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I always hit my selector switch


bennyguitfiddle

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Man I have played a gibson les paul for 15 yrs (stolen)

and a G&L ASAT (tele) for 11 yrs (stolen) and never had trouble

hitting the sector switch. Hell I didn't even know this could

be a problem, but I just bought my first Strat about a month

ago and when I'm a stummin' I keep on hitting the selector switch.

any Idea's?

I play mostly on the neck pickup, so I thought about turning the

switch around (backassword), cause I keep moving the switch toward

the bridge p/u.

or maybe get a rotating switch??

 

anyway it is a new problem for me.

Why do you lay down? I say that it beats standing up! whats got you feeling so down? I hold up my empty cup!
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Nah, don't do that. :grin:

 

You're just going through your STRAT learning curve.

You'll get used to it just like you did with your Les & Tele.

 

You'll find you change your strumming habits.

When you're in the neck position it's more in the way than any other position.

 

Myself, I love it.

 

I have honed a little technique down over the years. I'm sorry I don't have a photo.

 

It takes a while, but start changing the positions with your pinky and ring finger.

It's weird at first but will soon become second nature.

 

You'll find you'll be able to gain a dexterity with those two fingers in so far as the selector switch.

You'll have to keep them a little stiff yet flexible.

It's almost a PUSH with the Ring finger, and a PULL UP with the pinky finger.

Be sure to keep the fingers together and you'll catch the switch on the push down with the ring...and curl up the tip of the pinky slightly on the pull up.

It will become more than that after time.

 

By doing that....you'll find you can change pickups more quickly than normal because that is the normal playing/strumming position.

 

I started doing it this way because I didn't want to screw up the grip on my pick, plus, it takes more time to use your thumb or fore finger.

 

If that doesn't work, you can do the same thing with the Middle & Ring fingers.

 

Try it and let me know how it works out.

 

Randy

"Just play!"
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I had the same problem. Eventually, I put a new switch in (unrelated problem), took the switch tip off, and bent the lever down just a bit. I never did put the switch tip back on cause it kept falling off, but it would go back on with no problem. With the tip off, there is less height, but I think that it would still be enough out of the way with the tip on. Good luck.

Avoid playing the amplifier at a volume setting high enough to produce a distorted sound through the speaker-Fender Guitar Course-1966

 

 

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If it was a car, would you be moving the gas pedal, or learning how to drive the car?

 

Bill

 

That only seems logical, Bill. The correct analogy would be if they put the gas pedal too far center, causing you to bend your leg in an odd manner to keep from bashing your knee into the steering column. If that were the case I'd never have bought the car, of course, but Benny's problem wouldn't have been so easy to identify until he had the guitar home.

 

It's not like this is an uncommon issue among strat players and there have been many guitars from Fender & other strat clone manufacturers that have been deliberately designed with the switch pushed further back and/or down to move it out of the way for people who strum near the bridge.

 

Personally, I think you answered your own question, Benny. You should have no trouble flipping the switch around. If that works best for you it's an easy modification that can be easily undone should you decide to sell the guitar to someone who'd rather have it work as built. :idea:

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

Soundclick

fntstcsnd

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...The correct analogy would be if they put the gas pedal too far center, causing you to bend your leg in an odd manner ....

 

I don't know. I think the analogy is correct as stands, because Benny was used to another guitar. Had you been used to the placement and feel of the gas pedal in your Honda and you sat down in your new Ford Ranger, chances are good that it will take some getting used to the different placement. (and feel, and sound....) It is still not the same, and by nature we resist change. And I think that we have all gone through this.... it is not a unique problem, and of course there are several solutions, but the most practical is to just get used to the new setup.

 

Sometimes a 'problem' like this can point out an issue with our playing style. In this case, it probaly shows an inefficiency in the strumming motion... looks cool though. I know that when I picked up the MIDI guitar, that sucker pointed out boatloads of sloppy playing errors that I had.... I worked on some of them but mostly I just don't play the MIDI guitar outside of the studio. I also went to a few Duquesne University events, and quickly realised how outclassed I was.... a lil' ole home-schooled picker like myself in a room full of technically trained players who sat right, held the insturment correctly, sight-readers, and a level of proficiency that was pretty daunting.

 

Anyway, 50 plus years of Strat players have managed, most of them without needing to modify the instrument. That is my point.

