What value tone caps do you have in your Strats?

[Gib58]

Which value tone caps do you use in your Stratocaster and why?

Also, does the value influence the sound even when they are wide open?

[Teleologist]

I like the old-style .1uF cap with the vintage wiring too. I'm using Fender Fat 50s PUPs in an alder/maple neck Strat with 250K pots. The tone cap value does affect the sound with the stock 250K pots wide open. With 500K+ pots or the TBX or Delta tone control setups used on some Strats, it won't matter wide open.

I add a jumper on the switch so the middle tone control also works for the bridge only position. Doing it that way doesn't change the tone of the neck/mid position. In that position with the stock wiring, both pots are in parallel so there's half the resistance(125K) between the signal and the cap resulting in a slightly darker sound. If you don't care or want that position brighter, then moving the wire as mentioned in another post works just fine.

Having the tone control work with the bridge only position makes that position much more usable IMO and is the best mod for a vintage-type Strat. With it dialed down to ~7-8, it'll start sounding a little more Tele-like. Wide open it will take some of the ice-pick highs away.

[Gib58]

Spose - I have the original .022 in my Am Std and .1uF in a 62' RI.

Teleologist - How does the cap affect the sound wide open? Does a .1uF cap mellow out the tone more than the .022's?

I really like the tone of my AM Std ash/maple neck with the .022's, but the 62' RI sounds a bit muddy and was wondering if I should change the .1uF cap to a .022 if it will brighten it up a bit.

BTW, the ash has Van Zandt blues and the RI has Texas Specials.

Thx

[Teleologist]

The value of the cap determines what frequencies get rolled-off, the value of the pot when wide open determines how much roll-off there is. Larger value caps begin to effect the upper-mids more as the rolloff frequency for a larger cap is lower. That's why large value caps can make some guitars muddy.

With typical low output Tele & Strat PUPs, I've found that higher-voltage "amp" caps suck more tone than lower voltage caps of the same brand and uF value. That's probably because caps have inductance and somethinng called equivalent series resistance(ESR). Since the tone control cap in a passive guitar is just dumping signal to ground and not really in the signal path, IMO high priced boutique caps aren't worth it. The IC brand caps Fender uses are fine and I like the 100V Orange Drop 225P or the miniature CDE Metalized Poly caps Mouser sells. Some people like the more ragged rolloff of ceramic disks - this is a geetar after-all, not a hifi ;-)

[Teleologist]

I used to have a '57 RI Strat with Texas Specials and it drove me crazy until I rewired it with a TBX master tone control, .022uF cap, and a Fralin blend-pot(neck+bridge). With stock wiring, I loved the sound of the Specials in the single PUP switch positions but they were just a little too dark in the dual-PUP positions. The '57/'62 PUPs that came stock were just the opposite. TBX or the newer Delta-tone pot can remove the tone control from the circuit when full-up. You can also modify a standard pot by slicing through the resistance band with an Exacto knife or by using the nail polish trick(search the Les Paul forum). FWIW, IMO the Fender Fat 50s do the best job of getting great tone in all switch positions.

[Don]

.047 Orange Drops in my Strats and Tele.
The Tele tone knob is a good wah effect.
.015 (?) Orange Drops in my Les Paul.

[Scott P]

I use .01uF Polypropylene caps in all my Strats. It gives them a bit more highs when the tone pots are at 10 and a nice, nasally, Rory Gallagherish tone when turned to 1. I also find the tone control tapers more usable compared to higher values.