.0047 caps and 500k vs 250k pots in my 330

[johnb]

I'm considering some mods on my 330. I bought it used. It came with a UK warranty card, and what appears to be the original sales receipt from Bristol. According to the serial number, the Rickenbacker web page says it was made in Sept. 87.

I bought toasters for it. For what it's worth, they measured 6.25k d.c. ohms, not 7.4k as advertised on http://www.ricpage.com where I got them, although maybe they were publishing the actual impedance.

Of course, I also want to try some Pyramid flat wounds.

I have two issues on which I'd like some comments, although they may add up to nothing:

1) I want to do the .0047 cap mod between the bridge pickup and volume pot.
a. I want to use a push-pull pot so the mod is reversible. (more on this later)
b. Does the cap's composition matter that much? Polypropylene, silver mica, ceramic disk... I bought about a dozen .0047 caps, all different, and they vary in size by a lot. Think Volkswagen vs. Greyhound bus. I got a Sprague Orange Drop 716p. It's about the same size as the two .047 Sprague Atom tone caps combined, even though it is a smaller value. Does that seem like a good choice?

2) Since I want to change one pot to add the push-pull switch, should I change them all? The ones I could measure without unsoldering anything were the 5th knob, and the two tone pots. They were all around 500k. The current schematic indicates 250k, plus I've read postings by Mr. Arnquist indicating that 250k is right for passive single coils. The volume post have different markings than the 5th knob and the tone pots do, so they could be different value, but I didn't want to unsolder anything until I was ready to do it all at once, so I couldn't measure them.

The 5th knob/tone pots seem to be audio taper. Should they all be audio taper, and should I go for new 250k pots all around?

Thanks.

[markthemd]

This capacitor thing is beaten to death on the internet ....mostly by people that do not know anything about what they are talking about.

A Sprague brand cap that is a .047mfd at 100volts is a common cap found in amplifiers.

This is rated to handle 100volts .....a guitar does not even deal with a milavolt !!!!

The voltage has NO bearing on what it does .

The value is what is THE concern.

A cap that is a .047 mfd is not that different from a .05 mfd ....I'll bet you can't hear the difference.

I prefer the .022mfd cap in all of my single coil guitars .It does not turn the tone off to quite as much mud.

I really suggest going to a really good electronic supply house and spending the money (it might cost a whopping TEN dollars !!!) and get a handfull of different valued caps , and do an ear check .

Stock was done as it was something being used , that was common and something that was used in amplifiers ....get out of common and try something that really works for you .At under Ten dollars and some time ...what do you have to lose?

[markthemd]

Any cap that is NOT surface mount will work , the type is not a factor in a guitar , even to those people that think that they can HEAR the difference between a Duracell 9 volt battery and an Everready 9 volt battery.

This gab at the Les Paul forum about bumble bee Sprague caps is way too funny .

Get real ....it is the same thing as , My counterclock wise wound strings sound different that my clockwise wound strings ! really amazing !
I believe that the counterclockwise string have more bottom end !
You see that water in the southern hemisphere goes down the drain one direction and the opposite in the northern hemisphere, using this principle , string made in australia have more bottom end as they are on the low side of the planet !


NOT!!!!!!!