Capacitor

A component that stores a small charge and passes high frequencies more readily than low ones, which is what makes a guitar tone control work.

Its value and type set where the treble starts to be shunted away to ground, so a larger capacitor takes off more of the top end and a smaller one leaves the sound brighter as the knob comes down. Common stock values are around 0.022 microfarads for humbuckers and 0.047 for single coils, and changing the value is one of the cheapest voicing changes available. The same component appears in amplifiers, wah pedals and filters, where it sets the character of the effect.

Example: swapping a 0.047 tone capacitor for a 0.022 makes the tone knob keep more bite through its whole travel.

Capacitor

See also