“we live in a dusty world” just hit my ears as a really profound statement. so true and that acknowledgement frees us to accept things wearing down as natural and not something to fear but just to address.
I have PRS SE and my bridge pickup didn't engage fully... so I used your method with normal paper and without any contact cleaner and it just worked fine. thanks for saving me :)
I've been running my own guitar/bass/amp/other types of instruments in Paris for 28 years and then in Miami since 2013 so you might say I know many things about my work 🙂🙂 But I'm not ashamed to say I can always learn new things from other people too... Most of the time I'll simply spray some contact cleaner through the switch itself still being attached and it works... If need be I'll remove it and do the same thing and it's usually sufficient... But this simple trick looks amazing and extremely efficient...Thank you for that 🙂🙂
Well done video, thanks Drew! I started doing my own guitar setups during the lockdowns, partially because of increasing wait times and also because I realized that work done by guitar shop techs was hit and miss. I'm also doing small fixes when they come up. Anyway, your video was very helpful, clear, and right to the point. I will now go and take care of the selector switch in my SG. 👍
Thank you man, this is an important thing for any musician to know, especially if you under fire w/ no backup guitar. I would recommend taking a picture before removing the switch for correct orientation and I used 70 percent iso alcohol cause I'm cheap. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for the clear and detailed, yet simple instructions. I think mine just had dirt as I was able to just use paper and switch is working great again.
is the pop and cracking an arc? interesting that the metal arms are just screwed in there. in theory, they could be rebent. i've seen a lot of switches where the plastic is melted or the unit is sealed to prevent this exact kind of repair.
In some cases you can! If it’s just the leads. The little plastic knob inside can also sometimes wear down. The piping noise...I’m not sure I would call it an arch. Guitar circuitry deals in micro volts. I think however that there is something inherent to mechanical switches that causes them all to make at least a little noise or a pop of some sort in an audio circuit. I don’t know enough physics to say for sure, but it could be some kind of capacitance type voltage dump from the sudden introduction of a power source that has maybe left some free electrons on the surface making contact. At least that’s what *feels* like would make sense there. I’m not speaking from a place of authoritative knowledge there though.
Super useful video, thank you Drew. Do you think this cleaning could be enough for a neck pickup that has a little silence when I switch it from the bridge position? Thanks!
“we live in a dusty world” just hit my ears as a really profound statement. so true and that acknowledgement frees us to accept things wearing down as natural and not something to fear but just to address.
The buddhist perspective.
I have PRS SE and my bridge pickup didn't engage fully... so I used your method with normal paper and without any contact cleaner and it just worked fine.
thanks for saving me :)
I've been running my own guitar/bass/amp/other types of instruments in Paris for 28 years and then in Miami since 2013 so you might say I know many things about my work 🙂🙂
But I'm not ashamed to say I can always learn new things from other people too...
Most of the time I'll simply spray some contact cleaner through the switch itself still being attached and it works...
If need be I'll remove it and do the same thing and it's usually sufficient...
But this simple trick looks amazing and extremely efficient...Thank you for that 🙂🙂
Well done video, thanks Drew! I started doing my own guitar setups during the lockdowns, partially because of increasing wait times and also because I realized that work done by guitar shop techs was hit and miss. I'm also doing small fixes when they come up. Anyway, your video was very helpful, clear, and right to the point. I will now go and take care of the selector switch in my SG. 👍
Thank you man, this is an important thing for any musician to know, especially if you under fire w/ no backup guitar. I would recommend taking a picture before removing the switch for correct orientation and I used 70 percent iso alcohol cause I'm cheap. Thanks for the video!
Thank you for helping me clean my PRS switch!
Awesome tip thanks!
Thanks for the clear and detailed, yet simple instructions. I think mine just had dirt as I was able to just use paper and switch is working great again.
just what I needed! thanks!
Thx Drew!
What about if the switch takes more force now to move into the neck position? Still worth a shot cleaning it?
is the pop and cracking an arc?
interesting that the metal arms are just screwed in there. in theory, they could be rebent. i've seen a lot of switches where the plastic is melted or the unit is sealed to prevent this exact kind of repair.
In some cases you can! If it’s just the leads. The little plastic knob inside can also sometimes wear down. The piping noise...I’m not sure I would call it an arch. Guitar circuitry deals in micro volts. I think however that there is something inherent to mechanical switches that causes them all to make at least a little noise or a pop of some sort in an audio circuit. I don’t know enough physics to say for sure, but it could be some kind of capacitance type voltage dump from the sudden introduction of a power source that has maybe left some free electrons on the surface making contact. At least that’s what *feels* like would make sense there. I’m not speaking from a place of authoritative knowledge there though.
Super useful video, thank you Drew.
Do you think this cleaning could be enough for a neck pickup that has a little silence when I switch it from the bridge position?
Thanks!
No way of knowing without seeing your guitar. Give it a try and see.
Will the WD-40 Contact Cleaner do the job as well?
I wouldn't try it.
It's the same thing. I've seen it done before.