Relocating the Strat selector switch ?

TimmyO · November 2021

Is there any sensible/achievable way to shift a Strat selector away from the flailing of a non-Strat person who habitually knocks the selector when it's on the neck position?

I'm guessing it might mean a bit of chiselling or routing, or a new pick guard, but is this a thing?

In an ideal world I'd move the volume a bit away from the bridge pickup too and maybe just make do with a master vol and tone, but the main thing is the selector switch.

I'd assumed that if I googled I'd come across people who have successfully done this but I didn't.

LastMantra · November 2021

You're probably just as well adjusting your technique slightly. I used to bump the switch occasionally but got used to it after a while.

paulnb57 · November 2021

Kramer Jersey Star has the selector on the opposite slant or, a custom plate and a bit of routing/chiselling or 3 mini toggles

Cheaper and easier to address your technique

RickLucas · November 2021

jeremy spencer strat albatross - Bing images

ICBM · November 2021

A new pickguard with the switch a little further back, and probably only two controls with the volume further down and back as well would be the way to go - but unless it's a pre-'59 style body without the screw 'step' in the side of the rout, you can't (at least not easily). Even most modern bodies designed for a 50s reissue have the step.

The simplest thing to do if you don't use the bridge pickup much is just to reverse the switch, but it takes some getting used to...

lovestrat74 · November 2021

Switch the switch around so the neck is pos 1 and bridge is 5 if you are mostly in the neck position so your cannot knock it down. Just make sure you don't knock it when you are on the bridge pup

Keefy · November 2021

If I really couldn’t live with the 5-way I would remove it, make one tone control global, and replace the other with a 3-pole 6-way rotary. The 6th position would be bridge and neck pickups.

Alvin · November 2021

Try it as it is but take the swith tip off .

TimmyO · November 2021

RickLucas said:

jeremy spencer strat albatross - Bing images

That’s brilliant - never seen that before

TimmyO · November 2021

Keefy said:

If I really couldn’t live with the 5-way I would remove it, make one tone control global, and replace the other with a 3-pole 6-way rotary. The 6th position would be bridge and neck pickups.

Nice idea

TimmyO · November 2021

paulnb57 said:

Cheaper and easier to address your technique

Honestly (with myself) - that’s not going to happen - I’ve got decades of not-Strat playing behind me and no desire to make a Strat what I play most of the time

fretmeister · November 2021

One of my strat plates has just a vol but with enough room to drill for a tone.

Gigink.Co.uk will make one with the holes where you want. 1 vol and 1 tone either using the 2 furthest normal pots on a strat, or put them in between where regular strat pots would be.

Ive never moved the switch though.

ICBM · November 2021

Keefy said:

If I really couldn’t live with the 5-way I would remove it, make one tone control global, and replace the other with a 3-pole 6-way rotary. The 6th position would be bridge and neck pickups.

You only need a 2-pole unless you want one of the settings to be all three pickups. Useful since 2P6T rotary switches are common, 3P is harder to get.

That said, I find rotaries too awkward to use on a gigging guitar.

Alvin said:
Try it as it is but take the swith tip off .

Is that so the first time you hit it, you cut your hand and hence shorten the learning process to not move your hand there?

Funkfingers · November 2021

The Roland G505 synthesizer controller relocated the selector switch to the lower horn.

The additional routing extends from the neck pickup cavity. The downside is that all your neatly trimmed pickup conductors are now the wrong length to reach the switch contacts.

CasperCaster · November 2021

Some Tele players bend the blade of the switch so that the tip is approximately at 45 degrees. It makes it easier to flick with a little finger and easier to access relative to the volume knob. I don't do it myself, but I know @CountryDave does. Doing something similar with your Strat may help?

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Relocating the Strat selector switch ?

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