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Tonecaps – Guitar Capacitors Guide

What Does a Capacitor Do to Your Tone?

CA·PAC·I·TOR
/KƏˈPASƏDƏR/

NOUN
A DEVICE USED TO STORE AN ELECTRIC CHARGE, CONSISTING OF ONE OR MORE PAIRS OF
CONDUCTORS SEPARATED BY AN INSULATOR.

If you found the de nition above to be completely inadequate in describing how a capacitor a ects your tone, then this article is de nitely for you. For
anyone just taking in an interest in the electrical components and circuits in their guitar, the ability to truly understand how they work can become very
abstract – usually because we tend to try to visualize everything, which is pretty hard to do when it comes to sound and electricity. When you think about a
sound after it’s been converted to an electric signal[transduce], what do you see in your mind’s eye? I’m willing to bet that it’s something like this:

You pluck an open E, your pickup’s magnetic eld is disrupted and the vibration of the string is inducted by the magnetic coils and the frequencies travel
through a copper wire (or silver, if you’re fancy) – so far, you can see everything happening as we go along, but there’s a capacitor in the circuit coming up fast.
The frequencies pass through the solder joint, up the little leg into the component. And…something happens in there…

What we know for sure is that the sound is di erent when it comes out through the output at the end of the line, but how is the tone cap actually a ecting the
frequencies?

Here, according to de nition, our frequencies sit for a brief moment before coming out the other side. Not exactly, let’s forget the de nition entirely – it’s a very
simple, broad de nition that doesn’t really have speci c consideration for audio applications. Take a look at your capacitor if you have your circuit handy, or just
look at the images below for a moment:

Ground Wires  |  Hot Wires  |  Tone-Cap Wires )

I’ve marked the capacitor wires in blue and given a top and bottom view of the wiring setup – it’s a fairly standard setup, and even though yours may appear a bit
di erent, the capacitor & tone pot are likely the same: one end soldered to the pot’s arm and the second leg is soldered to the bottom of the pot (or somewhere
else in the ground circuit). Why doesn’t the whole frequency get grounded o then? Let’s look at the circuit diagram now:

The capacitor provides a route to the ground, but only higher frequencies will be able to pass through – the rest will continue to the output.

The capacitor is selectively drawing out the higher frequencies and leaving the lower frequencies untouched to carry along down the line. Note that the bass
frequencies are ignoring the law of electricity taking the path of least resistance (to the ground). This is where things get slightly complicated: capacitors are
actually meant to divert lower frequencies, which is the opposite of what we actually see happening in the diagram – and of what we know happens when you
roll your tone knob around.

All of the frequencies are originally attracted to the path of least resistance, but since the capacitor is holding on to the bass frequencies, they actually pass back
into the hot circuit (through the same leg they came in) while the high frequencies are allowed to escape out the ground. Stick a potentiometer just in front of
the capacitor in the circuit and turn it up – you are increasing the range of higher frequencies allowed to escape through to the ground. That’s the gist of it! And if
we return to the de nition about electricity being stored and released, we can picture this happening in the correct sequence with perfect clarity (I hope).

If not, then maybe it’d be helpful to think of it as a resistor that only resists lower frequency ranges. The highs and the lows enter the resistor attempting to pass
through to the ground circuit – the lows get stopped in the cap and turned away while the highs just skim right past to ground. A higher capacitance value gives
a darker tone because a wider range of high frequencies is allowed to escape.

Why does putting a potentiometer right in front of the capacitor only a ect the tone instead of the volume? Good question, me. That’s most de nitely a question
for a potentiometer article though, because it’s going to require a complete breakdown of the pot mechanism as well.

Electricity is confusing sometimes, and it took me some time to go out of the way to research all of this stu – before that, I would just work o of diagrams
knowing A + B = C without any deeper understanding. After I took the time to learn about what I was putting together and how these components are all working
with each other (or against in most cases), I had a ood of new questions and theories to nd answers for and felt like I was ready to start taking on some more
ambitious modi cations.

Capacitor Values Breakdown

So now that we’ve looked at how the capacitor is actually changing the signal, and being selective about it with the help of a variable resistor, let’s get the
numbers down. Each capacitor is going to have two numbers associated with it – the value and the voltage. Before we get into the important matters, I want
to just narrow your scope of interest and point out that the voltage rating on a capacitor is not going to matter 99% of the time when it comes to electric
guitars.

Why?

