Paper in oil - foil in oil caps

[Structo]

A lot of the early Fenders also used .1uf ceramic caps.

That's right the tone guys are chasing with $20 caps are ceramic.

[Kregg]

By now many of you have reached the end of the internet ... anyhow, I found this site, http://xoomer.virgilio.it/augiuliv/amps/

[jelle]

The only .1uf caps in fenders I have seen were brown axial wax caps.

jelle

[billyz]

I suppose anything is possible with Fender. I have owned a dozen or so vintage strats, 55,56,57,59,60, 61, 62, 63, 64's Never seen a .1 cap in any of them. It is also possible that someone changed it out. And Fender did do different things at times. Now Esquires and early Tele's are a different story.

But, in my Custom Shop Nocaster I finally put a Sprague Black beauty in .047, along with some Allessandro pots, Now it sounds right to me.

[Structo]

The only .1uf caps in fenders I have seen were brown axial wax caps.

jelle

You are correct up until 1962 when they switched to ceramic disc.

Tone Capacitors

1950 to 1962: the tone capacitors are either big, round (sausage-like) paper caps on Teles and Esquires, or flat box-shaped paper caps on Stratocasters.
1963 to present: all models use a standard ceramic pancake-shaped tone capacitor.

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html#specs

[billyz]

I find alot of the info on the web to be a little off.

I have a Bone stock 100% original 1957 Hardtail Stratocastor with an original
Ceramic disc tone cap and I have seen others as well. Way before the web experts say there should be. I have been collecting these guitars since 1970.

the Web info is a good starting place but it is not the Bible. I suspect there is alot more variation and not one standard. That is what I have seen in Guitars and Amps. Just keep an open mind about some of the folklore attributed to these Vintage instruments.

[Structo]

Well, one thing we can say that is consistent about Leo Fender is that he was very inconsistent.
I will bow to your knowledge Billy, since you have the real deals.

I got a question for you Billy.
I'm a member over at Guitar ReRanch.

A while back we were discussing the clay dot fret markers on vintage Fenders.
Whether or not they were some kind of clay or plaster, or that they were made from fiber board.

In the books The Strat Chronicles and Fender: The Sound Heard 'Round the World, both authors say that the white fret markers were made from fiber board that were punched out with a die.
In fact I think it was in the Chronicles that George Fullerton was quoted as saying he personally had punched them out.

In the Fender book, they mention the purchase of this die or press that was used until they switched to the white phenolic dots.

We got into a pretty heated debate about this.
As you probably know, Callaham sells what he calls real clay dots.
I emailed him while we were still discussing this and asked him what they were made from
He politely declined and said it was his secret, which is fine I guess.

A couple of the guys said they were made from a putty type plaster that was applied into the hole that was drilled into the rosewood.
Once this became hard and dry, the fretboard was level sanded.
They mentioned Durham's Water Putty as the product to use nowadays and at least one guy tried it and the pictures he showed of it looked pretty good. He mentioned that you can tint the putty to the desired color.

I have a 63 Jaguar and I remember when I first got it back in 72 that I thought the dots had been replaced by some hack as they were sunken or worn in a cupped manner from the surface. Didn't look like a factory job in other words.
But I never dug into one to see what it was actually made from.
Right now the neck is in a gun safe buried behind a bunch of stuff in a closet so....I can't really get to it without a huge ordeal.

Anyway, just wondering what your opinion was about them?

[billyz]

I am no expert on Anything. As for the clay dots. That debate has been going on for decades. I don't think they were actually clay or Water putty even though they do look like it . The reason is, they never are leeched into the surrounding wood grain like a filler or putty would do. I have no guess as to what they really are. But George Fullerton would know for sure.

[aclempoppi]

Thanks to all ! Your input has been very helpful! Peace Art

[Jammin'John]

I use a .01 tone cap & a 100pf treble retention cap on my Tele's with P90's & 'buckers.

JJ