 

Bill

"I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

 

Steve Martin

 

Show business: we're all here because we're not all there.

 

 

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I see your point, but I stand by my correction. The stratocaster's selector switch placement was poorly designed. There's nothing wrong with strumming in such a way that the selector switch interferes with your ability to play. That's the difference. One's a matter of slight differences, the other (the guitar) is simply poor design. It has nothing to do with sloppy playing. He simply strums the strings closer to the bridge than you do.

 

There is a huge difference between where he chooses to strum and sloppy playing made painfully obvious by switching to a MIDI guitar controller. ;)

 

As for 50 years of players dealing with it, those that have... well, that is their business. I suspect there were a lot more who wished they could move the switch than actually did something about it such as move it themselves or buy an instrument whose design was improved. IMO this is one of the ridiculous things guitar manufacturers do for the sake of selling their heritage. They'd rather keep a bad design or a mislabeled control than fix the problem and risk losing customers who say, "But that isn't how the vintage instrument is built."

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

Soundclick

fntstcsnd

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You see... the luthier "gets" me! :P

 

;):D

 

Oh, I get you too.... I have a custom made Pellow with the controls where I wanted them, and if I ever have another one built, it will have a single pickup and a single volume control, and a single switch to bypass that volume control.

 

I've never heard people complaining that the Strat design was "wrong" before. If I don't like a design, or the design is not comfortable for me, I don't buy that product. (Nike tennis shoes, for example, hurt my feet. Certainly a good and popular product, just not one that works for me.)

 

Bill

"I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

 

Steve Martin

 

Show business: we're all here because we're not all there.

 

 

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Bill, you've mentioned your Pellow before, but I can't find a website for it.

 

Mike Pellow is a great Pittsburgh luthier. As far as I know he does not have a website, and can't handle the business that he has, as it is. Last time I checked, he would not take on any new customers, and old customers had to get appointments and wait for a hole in the schedule. His credentials as a repair guy go back many years, and he is the regional authorised repair center for many manufacturers like Martin and Santa Cruz. He has been making guitars for a long time, but only in the last few years has he decided to concentrate his efforts towards building guitars.... the income from repair work was just too easy. He makes hand-scraped arched top jazz guitars, from quality maple. He has a new line of instruments, but I've never seen it as I had moved away when he was launching. Now I'm back in the old neighborhood, but due to my own life issues I have yet had time to look him up.

 

The ax that he made for me was to my specs, not one of his instruments. It is a solid body, mahogany capped with flame maple, with a birdseye maple neck and ebony fretboard. The instrument looks Paul Reed Smith-ish, and is pretty simple. It has a pair of Classic 57 humbuckers, with the typical Les Paul 4 control and a switch system, with the addition of an electronics bypass switch. It has a cherry sunburst finish, with GraphTech nut and saddles on a Strat style trem. I had it built specifically for the type of music that I was playing in a band that I was in in the late 1990s, and it was the perfect gigging guitar...simple, yet nice looking. A couple of years ago I had Michael put in a GraphTech Ghost MIDI pickup, since I already have the Roland MIDI rig and the GraphTech tracks a lot better than the Roland GK-2 pickup. Honestly, I play it and the Gibson 336 more than any other electric guitars in my collection. I'm considering getting rid of many of the others now that I'm not in a studio anymore.

 

Michael smacks me around on occasion and keeps me honest when I get a harebrained idea about a guitar or modification. Like a handful of other guys who grew up with this industry, he knows an awful lot about the instruments and has seen a lot of instruments and we will all suffer a loss when he retires. He is also a great player, and his brother is a reknowned bassist, and on the staff of the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon.

 

I have another friend who is the same way about guitar amps... he grew up repairing them through the late 60s, 70s, 80s, and in the 90s he went into more electrical component design (compressors and preamps and like that...) and now he does a lot of custom audio gear work and super-expensive custom mic work... but nobody knows more about vintage guitar amps and it is sad that he doesn't deal with them anymore. Unless it is one of mine... he'll still fool with them for me, but I have to be willing to let him take it and he'll get it back to me...whenever he gets around to it. The work is so good that this is worth it to me, and I feel fortunate that he will still work on the stuff at all. The funny part is that the pricing for the repairs is sorta stuck in the '70s...unbelievable work for next to nothing.

 

Bill

"I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot."

 

Steve Martin

 

Show business: we're all here because we're not all there.

 

 

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