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flaky switchcraft toggle?

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swarfrat

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Just sprung a few bucks extra for a genuine switchcraft short toggle for my bass. And it's flaky as heck. I redid all the solder joints but it appears to be to contacts themselves. Assembled, neck works alone, bridge works alone, in the middle the neck pickup is intermittent. You can get the neck to show up by touching the toggle. I redid all the joints and now it's just dead.

I think I recall lots of cussing aimed at the LP toggle in the past, but it's not showing up. Is there a more reliable toggle or can this be fixed?
 
Far as I know, Switchcraft is still king of the toggles. But I know I've heard more than a few people complain about them lately. It might have something to do with the insulation used in between the parts. And you have to be careful how many times they get soldered, but only twice shouldn't have hurt it. Also I've had a few where the contacts weren't bent properly when they made them.
 
I have installed two of them and both are funky. They just don't make contact on one of the pickups. I have to take them out and look at the contacts to see if they are doing the job properly. It's hard to beat an Oak Grigsby but cutting that slot correctly is a bugger.
 
Switchcraft and also CTS (when it comes to pots) have a reputation of being top notch.
I’ve never understood this since they seem to make inferior products.

Choose a Dimarzio EP1111 instead and Bourns pots if you want high quality stuff.
 
Logrinn, Rick, you're both right there. Those are two suitable replacements. On my last build I used one similar to the one Logrinn lists but it's too stiff. Of course, it was a different item. I think I'll have to change it out, too.
 
I don't really need a freeway for a P-J passive bass. But I'll certainly look for a more robust 3-way center on 1/2" hole switch and chalk this up to lessons learned. Sheesh - $25 for a flaky switch. Not happy about this lesson.
 
You can't send it back? Normally, I'll eat bad parts like pots/switches/lamps/some chips/etc. if they're only a couple/few bucks - it's not worth the time/postage to deal with it. Electronics parts are often flaky - they make 'em by the bajillion so nobody does 100% testing. But at $25? I think I'd have to do something. At least bitch. Sometimes, rather than deal with bad press, companies will just resend a fresh part and chalk it up to the cost of doing business.
 
I just figured electrical parts, been soldered to... I guess the auto parts stores have me trained well. Plus - whether or not I killed it, I'm not sure I could prove I didn't. I was just planning to never ever buy switchcraft again.
 
The drawing would indicate no threaded tip. My guess would be you may want to want chrome. I used one of these. It works fine but the feel is stiff. It does have a threaded tip so you can change the color if you want. It is a metric thread so only metric tips will fit.
 
VinceClortho said:
Choose a Dimarzio EP1111 instead and Bourns pots if you want high quality stuff.
Click to expand...
Is the tip threaded on the Dimarzio switch or is it WYSIWYG?
Click to expand...

It's not threaded but a solid shaft:

285.jpg_m.jpg
 
I bought an angled brass Switchcraft toggle for a build and it was defective, would not hold in position. Mouser blew me off but luckily a co-worker was able to figure out the problem and bend it into the right shape.
 
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