The Steel Guitar Forum

Anyone know what capacitor I should use to replace the one in the tone control for my 70s Emmons student model? The capacitor is quite literally "mashed" so I can't read the value.

Here's a link to the same discussion in the old forum.

http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum11/HTML/007785.html

The most common capacitor I have seen in tone control circuits is a .04 microfarad (mfd). .02 to .05 should work. The voltage rating is not important.

Any suggestions or comments on the quality of component I should use? Does it make much difference if I use a cheap capacitor or a high end audiophile capacitor like the ones you get in good hifi amps?

No, you can use just about anything, because the audio signal does not pass through the cap, frequencies are bled off through it to ground - it's a "subtractive" device.

As said, the value isn't critical either. All a value change does is alter the amount of treble that is removed...and how fast turning the knob makes it happen, to explain it simply.

In 6-strings the most-used for years were .047uf, and I'd save up discarded .047uf amp caps - brown "chocolate drops" that sound horrid in amps, but work fine in guitar circuits.

Try to find a .047 or .05 - that's usually the smoothest operating and gives the most useful lower limits. But a .022 (very common) will also work fine.