All About Guitar Capacitors

Capacitors are useful in guitar wiring because they can be used to route high frequencies away from the guitars output jack and away from the signal that goes into the amp. The effect of this is a softer, warmer, more mellow tone which is controlable depending on the value of the capacitor used.

The range of frequency that is sent to ground is determined by the value of the capacitor. Generally, Capacitors in the range of .001 mfd (micro farad) to .1 mfd take out highs in the frequency of the guitar signal that often sound pleasant. The .1mfd capacitor will sound very muffled because much more of the frequency is rolled of. The .001mfd capacitor will be hard to even notice because only the harder to hear high frequencies will be effected. The most common values found in guitars are .022 mfd and .047 mfd capacitors. Quite often .022 mfd capacitors are paired with humbuckers and .047 mfd caps are paired with single coil pickups.

How Different Capacitors Sound

Here is an audio clip of a phrase played seven times on the single coil neck pickup of a Stratocaster:

1st phrase - with no capacitor
2nd phrase - .003mfd tone knob at ten
3rd phrase - .006mfd tone knob at ten
4th phrase - .01mfd tone knob at ten
5th phrase - .02mfd tone knob at ten
6th phrase - .033mfd tone knob at ten
7th phrase - .047mfd tone knob at ten

Single Coil Stratocaster Pickup Link To Mp3

Types Of Capacitors

Suitable for Guitar

Ceramic - These are the cheapest capacitors on the market and are often found in cheaper guitars. There is a lot of debate as to whether or not these capacitors sound worse than the other types. In my opinion it is not a huge difference.

Ceramic capacitors almost always have a 3-digit code printed onto their body to identify their capacitance value.

Just fill in the three digit code to find the value of your capacitor:

Capacitor Code

C in uF

C in nF

C in pF

 

Film - Film caps are made out of polyester (Mylar), polystyrene, polypropylene, polycarbonate, teflon and metallized paper. Famous capacitors for guitar wiring like the Sprague "Orange Drop" and "Black Beauty" caps are film-type capacitors and are considered quality.

Oil/Paper - Oil/Paper caps are made out of you guessed it, oil and paper. These are considered the best capacitors that money can buy although I do not hear much of a difference between these and film capacitors.

Not Suitable for Guitar

Electrolytic - electrolytic capacitors are polarized and are mostly used to filter D.C. current in power supplies and ussually have values too big for use in the application of guitar wiring.