When it comes to guitar tone, capacitor value is what matters most. Capacitors also feature a voltage rating that also determines the physical size of the cap but because almost all capacitors can easily handle the voltages produced by your guitar, the voltage ratings is not so important. The value of the capacitor will roll your guitar’s tone back and the higher the value, the darker the tone and the lower the value, the brighter the tone. While there is a wide range of values to choose from, most electric guitars feature only a few options.
Popular values
- .015 µF (is equal to 15 nF)
- .022 µF (is equal to 22 nF)
- .047 µF (is equal to 47 nF)
15 nF
15 nF capacitors are not as popular as the other two but they are perfect for fine control of your high-end frequencies throughout the full sweep of your tone knob. They are also fantastic for taming harsh frequencies in your signal.
22 nF
22 nF is the most common value and however they interact differently with humbucking and single-coil pickups, they work great on both. But they are most often found in humbucker-equipped guitars. They are know for a warm and woolly sound.
47 nF
.047 µF capacitors are also a popular choice, they are darker than the other two capacitor values. This is why Fender often uses them for their brighter Stratocaster and Telecaster pickups. Turning the know you will hear that the high-end detail will disappear very fast. The dark, mid-range sound is especially popular with jazz players.
Type of capacitor
You can use the cheap Ceramic capacitors, but most people do not like them for guitars, because they are rather inacurate. The old Paper-in-oil capacitors are considered the best, but they are very hard to find and very expensive. So the best and most used capacitor is the Polypropylene capacitor, mostly recognisable by its red or orange color.
Swapping your tone capacitors is a powerful, affordable and easy-to-accomplish modification.
Kind regards, Hein Pragt.