The voltage rating is essentially the amount of electricity that can come through at any given time before it burns out or degrades. A passive guitar’s circuit is
only putting in a few volts, so generally any rating over 6 or 7 volts is enough…I can’t remember a time when I even came across a capacitor that wouldn’t be
more than suitable. Active pickups put slightly more power into the circuit, usually thanks to a 9v battery.

Sometimes pickup setups are modi ed to run two 9 volt batteries – still just about nothing when considering that most capacitors are made to handle
voltage by the hundreds.

The value of a capacitor is either written right on the thing or marked with some bands of color that you can decode. Paper in Oil capacitors will often have
an alphanumeric code associated with them that you can just run through Google for a quick identi cation, but Ceramic, Electrolytic, Tantalum, Mica, and
Poly Film caps are going to have bands of color that require a bit of math to work out. The following charts will help decode electrolytic and poly lm caps
(read here for the rest):

Capacitor Value Codes

Color First #  Second #  Multiplier  Tolerance  Tolerance

 (T) > 10pf (T) < 10pf

 Black 0 0 x1 ± 20 pF ± 2.0 pF

 Brown 1 1 x10 ± 1 pF ± 0.1 pF

 Red 2 2 x100 ± 2 pF ± 0.25 pF

 Orange 3 3 x1,000 ± 3 pF

 Yellow 4 4 x10,000 ± 4 pF

 Green 5 5 x100,000 ± 5 pF ± .5 pF

 Blue 6 6 x1,000,000

 Purple 7 7

 Gray 8 8  x0.01 +80 pF / -20 pF

 White 9 9  x0.1 ± 10 pF ± 1.0 pF

 Gold  x0.1 ± 5 pF

 Silver  x0.01 ± 10 pF

Capacitor Voltage Color Codes

Color Type J  Type K Type L  Type M  Type N

 Black 4 100 10 10

 Brown

 Red 6 200 100 1.6

 Orange 10 300 250 4  35

 Yellow 15 400 40

 Green 20 500 400 6.3 6

 Blue 25 600  16 15

 Purple 35 700  630  20

 Gray 50 800

 White 900 25 25

 Gold  3 1000 2.5  3

 Silver  2000

If you’d like to learn more about the color code system, I’d recommend reading this guide from Electronics Tutorials. And if you’d prefer to skip all that and
just get some quick help in identifying a mystery cap, use this code calculator.

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). If you’re trying to go from one to the other, one picofarad is 1 millionth of a microfarad (ex. 4700pF = .047µF).
Here’s the most common values:

Capacitor Voltage Color Codes

Value (µF) Value (pF) Treble Bleed

.01 µF 10,000 pF Least Bleed (Brightest)

.015 µF 15,000 pF

.022 µF 22,000 pF

.033 µF 33,000 pF

.047 µF 47,000 pF

.068 µF 68,000 pF

.1 µF 100,000 pF Most Bleed (Darkest)

As the capacitance goes up, the tone gets darker. You’ll know why if you didn’t skip my long-winded explanation at the start. Speaking of common values,
here’s a rule of thumb (and another variable to bore you with): pot rating! Normally you’re going to see guitar companies using 250k pots for single coil
pickups and 500k pots for humbuckers. With an identical signal being passed through 250k and 500k variable resistors, you can expect the tone of the 250k
pot to be darker while the 500k will be brighter.

The reason for that tangent is because you’ll nd manufacturers also pair particular cap values with the pot size:

The practice of pairing the caps with the pots in such a way isn’t counterintuitive (darker pot with darker cap?) but simply the setup being tuned to re ect the
pickup’s tonal qualities. Many people suggest rst experimenting with caps that are lower than the standard value that came with your guitar because it’s
going to produce the most dramatic di erence. I like to make a little variable cap selector with a rotary knob and use a couple of alligator clips to put it in the
circuit after removing the original capacitor, that way I can test out a bunch of tones without much hassle. Most of the time, I don’t know which values I’m
selecting…and I like that because it keeps me focused on what’s truly important.

You are probably wondering if the right tone pot and capacitor could touch on all the sounds you might be trying to achieve with di erent capacitors. The
cap a ects tone even when the tone knob is all the way open, so choosing your value is important. You aren’t changing the value of the cap with a variable
resistor, just the frequencies that are let through to be bled o or kept in the circuit by the cap’s value.

