[NJARC] Valuable vintage capacitors

[john ruccolo]

Hi Nick,

These caps were known in the trade as Sprague "Black
Beauties." Some have the color-coded bands (the
"bumble bees"), others have normal markings. They were
decent-quality (but *not* top-quality) in their day.
Some may have been made by manufacturers other than
Sprague; not sure.

Dave Sica is correct -- thay are original equipment in
vintage guitars and amps and are *very* sought-after
today, depending on the value. 

Frankly, the prices have reached really ridiculous
levels. There's even a market for *used* ones!

Today, they are notoriously leaky and frankly, really
are not that good. But *don't* tell that to the
audiophools! I suppose NOS ones will work well....for
a while....

My advice: sell 'em. I strongly recommend modern
Vishay/Sprague Orange Drop caps in any "serious" piece
of vintage audio gear. I've always gotten excellent
results with them.

Regards,

John

--- Nick Senker <ns539 at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Visit our web site - See http://www.njarc.org
> _______________________________________________
> Could someone comment on these 'bumble bee' caps
> (John Ruccolo?).  I've seen them and have some but
> don't know anything about them.  Nick Senker
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Dave Sica <davesica at juno.com>
> >Sent: Sep 17, 2006 12:43 PM
> >To: njarc at mailman.qth.net
> >Subject: [NJARC] Valuable vintage capacitors
> >
> >Visit our web site - See http://www.njarc.org
> >_______________________________________________
> >Check out eBay auction # 320025083125.  If you buy
> these caps, I suppose
> >you also have to use Western Electric solder to
> install them :-) !
> >
> >--Dave Sica
> >_______________________________________________
> >NJARC mailing list
> >NJARC at mailman.qth.net
> >http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/njarc
> 
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> 


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