Helps captures the sound of the early 50's Telecaster!
Hand Made by Luxe Radio & Musical Instruments Co. in the USA!
This auction is for a pair of Paper in Oil REPRODUCTION Cornell-Dubilier .05ufd/150vdc (ZSW1S5 Tubular) and .1ufd/150vdc (ZNW1P1 Chiclet) caps as used in the Telecaster from late 1953 to 1956. These caps were factory installed in Telecasters made between 1953 and 1956. This wiring scheme is often referred to as the Dark Circuit. All the great old Tele’s, including those from the golden year of 1953, were wired this way. The 3 positions: neck pickup alone with bass sound with no tone control, neck pickup alone with tone control and bridge pickup alone with tone control. To combine pickups, you have to park the switch between settings, just like Roy and Keef.
Wax Capacitor Replicating: Luxe reproduction wax capacitors are made with the same materials and methods as the original. The only difference is that instead of a foil and paper “slug” at the core, they use a NOS Vitamin Q type paper and oil capacitor. These were manufactured from the 1950s through the 1980s by various companies, like Sprague, for military and aerospace use. Unlike other types of capacitors, the dielectric and foil in these are sealed in a metal and glass tube, making them impervious to heat and moisture. They do not degrade with time and they do not drift in value. They have the added bonus of having an oil-soaked paper as the dielectric, which arguably has a more “musical” quality than any other dielectric. Luxe ensures that every cap made uses some raw materials from the appropriate era. Their recipes follow the same ones used by the original manufacturers, with a few changes. For example: Dykanol is not used in their capacitors. Most capacitors made before 1956 were coated with a blend of pitch and petroleum jelly, this is the nasty sticky stuff that radio guys hate, Luxe uses pitch and beeswax. It looks the same, but it doesn’t get all over the place.
Why should you use these caps? Most will agree that a vintage paper in oil cap has the best sound for a vintage instrument. But the problem with many old caps (film and wax-paper) is that they dry out and begin to leak. Vintage Vitamin Q type caps, on the other hand, are sealed in glass and encased in metal, so they can handle flying through space and guiding missiles. They don't leak unless you smash them with a hammer. When you install a 50-year-old Vitamin Q cap in your guitar, you get the exact sound that your guitar was meant to have. When you install a Luxe cap in your guitar, you get a 30 to 50 year old, unused, Paper in Oil cap that looks exactly like the cap that should be there, and will last forever.
