Pots & caps for Fender Deluxe with trapezoid pickup?

Einar Baldursson · From: Stockholm, Sweden

I have an early 50's Fender Deluxe 8 with the trapezoid pickup. The pickup has weak output and the reasons for this can be many so it's currently on it's way to Tom Brantley for a checkup. While removing the pickup I took a look at the pots and cap and found 250k for volume, 100k(!) for tone and .03 cap. The pots are linear and seem to be replacements, not sure about the cap but it looks old. Do you have any replacement suggestions to get a classic tone with a generous doze of Doo-Aah on the tone control? I'm considering switching places on the pots so that the tone control is easier to reach. I have seen a diagram showing 250k for both pots and a .05 cap as being original for these guitars. I have also read suggestions about using a 1meg pot with audio taper for tone and a .069 or higher cap for maximum effect. Grateful for any advice based on personal experience.

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Brad Davis · From: Texas, USA

None of that looks original obviously. Fender components could be all over the board depending on Leo's latest whim in that era. He'd sometimes go out on the production floor and tell some of his earliest employees to swap one part for another or change a circuit in such-and-such a way, drove his production managers crazy. BUT, I think .05MFD is more likely to be the original cap spec. You can get good PIW replacements for the cool factor, Fender even sells them, although they are (relatively) expensive for a capacitor. Now if you don't care about that you can try even larger caps up to maybe .1MFD to enhance the boo-wah effect.

You're going to want audio taper for the pots. 250k for volume. You can try different things for tone, but might start with 500k or even 1Meg audio.

Einar Baldursson · From: Stockholm, Sweden

Thanks for your input Brad. Interesting story about Leo there. It's really amazing that he came up with so many innovative ideas without being a player himself. I don't think "stock" is any concern although I won't do anything irreversible of course. I do have a .05MFD paper in oil cap from Fender that I might try first before going bigger. As for pots your suggestions sound spot on. I do wonder why someone put a 100k tone in there. I think those were stock values on the old Rickenbackers so maybe it was a matter of warming up the inherent brightness of Fenders in general.

Btw I said linear but meant audio. Might try audio for volume and linear for tone for less travel on the boo-wah.
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Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

You can use any value you want for the pots - the values will change the speed of both tone and volume rolloff.

For a "doo-wah" tone control You might go to a .068, .082 or a .1uf cap. Those will progressively roll off more treble. Vintage Fenders usually had a .1uf cap but I have seen plenty with those .05's. If the bins were empty they installed whatever they had the most of!

But ANY value between .047/.05 (essentially the same) and .1...or even higher...will work fine. I find that the .1uf rolls off far too much, so I prefer a .068.

These are passive circuits and changing values simply changes the way the controls work - it won't screw anything up and changes are completely reversible as long as you don't drill or cut anything.
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No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional

Einar Baldursson · From: Stockholm, Sweden

Thanks I'll definitely try a .068 as well. I seem to recall that Lee Jeffries uses a similar cap.
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