Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Owning an Alembic => Troubleshooting => Topic started by: edflynn on March 17, 2017, 11:37:33 AM

Title: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: edflynn on March 17, 2017, 11:37:33 AM: The pickup selector switch works perfectly, rotating from Standby>Pickup 1>Both>Pickup 2, but is loose in the hole. Before just tightening it, I took off the top nut and washer.

To me, the mounting hole is missing an insert of some kind. Maybe someone rotated the 'pointy knob' and removed the insert?

What is the best way to repair this issue?
Title: Re: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: gtrguy on March 17, 2017, 12:58:54 PM: Star washer on the back side.
Title: Re: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: edflynn on March 18, 2017, 09:58:24 AM: Thanks, that should work. Wouldn't it still be prone to loosening over time, because of the rotary nature of the switch?

Does it look like the original mounting hole? Everything else about the instrument seems to be more engineered 'not to fail'.
Title: Re: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: mica on March 18, 2017, 10:14:11 AM: What you're probably experiencing is wood cell compression. Over time, under the pressure of the nut, the cell walls collapse and leave just a little space. If the space gets large enough, it can wiggle. This literally takes years to form. It happens on all the pots, switches, output jacks, and especially strap pins/locks. Just gently tighten the nut every decade or so and you'll be good to go.

On the the strap locks and pins, because of the combination of forces, especially on straplocks, you need to check these much more often. I recommend checking them once every month or two
Title: Re: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: edflynn on March 18, 2017, 11:57:58 AM: Thanks, Mica.

But, why is the mounting hole so much bigger that the shaft of the switch? It's about 1/4" hole for a 1/8" shaft.
Title: Re: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: mica on March 20, 2017, 07:03:27 PM: But the bushing is bigger than 1/8" - I can't tell from your images how much bigger than needed the hole is. If the hole is indeed too large, I would plug it, and drill the proper diameter hole and remount the switch. As to why, I'm not sure anyone can answer as to what happened 35 years ago up until you got the bass.
Title: Re: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: edflynn on March 21, 2017, 08:34:27 AM: Okay, thanks Mica.

I agree with your suggestion and it all makes sense now.

Probably, it worked correctly, maybe it got tightened a couple of times. I took it apart because I'm curious and like to fix things.
Title: Re: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: JimmyJ on March 21, 2017, 09:23:18 AM: I bet I know why. Isn't that the original position of the output jack?
Title: Re: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: mica on March 21, 2017, 01:55:34 PM: I kept looking at that too,Jimmy, but with the position of the battery I think it's the original location.

That hole isn't particularly round either. Musta been a bad day in routing if it left here that way!
Title: Re: 82 Spoiler Rotary Pickup Selector Switch is loose in the mounting hole
Post by: keith_h on March 21, 2017, 02:11:46 PM: If the switch has been moving around in the hole for a period of time I'd expect the threads to have acted as a file and worn the wood away.