The Steel Guitar Forum

Do the old Rickenbacher and National Lap Steels from the (30's / 40's) need to have their Vol/Tone pots or capacitores changed? I know this in old Amps the Caps dry out etc. But is this the same for Vol and Tone pots/Caps in these Lap Steels?

Thanks.

Not if they work! Okay, that's the smart-aleck answer but basically true. Pots usually just go bad when there is no longer a good connection between the wiper and the carbon wafer. Sometimes all it needs is a little lubricated contact cleaner to fix that. The old paper & wax capacitors often used in those old guitars will have drifted way out of tolerance but if you can still find a sweet area in the sweep of the tone pot where it gradually goes from being muddy to crisp, you probably don't need to change it.

Ok, thanks.
I don't have any change in tone with my Nation with the "Chimes / Harp and Hawaiian" tone switch so I guess it's something else.

Thanks.

Well, in that case, the caps or the switch may be bad. Could even be the pickup but I wouldn't start there.

Ok. I will run a check on them.

Thanks.

Tone caps in guitar circuits and many tone caps in amp circuits are "passive" - they do nothing but shunt progressively more amounts of high frequencies to ground.

They take MUCH less strain than the ones you are thinking of - electrolytic filter capacitors - and many last nearly forever. All can be tested, but generally:

1. Electrolytic filter and bias caps in amps should be changed every 15 years or so. They have a limited service life and if one blows it can damage the amp.

2. passive caps generally need changing only when the control stops working properly.