC5253]

Ahh, OK. So replacing the cap would help retain some of the highs when the pot is turned down, right? What about the fact that the cap in the guitar now is 34 years old? Still no affect with the tone on 10?

Actually, yes. Smaller caps shunt less highs. The fact that the cap is old should make little to no difference in its function, unless it's been smacked around a little bit or damaged physically. Due to the amount of voltage present in a passive pickup guitar, I am sure that the cap thinks it's still in a drawer somewhere.

Tone caps have a bit of a "passive" high shunt effect which is greatest when the volume pot is on full. It just depends on the size of the cap and the volume/tone pot resistances.

 

[guitup too]

Ok, thanks for the info guys. Sounds like it's not going to make any difference since I keep the tone pot on 10 anyway.
Thanks LP Freak.

 

[Giga]

Yes, always.

The cap only takes effect when you back the tone knob down. Nice guitar BTW.

Sorry LP Freak, but that's not how it works. The tonecircuit is always active. Even with everything full up there's a path to ground of 250 k (2 x 500k for arguments sake).
See what happens when you disconnect the tonepot and -cap....

Giga

 

[boost]

In the 80's I always did away with tone controls. Nowadays, I prefer what they do to the sound of the guitar which is take a bit of edge off even when full on 10.

I use the tone controls on single coil guitars, but are mostly full up on humbucker guitars. You could try disconnecting the tone control for the neck humbucker to get a bit more clarity (I did this on one guitar). Different cap values will effect the sweep and rolloff of the highs more than anything else. If the tone is always on 10, different values will have some, but vey little change in tone at that point.

There are also no load tone controls which take it out completey at 10 for 'the best of both worlds' so to speak.

I also think spending big bucks on repo caps is ridiculous. Big old Sprague Orange drops will work just fine if you want to experiment. I have Hovlands in one guitar and while nice, I would spend money elsewhere and go with the Spragues.

With that V I'd say if you dig the way it sounds now, leave it alone. Very cool guitar.