From james_eaton@btopenworld.com Mon Jan 16 01:19:00 2012
Subject:Re: To change caps in tone generator or not?
We've probably veered well OT by now but for what it is worth...the old wax filled power transformers in early preamps are a fire risk because Hammond didn't believe in fitting fuses. Later transformers have solid resin which is less likely to burn your house down. Worth retrofitting fuses anyway if your tonewheel organ doesn't have them already.
Tonewheel generators however operate at very low current/voltage so there's no fire risk there, but there is a very slight reliability issue with retaining the old wax caps, and the sound will continue to become more muddy over time. Also, every few years or so a cap might fail completely and you'll lose that tone, but you'd have to lose a bunch at once for it to be an issue on a gig which is very unlikely. To get it back the cap has to be replaced. Do you replace it with one of a similarly increased value or one closer to the nominal value as it should be????