Tone capacitor

The capacitor wired in series with the tone pot that determines how much treble is bled to ground when the control is turned down.

The capacitor sets the frequency above which the tone control starts removing signal, so its value decides whether the control darkens the sound gradually or turns it into a muffled blanket. Standard values for guitar sit between about twenty and fifty nanofarads, with humbucker instruments often using the higher end. Capacitor construction is also claimed to affect tone, though the value has by far the larger effect, and changing it is a cheap, reversible experiment.

Example: Changing the tone capacitor in a guitar from a small value to a much larger one makes the tone control sound far darker when turned down.

Tone capacitor

See also