mattrusso

Hey guys,

I'm having a problem with the switching on my Gretsch 5120. The bridge pickup works fine, but when I switch to the neck pickup, I get one of three outcomes (usually #1 or #2):

1) No sound at all
2) A "watered down", muffled, shittier sounding version of the neck pickup
3) Normal neck pickup sound

Also, sometimes when I'm playing on the neck pickup, the tone will either cut out or abruptly change to the "watered down" version without me touching the switch. This is much rarer, though.

This is becoming a real pain in my ass as it really makes the guitar unusable in a live setting and very annoying to use even for practice. Often, I'll have to **** with it for a solid 30 seconds to a minute before the real neck pickup sound comes on, and even then it's in danger of cutting out randomly.

If it makes any difference, the pickups were changed out a little more than a year ago. This was done by a very reputable guitar tech who is also a family friend, so I don't suspect it's his fault.

So, any ideas what could be going on? Thanks for any help!

steven seagull

a dirty or faulty selector switch

I'd grab some contact cleaner and spray the switch before going ahead with any drastic surgery

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4FunandProphet

Sounds like a bad connection. Get some Deoxit and spray it in the switch and work it back and forth several tomes. Do this a time or two, and if that doesn't fix it, check the solder joints on the switch. If the connections are all good and you still have issue, you may need a new switch.

mattrusso

Thanks!

Is there anywhere I can find a diagram, picture, etc. of exactly what I need to clean? I'm VERY inexperienced with the technical side of guitar maintenance, so I'm definitely not doing any "drastic surgery" myself.

steven seagull

if there's a metal collar around the switch I'd unscrew that first, but literally just squirt it at the base of the switch so it gets in the contacts and give it a good wiggle. If the switch is accesible through the control cavity so much the bettter but I'm guessing that's not the case on your guitar.

__________________
Actually called Mark!


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