Capacitor Question

[Rodc]

Hi guys,

I'm going to wire up my guitar like in the diagram. Do I need inline capacitors or can I get away using the ones that come with the kit? (soldered to the tone pot)
thanks, Rod.

[McCreed]

Hi Rod.
You will likely need to extend one of the "legs" of most any capacitor with a bit of wire in order to reach between the mechanical components (eg: pot to switch). I don't know what value the kit caps are, but they would certainly be appropriate for most standard guitar circuits, so the caps provided in the kit (presuming there are two) will be fine.

Whilst there are recommended values for this & that, a lot of it comes down to personal preference.

[Joe Garfield]

I think his question (correct me if I'm wrong) is, is it OK to leave the capacitor between the Tone Pot and Ground, or if he needs to move it to between the Switch and the Tone Pot.

In other words: the capacitor is in series with the tone pot (resistor) so, does it matter if the capacitor is on the switch side or the ground side of the pot?

I just asked the Electrical Engineer sitting next to me and he said it shouldn't matter. I hope that's the case as the diagrams I've used show the capacitor wired directly to ground, after the pot, which is how I just wired my harness.

Capacitors respond to changes in voltage - every time the voltage changes (+) to (-) the capacitor charges/discharges. The changing (+) to (-) will happen just the same on either side of the potentiometer, just with different voltage amplitude. Since caps respond to voltage swings moreso than voltage amplitude, it shouldn't make much of a difference, says the EE.

[Rodc]

Thanks McCreed and Joe..👍
Yes Joe, that’s what I meant sorry. Thank you for the info.

[Joe Garfield]

Seymour Duncan's website has wiring schematics. For all scenarios with push/pull coil split and phase, they have the capacitor on ground-side of the tone pot lug.

[Rodc]

Thanks Joe. I will check their site out..👍

[Simon Barden]

As your electrical friend says, it doesn't matter about the order as the potentiometer is acting as a variable resistor, not a potential divider (as for a volume pot). You can have cap then resistor, or resistor then cap and get exactly the same result.

[Rodc]

Thank you Simon.
I learnt today not to put to much heat into the top of push pull switch when I was adding some earth wire. One switch down..👎

[fender3x]

Thank you Simon.
I learnt today not to put to much heat into the top of push pull switch when I was adding some earth wire. One switch down..

Yikes! Rather than soldering to the case you might want to solder to the tab at the bottom. That should require less heat.



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[Rodc]

Spot on Fender. That’s the way I decided to go after I stuffed the first one..🤦*♂️