Les Paul Tone Caps

The magic tone is a combination of several factors and we will go through all of them step by step to convert your les paul into a roaring monster.

Les paul tone caps.

These were the sprague manufactured capacitors gibson used during the late 50s. Epiphone les paul special upgrade kit bourns 500k short shaft pots pio vintage paper in oil k40y 9 tone cap with gavitt vintage wiring 3 way switch 49 00 stratocaster fender upgrade wiring kit orange drop tone cap cloth push back wire oak grigsby 5 way switch. Upgrading your les paul can be as simple as changing out a few tone caps or a full re wire job. Unless of course it s about les paul customs but that s literally another story.

For our purposes those are three common slang terms for types of tone capacitors the tiny but potent sound coloring electronic devices that store energy in the electric field between conductors within the body of your guitar. The bumblebee caps are very similar to the black beauties and the origin of the nickname is pretty easy to see. Normally the caps that come in your guitar are not the best. The higher the value the more bass output from the tone control at its zero setting.

You will hear a difference. No matter how small of a change. Capacitors are energy storage devices that filter the high frequencies. Give your les paul the vintage tone of a 59 burst this seems to be the most sought after tone for a les paul and it s not that difficult to make your own les paul sound like that.

Everything written about black beauties applies equally to bumblebee caps. Premium wiring kit for gibson les paul. You can also find these caps inside late fifties les pauls and other guitars from that era and they are definitely the most famous tone caps. These wirings are often discussed in the context of a les paul but the schemes apply to any guitar with a volume and tone control whether it s a master volume plus master tone configuration as with a telecaster or a guitar with individual volume and tone controls for each pickup such as a les paul es 335 sg and so on.

A cap lets the tone control roll off the treble response progressively warming the tone.