Control Plate on rear routed tele

[telebender]

I have a Warmoth Tele I put together several years ago, rear routed with a humbucker route in the neck position. Its swamp ash and satin finished, came out almost butterscotch, so I am revamping it to Butterscotch Black Guard. Can I get away with just mounting the control plate on top the wood and running the knob shafts and switch thru the wood and plate? Its got a 4-way switch and I'm worried that the extra thickness may stop the 4-way from fully engaging (a problem I've had before on rear routes). If I have to change to long shaft pots its no biggie, but I have never found a short throw 4-way. I really don't want to gut a hole thru the top if I don't have to. Anyone ever do this?

 

[mayfly]

I'm not sure you're gonna find that switch.  I'm thinking that you'll have to cut a hole in the top for the switch.

Either that or live with a three way -

 

[telebender]

Got it on last night - a little tight but everything works OK. Oddly enough the 4-way was no problem other than having to change knobs from a barrel to a strat style. The pots are just barely long enough to show a couple threads above the plate. Of course, now that its all together I'm thinking of gutting it and going back to a 3-way and 250k pots instead of the 4-way and 500k pots.