This is a Fender™ 5-way pickup selector switch (Fender part #099-1367-000) as used in the American Standard Stratocaster.™ Switches that are electrically similar are used in all "normal" Strat™ guitars including asian Squiers™ -- though as you might expect the quality of the switches in some of the cheaper models is pretty dismal. Similar switches are also used in other "Strat-like" guitars made by other companies. Guitars with unusual switching, like the Lonestar Strat, use special switches. Also note that the pictures above are not to exact scale, and I intentionally omitted some of the less important construction details. Click for more information about the picture.

Notice that above I used the phrase "electrically similar." That is because Strats and Strat-type guitars have been shipped with a myriad of switches of widely varying appearance -- but in all cases the switches operate very similarly even though the solder terminals may be in different places and the switches may look very much different. In a moment we'll examine this switch in detail with an eye toward equiping you to identify the terminals of any pickup select switch that isn't sealed. Wherever you see text that looks like this you can move your mouse cursor over that text to highlight the applicable parts of the pictures above. It isn't necessary to click the mouse button, just let the cursor hover over the text. Depending on your browser configuration and connection speed you may have to wait a few seconds for the overlay to load. Also, you must have JavaScript enabled.

Sealed switches present a problem in that it isn't possible to analyze the contacts visually. If you've purchased the switch new it may have come with a data sheet describing the terminals -- don't lose this data sheet. You might even consider taping it to the back of the pickguard so it will be available for the next poor sucker who works on your guitar. If you're reusing a sealed switch that was already in the guitar pay careful attention to where the various wires were attached as you can determine the switch configuration from that. You can also use an ohm meter to determine which contacts are which. Finally, I don't generally recommend sealed switches. In theory they should be better than other switches but this doesn't always carry into practice. While good quality aftermarket sealed switches are more reliable than open switches, the poor quality sealed switches often found in factory installations may bring with them the worst of both worlds -- they may oxidize just as quickly as cheap open-contact switches and, when they do, you can't get at the contacts with spray cleaner.

I've seen at least one factory switch that won't work with some of the mods here. I don't remember for sure but I think that switch was in a Korean Squier. The switch looked very similar to the above except that it didn't really have two separate poles. The wipers for the two "poles" were a single piece of metal which effectively tied the common terminals together. This isn't a problem in a normal Strat as the common terminals are normally connected together anyway. It is a problem in some of the custom setups shown here, though. That was a poor quality switch anyway, so if you ever encounter one throw it away and replace it with the switch shown above (or one of even better quality, gold plated switches like this are available).

I don't have time to attempt to identify the terminals of individual switches that you might encounter and describe to me -- please, don't even ask. If in doubt, purchase the above switch from a Fender dealer. All of the mods in these pages are drawn using this switch unless otherwise noted. If the time fairy is very nice to me maybe someday I will be able to add pictures and descriptions of other switches to this page -- until then if you don't see it here then assume I don't know anything about it!

The parts: The Fender switch above has two electrical "poles" (the second pole is mostly out of sight behind the large green insulator, only the solder terminals are visible). Each pole is completely separate from the other so this switch can, in fact, switch two completely isolated circuits. Each pole is comprised of a wiper that is attached, via an insulator, to the shaft that rotates when the switch lever is moved; and a set of contacts. When you move the knob the lever rotates the shaft which in turn rotates both of the insulated wipers. The contacts, which are attached to the solder terminals ride on and make electrical contact with the wipers. The common contacts are long enough to reach the inner band of the wipers so they are always touching the wiper no matter what position the lever is moved to. The switched contacts are shorter so they are only connected to the circuit when the wide part of the wipers are under them. Note that the wiper wedges are wide enough to touch two switched contacts when the lever is stopped in the detent between contacts. Thus we have five positions (detents) but only three contacts (plus the common contact) for each pole.

Identifying the terminals: First we'll look at the pole that is visible in the pictures above, the second pole is merely a mirror image (slightly rotated) of this pole. Be careful, though -- the "mirror" image idea can get you in trouble so we'll look at the second pole in detail in a moment.