So far we have a lot of variables to consider: 1. Pickups, 2. Pots, 3. Cap values. All are contributing to the end product in their own way, and knowing how they
work can save you a lot of time when you’re trying to achieve a particular voice. The reason I put numbers on them is because that’s the sequence in which
they should be considered…you can just go down the line. It also happens to order each component by how much it a ects your tone. Pickups are obviously
the most important, but does that mean the capacitor is something that doesn’t really make a di erence one way or another? YouTube provides plenty of
evidence for the tone cap ‘hype’ (as the critics call it). A good starting point is this four part series here . I’ll give my personal opinion on tonal di erences a
bit later, but for now we can make a smooth transition into…

Understanding the Brands & Types of Capacitors for Guitars

When you start Googling around for tone caps, you’re going to see a lot of hype around Orange Drops, Bumblebees, and other nicknames that are mostly
based on the cap colors. You’re also going to hear a LOT of di erent material names: mylar, metalized polyester, electrolytic, tantalum, paper in oil, etc.

I’m going to reorganize all this info here for you now to make your life slightly easier. There are four main categories to consider:

Material Subtypes Nicknames and Reported Tonal Qualities

Brands

“Poly Film” Polypropylene Orange Drop [Sprague] A tone that is described as ‘bright’.

     

Polystyrene Blue Drop Polystyrene variants reported to have some interesting frequency loss
characteristics in higher ranges.
Metalized Polyester Film Chocolate Drop
[made with Mylar]

Mylar [DuPont’s branded

polyester]

Paper in Oil Black Beauty ‘Dark’, ‘warm’, ‘smooth’ tone.

  Shortest shelf-life.

Bumblebee Most prone to DC leakage.

Vitamin Q

Ceramic Described as ‘the brightest’ sound.

Also described as ‘anemic’.

Common due to their cheapness – generally not held in high regard among
capacitor enthusiasts.

Electrolytic Aluminum Technically, they are paper in oil – but their di erences in material and
function warrant their own category.
Tantalum
Short shelf life – prone to burnouts when used after a long period of disuse.
Niobium
Polarity sensitive – correct installation required.

DC Leakage.

Tantalum described as the superior electrolytic cap.

Often avoided due to their polarity issues.

There seems to be a few people touting a brand called V-Caps which uses various materials in their products: Te on lm, copper, metalized polypropylene,
and tin foil.

Their materials and construction are probably most similar Orange Drops and Poly Film caps in general – I don’t know anything else about them except that
they’re designed speci cally for audio applications, which sets them apart from most other caps…they may be worth a listen.

Paper and wax caps are another option that have had some good reviews in electric guitar modi cation. I haven’t gotten around to trying them yet either.

Tonal Qualities of Capacitors

Finally, we come to the end. I saved this for last because it’s a matter of controversy and I’m not taking sides, but I cannot write about tone caps and not talk
about the market.

Many guitarists and audiophiles alike are convinced of the speci c, unique tonal qualities that can be found in particular brands of caps, ‘vintage’ caps /
speci c years of manufacturing, and the like. I spoke about a few of these disputed qualities above while I was describing the di erent categories of
capacitors you’re likely to come across.

Does a .047µF paper in oil cap sound any di erent than a ceramic cap with the same exact value? Does a .022µF Orange Drop sound di erent than any other
poly lm cap?

Some people attribute the apparent di erences noted in ‘vintage’ caps compared to brand new caps of the same brand, type, and marked value to be the
result of degradation that has changed the actual value slightly. The DC leakage marked above as a detractor has been suggested as a possible reason for
preferences being formed around aged caps as well.

Here’s a couple di ering opinions that I feel have gone the extra mile in attempting to shut the other down: Gibson argues FOR the tonal di erences, while a
couple of audiophiles named Hank Wallace and Chad Barbour have made a tremendous e ort AGAINST these claims.

What do I think? I don’t want to sway anyone one way or another, but I strongly suggest trying out di erent capacitor values either way because it’s entirely
undisputed that changing the amount of treble bleed through di erent levels of capacitance has a noticeable e ect on your tone.

But while you’re at it, try out a few di erent types as well because there’s no reason not to nd out for yourself while you’re already making the e ort – you
may discover something great.

   

Joel Bennett
UK -> US -> MX • Luthier

Related:

Figured Guitar Wood Guide Used Guitar Buyer's Guide Guitar Repair Tools Guide [Purchase List - 2020] Custom Guitar Pickups Guide

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