Paper capacitor longevity

[radiotvnut]

I see NOS paper capacitors on epay all the time. I've seen those "bumblebee" caps go for big $$. Some tube amp people claim that these old caps make the amp produce a different tone that is better than what the current caps provide. Those "bumblebee" caps are almost always leaky; so, I guess they would cause an amp to have a different style sound. I would never use those old style capacitors in anything I was repairing because of performance & safety issues. I've got a bunch of old "bumblebee" and other paper caps that I have cut out of equipment. My bad side says list them on epay and if someone wants to run the price up for old caps, then, so be it. OTOH, my good side won't let me list them because of the safety & poor performance issues that I know these cause. For me, I'll just keep ordering the little yellow ones and the orange drops. They are still cheap enough that I can re-cap a radio, amp, etc. and not feel the pressure on my wallet.