Re: Help for Newbie on measuring capacitance



Audiphoolery or not, there is a multi million dollar business out there for vintage guitar parts. The belief is that a 60 yr old capacitor will make a new guitar sound like a 60 yr old one; along with old pots and pickups made with old magnets and old wire, etc., etc....

Re: Help for Newbie on measuring capacitance



Did I miss something? What tester did he recommend?

Thank you Redwire. I have been going nuts myself trying to buy these from sellers on eBay only to find out that they read way different on my Fluke 115. I've head to return several because they didn't read what the seller for using his meter. I'm not making friends on eBay this way!...

Re: Help for Newbie on measuring capacitance



Yes, these are similar to the caps Im interested in. I need to talk to Mr. Carlson too, thanks for posting that link. In the late 50's to early 60's, Gibson guitars used black beauty's, bumble bees and some paper and wax type caps, usually .02 microfarad. Guitar aficionados, luthiers building replicas, and hobbyists, like to try to use the same components used back in the 50's in order to chase that vintage tone. I totally agree with you. If you are restoring an old radio or amp or some other than a guitar, these old caps...

Re: Help for Newbie on measuring capacitance



I think most of the ESR meters I've seen only test down to 0.1 microfarad. What is the best meter to use for these old and small (.015 to .047 )caps?...

Re: Help for Newbie on measuring capacitance

In my last post I meant to say that some ESR meters read capacitance in farads and some give a reading in ohms.

Re: Help for Newbie on measuring capacitance



ESR sounds like capacitive reactance Xc that I remember from my Navy electronics training. I have read many books on electric guitars and have never seen the term ESR when capacitor values are discussed. These ESR meters give the value of capacitance in farads not ohms. I would think that measuring a capacitor at a specific frequency would not be an effective way to test a capacitor that operates over a wide frequency range. Well, I appreciate your taking the time to respond. This does not seem.like an enticing topic for...

Re: Help for Newbie on measuring capacitance

I thought leakage was only an issue at higher voltages. I don't see how leakage would be a problem. I really don't have a good understanding of ESR.

I need help with measuring capacitance on vintage paper in oil, paper in wax, or Mylar film capacitors. I am using these vintage capacitors on my guitars. There are many sellers on eBay that offer these. Guitars generally have a very low operational voltage values; we are talking millivolts at most over a frequency range which is probably the same as the frequency range for the human ear. Most of the eBay sellers that I get my capacitors from are using different types of meters then I use; such as the PEAK ESR 70 or some cheap capacitance or transistor meter they got on Amazon. These old capacitors...

Re: New Members - please post your introductions here

Howdy, This is Keith from San Diego. I stumbled across this forum while desperately trying to get an answer to a problem that has perplexed me for a long time now...