'63 T-100D Capacitors?

guildboy

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Does anyone know what capacitors go on the '63 T-100D? Any idea what the pots are rated at also?
 

Coughlin

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I'm not a Guild expert and maybe they did some strange things with that model, but I'd take a stab at it and say .02µf for the capacitors and 5MΩ for the pots. This is fairly common. I just thought I'd stick my neck out there. I'm learning, but it's slow. I tried getting information from the manufacturer and they don't know anything or else aren't willing to help. Guild is not very supportive in my view. Surely a guitar company that's been around for a while has archives. They seem to be lazy. I have tried calling and talking to people, but it's just not worth the effort. It's a shame.
 

Quantum Strummer

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Probably 500KΩ for the pots. :) Dunno about the caps.

Also it wouldn't surprise me at all if Guild kept poor or no records of this stuff. And if they did it wouldn't surprise me if the specs and the actual guitars were sometimes/often in disagreement. In the 1950s "Gibson used audio taper volume pots," yet I've played quite a few with linear taper pots, which pretty much negates the benefits of "50s wiring."

-Dave-
 

GuildFS4612CE

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Coughlin, you're new so I take it you're not familiar with Guild's corporate history...how many times the company/brand has changed hands and locations...most recently to Cordoba...a lot of times the records didn't make the changes...the new ownership likely doesn't have the answers the OP or you want for older instruments...but this forum has a lot of collective knowledge and if you're patient someone will likely help...perhaps post a thread in 'tech shop'...or contact Hans Moust...he wrote the book on Guild...he likes to be contacted through his website as his pm inbox here is often full...

www.guitarsgalore.nl
 
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fronobulax

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I'm not a Guild expert

The rest of your comment demonstrates that :) Guild has had several corporate owners over the decades and operated in several factories. Not all the records or intellectual property was preserved and some that was kept, never was transferred to the new owners and thus lost. So your experience is actually typical of people who try and get information from Guild about instruments that were not produced under the current owner. In addition to the lack of records there have been cases where a current employee did not understand the history of the company well enough to understand the question and therefore provide the right answer. ("I don't know" is a better answer than claiming parts from current production actually are drop in replacements for vintage instruments).

If you want a real shame, try and find out whether the current Guild will honor a lifetime warranty on an instrument that predates their ownership.

The good news is that between Hans Moust and LTG members you will almost always get the best answers that can be constructed, in the absence of complete corporate records.
 

SFIV1967

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Does anyone know what capacitors go on the '63 T-100D? Any idea what the pots are rated at also?
Which pickups does it have? Also, I thought your T-100D is a 1966?
Depending on the wiring used Starfire guitars from the 1966/1967 time with minihumbuckers used 500k CTS volume pots and 200k CTS tone pots but sometimes also only a 200k tone pot for the neck pup and a 500k tone pot on the bridge pup.
Capacitors for instance in my 1967 Starfire IV were 0.047mf (=47nF) 100V WIMA MKS on the neck tone pot and 0.01mf (=10000pF=10nF) 200V Mullard 'mustard cap' on the bridge tone pot. Usually the bigger capacitor value like .047mfd is at the neck p/u tone pot and the smaller value, like .01mfd is at the bridge p/u tone pot. This should give you a "darker" "jazzy" sound for the neck pickup and a clearer sound for the bridge pickup. Now the lower resistance on the neck tone pot also means that more high frequencies go to ground, so the neck pickup is extra “dark”.
As the pots in my Starfire were really not good anymore I replaced them with 3 x Emerson PRO CTS - 500K Short (3/8") Split Shaft pots and 1 x Emerson PRO CTS - 250K Short (3/8") Split Shaft. I have not decided yet which wiring I will try. I might go with a 50s Gibson wiring schematics and a .01 cap for the neck pots and .018 cap for the bridge pots.
Ralf
 

guildboy

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Excellent response! (you are right I think its a '66)

I have the blue .047 caps and then the yellow 10000 pf. What I can't figure out is I have two round disc capacitors that say "10% IKV 1500 Z5F" I don't know where they go and were clipped off.

The pickups I have are white with chrome trim. I can't figure out how to post pics or I would.
 
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DThomasC

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It sounds like you have the so-called Mickey Mouse pickups, which despite the name, are highly regarded. (I have not owned them, so I can't comment personally.)

I vaguely remember something about 'extra' caps in some instruments with those pickups. Maybe someone else can confirm something (perhaps that I am an idiot) but I seem to remember that in some cases there were small caps installed to kill off high frequencies.

In either case (me being a genius or me being a dolt) those ceramic disk caps are extra. If you're happy with the way the instrument sounds, then don't worry about them.

If you're curious what the hieroglyphics mean:

10% tolerance on the capacitance
1KV voltage rating. 1000 volts!!
1500 picofarads
Z5F temperature coefficient. It specifies how much the capacitance can (will) change with temperature. Not really important in this application.

And, to add a useless but interesting data point, this thread reminded me that I still have what I think is the original wiring harness from my '58 T-100. I dug it out and measured the pots. The volume measures 890k and the tone measures 830k. WTF? I know they can creep up with time and use, but that's a long way from 500k, which I might expect. (Single Franz neck pickup.)

Oh, and the cap is a 0.05uF red Astron.
 

SFIV1967

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What I can't figure out is I have two round disc capacitors that say "10% IKV 1500 Z5F"
+/-10% tolerance, 1kV = 1000 Volts, 1500pF=1.5nF=0.0015microfarads, Z5F=dielectric type.

That would have been the capacitor mounted on the Guild made single coil pickups called "mickey mouse" pickups which you seem to have on your T-100D.
I am just not sure if the signal passed through these caps or if the cap was wired between the output and ground.
In any way, they reduce some high end.

Please have a look on Hans Moust's website, there you see the picture with a 0.0015mf disk cap.
http://www.guitarchives.nl/guitarsgalore/parts.php?cid=2&p=1



Another picture I found is on Ken Nash's website:
http://www.theguitarmechanic.com/HB1.html

hb45.jpg


But in both cases one cannot see how exactly the cap is connected to the terminals. Most probably to both terminals, so signal to ground.

EDIT: DTC just beat me!

Ralf
 
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guildboy

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That helps a lot guys! So it appears the ones on the pickups are really low capacitance?

Does anyone know what the pickups should test in terms of resistance. (when not connected to the harness)
 

Quantum Strummer

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The caps will be wired signal-to-ground if reducing high end is their purpose, as caps are high-pass gizmos.

My Rickie Model 450 has a cap wired inline with the bridge pickup to cut some bass.

-Dave-
 
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