My mary kaye zebrawood strat was way too bright. It was way brighter than I remember the electronics being in the body and neck they used to be in (poplar body, maple neck). So I found this article on the premier guitar website and decided to give it a go this weekend.
http://www.premierguitar.com/magazine/issue/2008/mar/auditioning_tone_capacitors.aspx
First thing I noticed when I had the cavity open, the volume treble bleed cap was fried. I replaced that and then soldered in the alligator clips. Well it turns out that the fried bleed cap was the source of the brittleness, as I immediately noticed a difference with all the caps. After about two hours of playing, I ended up liking the sound of a cheap .022 uf cap that I got at Fry's the best. I tried out numerous fancy caps (orange drops, oil paper, etc), even with the same value, but I liked the sound of the cheap one the best. i think the lesson here is that every aspect of a guitar has an impact on the sound (esp the player and their ears) and trying different things is the best way to get something you love.
http://www.premierguitar.com/magazine/issue/2008/mar/auditioning_tone_capacitors.aspx
First thing I noticed when I had the cavity open, the volume treble bleed cap was fried. I replaced that and then soldered in the alligator clips. Well it turns out that the fried bleed cap was the source of the brittleness, as I immediately noticed a difference with all the caps. After about two hours of playing, I ended up liking the sound of a cheap .022 uf cap that I got at Fry's the best. I tried out numerous fancy caps (orange drops, oil paper, etc), even with the same value, but I liked the sound of the cheap one the best. i think the lesson here is that every aspect of a guitar has an impact on the sound (esp the player and their ears) and trying different things is the best way to get something you love.
