'58 Danelectro restore / new age electronics

[Undle Freddy]

so, per an earlier post & photos here, my '58 Dan-O is going back together nicely .....ready to solder in all new pick-up, pots, switching, caps, etc ......I have removed the entire stock harness and zip-locked for "original" sakes and I am wiring in a new Kent Armstrong hot pick-up and all new pots, switching, etc ...I want to be able to plug her into a Fender Hot Rod or Mesa or Marshall and get a proper fat, punchy & big tone .....my question ?? CAPACITOR ?????? so, there are so many options, as far as makers, whether I go with Sprague or one of the high-end makers like Mojo-Tone or RS Guitarworks .......what I need to know is simple: what cap value do I go with to get the best punch & projection ?? and who are the best makers out there ?? ........a .47 cheap ceramic costs 25 cents ........a Sprague .47 costs $5 .....an RS Guitarworks .47 costs $15 .....cost is NOT an issue, I need to know how the cap values affect tone with a 1 neck pick-up guitar and what is the BEST way to treat my '58 Dan-O as far as its capacitor is concerned ......money being no object (when we are talking capacitors !!) .....THANKS for the assist everyone !!!!!

[johnnyb]

hi, cool project. i think you may have to just experiment on the value. .022 will be brighter when the pot is turned down than a .047. i upgraded all my guitars with sprague .047. i have all single coil guitars running through a fender hotrod deville 4x10 and am very happy. when the pot is all the way on the cap doesnt really do anything. but having a decent cap has opened up the tonal options on all my guitars. a huge difference from the cheap stock, unusable caps. i can actually use the knobs now. i might also suggest putting a trebel bleed on the volume. if you want "punchier" maybe start with a .022. i like to have that jazz box tone option, which is why i went with .047 i can only imagine how much better a more expensive cap would perform. maybe just go for the good one. or maybe use one of each value with a push pull pot to change which cap is in the loop.

john