We've already identified the common contact which makes it obvious which is the common terminal. Now, notice that in the picture on the right the lever is clearly in the exact center (middle pickup) position. We notice that the wiper wedge is only touching one contact, that contact and its attached solder terminal must be the middle terminal for this pole. Now notice the picture on the left. The lever has been moved to the neck/middle position -- remember that we are looking at the switch from the back of the pickguard and the neck of the guitar would be to the right in this picture -- and the wiper wedge is now touching two contacts. We already know which one is the middle terminal, which means the other one must be the neck terminal for this pole. The only remaining unidentified terminal must be the bridge terminal for this pole.

The second pole, which is mostly hidden from view in the pictures above, is basically a mirror image of the first pole. I.e. if you flipped all the parts that make up pole A (wiper and insulator and the four contacts) and then rotated them about fifteen degrees (so the contacts are offset from those on pole A) you would have a pretty good idea of what pole B looks like. So, it should be real easy to figure out which terminals are which, right? Just reverse the order from pole A, right? No! It's a little more tricky than that. The common terminal is indeed where you might expect to find it. But, keep in mind that while the components for pole B are a mirror image of pole A they are attached to the same shaft and rotate the same direction. Therefore, the switched terminals for pole B must be in the same order as those for pole A. The terminal configuration isn't immediately intuitive for some people so I've provided the following picture that you can print to keep as a handy reference.

Gold-plated switches: I mentioned that gold-plated switches that are physically similar to the switch above are available. I've seen them, but I can't recall where at the moment (might have been Stewart MacDonalds). One question I get asked a lot is, "are gold-plated switches worth the extra dough?" The jury is still out (in my mind, at least). I don't think that in the short term (i.e. immediately after installation) you'll be able to tell any difference in either sound or reliability between a gold-plated switch and an ordinary switch. In theory the gold-plated switch should resist oxidation and therefore not deteriorate over time. In practice I suspect that the plating wears off of the contact and wiper quite quickly -- leaving very shiny, pretty switch contacts with unprotected dull spots in the only places that count! I could be wrong on this, but, frankly, I haven't cared enough to research it further because I've had no real problem with normal good-quality switches. For myself I can't justify spending the dough on gold-plated switches, on the other hand there are certainly no disadvantages (other than cost) in using gold-plated switches so if you can afford them go for it.

Switch (and pot) maintenance: I often get asked how best to clean switches and pots. Any decent electrical contact spray cleaner will work but be careful not to overspray onto your guitar's finish and also note that some of the cleaners will even eat your plastic pickguard! Now for the bigger question, "should you clean the switch and pots in your guitar and, if so, when?" If you're not using the guitar professionally then I'd say go ahead and clean the switch and/or pots whenever they start to get noisy or "drop out." If cleaning becomes a frequent thing, or if the guitar is a cheap knockoff with crummy parts, replace them rather than clean them. What about the professional musician? I wish I had a buck for every player who, when his guitar controls begin to flake out, nurses them and nurses them for weeks or months until they finally fail catastrophically before or during a saturday-night gig! That's really stupid! Usually, the way switches and pots fail is that they will begin to work a bit intermittently. When this happens you can almost always "fix" them temporarily just by running them back and forth a few times. Consider that a warning! As soon as you have trouble, get the switches and or pots replaced ASAP -- don't wait until running the control back and forth doesn't fix the problem anymore! Okay, should you replace the parts or clean them? That is a judgement call but if your problem is due to oxidation (rather than a simple accumulation of dirt and cigarette smoke) a cleaning won't last long. A good contact cleaner will remove the oxidation but the root problem isn't going to go away -- any protective plating has obviously been worn off of the contacts and they will probably oxidize again relatively quickly. What I'm saying is that if it took ten years for your switch to flake out, don't expect another ten years of service after you clean it -- expect more like a year if you're lucky. With that in mind you might want to consider replacing the switch rather than cleaning it.