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| Todd Krause on examining the Black Strat |
To most people, this isn't really important at all. I mean, put in the appropriate cap and call it a day. Well, for me, that really doesn't fly with me. Mind you that I'm wanting to get everything close to the real deal, and detail has to be maintained all the way through to the end of the build. So what, you may say, am I going to put in for a capacitor? Sounds like it's time to search the Internet! And looks like I found something I didn't know people were actually buying!
This is a Luxe Radio & Musical Instrument 1964 to 1971 Orange "Dime" Ceramic Capacitor. It's quite rare to find a company to reproduce products right down to the point. I jumped at the opportunity to buy myself the age-correct ceramic capacitor found in the Black Strat.
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| The Black Strat with version #1 CD Capacitor |
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| An original '70 Strat with version #2 CD Capacitor |
There were two different capacitors made around the same time, and the Black Strat used the '71/'72 CD capacitor (pulled from his '71/'72 Bullet Truss Nut Stratocaster). Either ceramic capacitor works fine its just that I like the way this capacitor look!
The Orange "Dime" Ceramic Capacitor is a Reproduction of the Ceramic Cornell-Dubilier .05 µF / 50V Capacitor, used in the Stratocaster from 1964 to 1971. These Re-pro capacitors were originally either late '60's to early '70's NOS Sprague or Erie capacitors of the same specifications, but with the original print cleaned off carefully, then silk-screened with the Cornell-Dubilier label of the specific type.
In the early years, capacitors has a very loose tolerance, rated at about +80% to -20% (Type Z in today's terms), which to some, is the main reason why these capacitors are sought out for. Much like tube amps, the lack of precision gives the overall tone much more character, either by its poor properties. Don't take my word for it. Tone is subjective, I'm merely viewing this at a technical standpoint.
You can see that this particular capacitor has a value of .04µF, which is within the +80% to -20%, measured out by my trusty Fluke meter.
The spaghetti tubing is made in-house as there is no one manufacturing this type of tubing anymore. I believe that they mention too that the machines are no longer available so they're literally hand-made! The color around this age is either black or yellow. This capacitor came with yellow, as for the Black Strat, well, uses black tubing! Again, this was during the CBS-era and transitions in stock was shifting, so either capacitors and tubing in any combination could end up in a '71 Stratocaster.
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| Front side of diagram sheet |
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| Back side of diagram sheet |
They have also included a sheet full of images of different years the Stratocaster had of different capacitors. They also include a wiring schematic to show you how the capacitors were originally wired out through the years, WOW! This company has really done their homework! If any questions were to come up during my build, I can sure count on this sheet to help answer my questions with all the high quality photos and diagrams!
Okay, now that tone is covered, what else can be noticable on the Black Strat? What is it that I hear about those Volume and Tone knobs? That's right, there has to be something special about those knobs! Looks like more digging is required from the book!
David Sarmiento
