Strat blade switch bezels

[Cagey]

Strat blade switch bezels. Has anybody ever seen one?

I have to finish up my Soloist, and all it needs is that switch slot cut. But, I'm afraid of making a mess of it, and there'll be no easy recovery if I do. I'm usually pretty good at such things, but if it does go all pear-shaped, I'd like to know there's a way to cover it up. Any help?

 

[line6man]

Like this?

Maybe Doug can machine you a piece of aluminum to have plated?

 

[Cagey]

Yup, that's what I'm talking about. Hadn't thought of asking Doug, but that's a good idea. If I don't find something off-the-shelf, he'd probably have my back.

 

[crash]

Find a place that sells Ibanez parts.  Those came on the S model.  I have a bookmark on my computer at home I will post here when I get back home on Fri.

 

[stubhead]

Here is the alltime mother of Ibanez parts suppliers:

http://www.ibanezrules.com/parts.htm#Misc

way down at the bottom is a "Switch Cover S" - part # 4PT1CJP2C

It's listed at $10.00, click on the parts number. Do you have any solid black pickguard material? This would be easy to make.

(BTW, if you ever wanted to do a Floyd, this guy has the REALLY improved Ibanez ones.)

 

[Cagey]

Thanks for finding that for me, I really appreciate it! Unfortunately, as it works out that part won't fit. It's designed to have the switch screwed to it from the back, then the whole assembly top-mounts on the guitar through a much larger hole than is usually cut for a blade switch. Then, the ends of the cover have studs that feed down through the top of the guitar body and the whole shebang is held on from the rear by a couple nuts. Ibanez did it that way because of the body thickness the switch was being installed in was too thin to rear-mount the switch as is typical.

That wouldn't be the end of the world on the Soloist, but the way the control cavity is routed, there's not enough room length-wise to mount it without doing some creative routing back there, which would require yet another jig. I'm starting to feel like Br'er Rabbit with that whole idea, so it's back to the drawing board.

Making something out of pickguard material may be the best idea yet, but that leaves me with sort of the same problem of how to cut a clean slot. Maybe Doug can chew something out of piece of aluminum for me.

Or, maybe I'm worried about nothing at all. I haven't even tried to cut the slot in the body yet - I may not even need a cover. I'm just trying to look ahead a bit in case things go wrong.

 

[stubhead]

It's no big deal - just a whole bunch of 5/64" holes drilled in a line -> Xacto knife -> 6" shop rule (or any thin...thing) wrapped in sandpaper. It might TAKE an hour... just log on to the forum 11 times instead of 15 times, tomorrow.

I promise we won't talk bad about while you're gone :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4: :evil4:

 

[Cagey]

Why should my presence suddenly make any difference? <grin>

The series-of-holes trick could be made to work. Sounds sloppy, but it would probably allow for more control. Keep me from having to build a jig, anyway.

 

[stubhead]

Sometimes you want to lay masking tape down to hold your tools "on task" better - I usually lay blue first and regular over that - but since you're going into a finish, I would first use a sharp edge like the corner of a chisel to carefully scribe the outside lines all the way through the finish - then peel off the finish in the soon-to-be-slot.  It'd be a lot harder to go wrong then - drill bits like wood.

 

[Cagey]

Ok, I'm running out of excuses now. Gonna have to do something.

 

[fdesalvo]

Man, back in 1989 when I was 14 and first started playing guitar, my buddy's rich GF bought him a jewel blue S540 LTD with shark tooth inlays.  That guitar was so f'n sick!