Tone cap values for fat strat?

Kapo_Polenton · Post by **Kapo_Polenton** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:06 pm

What do you rockers like tonecap value wise in your fat strats? I currently have a alder body/Koa top strat routed for H-S. I just swapped in a USA made Bill Lawrence L500-L in place of a JB and i like the responsiveness of the pickup but find i still have a taste of quack. I run a GFS cool rails clone in the neck and tapped as a single coil, it too quacks a tad too much. I can roll back the tone a tad on the bridge but then the pickup loses its crunch and bite. It just spanks too much. Do any of you use no tone cap?

I am running one vol and one tone. 500K for vol and 250k push/pull tone. I know that the cool rails probably runs better on a 250k vol but i figured i would start with the bridge as the is the one i play on most.

Thanks

Kapo_Polenton · Post by **Kapo_Polenton** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:11 am

Wow no responses? This ain't rocket science folks.. what values are you running for your tone caps on your fat strats? What pot values? Any experiences between maple necks and spanky tone?

Thanks.

TomGibbs · Post by **TomGibbs** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:20 pm

I dont even use a tone knob sorry.

Guitar-Sam · Post by **Guitar-Sam** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:38 pm

On my 79' I have a dimarzio super in the bridge. CTS 250K Fender replacement parts,I have the middle pups tone pot wired to the bridge and I just have the stock cap hooked up.
I've been debating hooking up a treble bleed cap cause it muddys up when you roll volume down for cleaner tones.
Dunno if that'll help ya or not.

Kapo_Polenton · Post by **Kapo_Polenton** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:53 pm

Yup helps somewhat.. i guess i just have a brighter guitar. Alder and maple neck will do that. When recorded it certainly cuts but there is a fine line because right now what annoys me is that the higher notes sound thin. Listening back to Dimebag who also used the L500-L, i kind of hear this as well . Same with Nuno.. so essentially the Lawrence pickups might be suited better to darker would because they cut soo much. Then again, all these 80's big hari guys used bright guitars and the JB is very similar.. tone cap wise i understand that if you are wide open, they don't affect the tone much at all. As such, doesn't do me much good.. for now i find myself rolling back on the tone a tad for leads. I might move to a darker fuller pickup at some point to fatten up the leads.

TomGibbs · Post by **TomGibbs** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:37 am

Guitar-Sam wrote:On my 79' I have a dimarzio super in the bridge. CTS 250K Fender replacement parts,I have the middle pups tone pot wired to the bridge and I just have the stock cap hooked up.
I've been debating hooking up a treble bleed cap cause it muddys up when you roll volume down for cleaner tones.
Dunno if that'll help ya or not.

Sorry to hijack your thread a little Kapo, but Guitar-Sam, ive got a super distortion(80's with A5) im gunna be putting in a warmoth strat, i know its fairly common to use a 250k pot with a JB, but what about the super distortion? have you tried both 250 and 500k?

Is it too trebley with the 500k?

thanks

Guitar-Sam · Post by **Guitar-Sam** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:16 am

Never tried the 500K w/ the super.I had a JB in it for awhile tried both pots and I seemed to like the 250K better with that pickup so I never changed it again when I put the super in it.
The JB in THAT guitar was bit muddy IMO the super is nice but muddy when ya roll the volume back.Mine is just a stock modern off the shelf super not a vintage one.

Kapo_Polenton · Post by **Kapo_Polenton** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 3:02 pm

No worries guys, the info you are sharing helps my future purchase decisions. I found my JB with a 250K pot lost a bit of its bite but it did tame the higher end-ness of the pickup. This LAwrence has really good note definition but as mentioned, sounds a tad thin up top. I was listening to Pantera this morning, definitely hear the characteristics of the L500-L in there.I would think the Super Distortion should stick with a 500k unless you hve a super bright guitar. Might end up sounding like you have the tone rolled back..

Guitar-Sam · Post by **Guitar-Sam** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:25 pm

Maybe your right.Maybe a 500K pot would help my volume roll back mud problem w/ the super??

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:12 am

Sorry guys, no solution here, and I'm maybe drifting off topic.

But, I think this is a general problem with most guitars. I generally find that no particular combination of pots/caps works in any guitar I have had. I always want less brightness from the bridge, and less mud in the neck.

I wonder if the trick is to tweak the circuit for each pickup. For example, if the bridge is too muddy, wouldn't it be possible to add a resistor just to that pickups circuit. So, you could have (for example), a 250k volume pot, that one pickup sees as 250k, and when the other pickup is engaged it sees 500K.

Just a thought, and I don't know how to do this.

Any ideads?

Kapo_Polenton · Post by **Kapo_Polenton** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 4:40 pm

I think it is a good start. You would have to ask around maybe at Gearpage. I agree with you, a lot of humbuckers at the neck sound too muddy and a lot of single coils at the neck can sound too damn quacky! Then the bridge with the tone rolled back can be flat but up there, can be too spanky. I definitely hear you there. The key is perhaps to cover everythingin gobs of gain so tone doesn't matter lol. But yeah, resistors might assist.. to me it looks like it is all about the vol pot. Tone pot really determines how quick it rolls off and how much you roll off but ultimately i think pickups sound better wide open. So its getting them to sound great wide open that is the hard part.

Kapo_Polenton · Post by **Kapo_Polenton** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 4:43 pm

To answer the 500/250 dilemna, they have dual pots that are push pull for this. You could also wire two seperate vol pots and one tone. I'm kind of screwed seeing as i have only two pots on a rear routed custom axe.

Guitar-Sam · Post by **Guitar-Sam** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:00 pm

Kapo_Polenton wrote:The key is perhaps to cover everythingin gobs of gain so tone doesn't matter lol.

Good point Maybe I need my 5150 back....

Anybody else here that wasp flyin around??

electricskychurch · Post by **electricskychurch** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:20 pm

i have a 0,1 uf tone cap in my strat and it's still really bright (62' ri mark knopfler with 69 CS pu's / ash body, rosewood fretboard and vintage style hardware that seems to give more brightness/ bite than the modern one ).
pots should be 250k like the vintage ones if i remember well.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:10 am

Kapo_Polenton wrote:To answer the 500/250 dilemna, they have dual pots that are push pull for this. You could also wire two seperate vol pots and one tone. I'm kind of screwed seeing as i have only two pots on a rear routed custom axe.

What I had in mind was something more like an original Telecaster wiring schematic, or the Esquire- I think these had caps/resistors that were different between one position and the next. So, the switch doesn't just change the pickup selection, it also adds/changes the capacitance and/or resistance of the circuit.

Quite what values would work for you I have no idea, but I think this is the way forward. I wish I could find out more information about tweaking guitar circuits like this.