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| On Tele® Control Plate - Click to Enlarge |
On Strat® Templates - Click to Enlarge |
These are currently out of stock, and we don't expect that we'll have more before 5/15/2010.
The unit s a DPDT push/push switch, mounted onto a 250K audio-taper CTS pot, with your choice of a solid or split (knurled) shaft. The pot mounts to your pickguard or control plate, and provides the platform for the DPDT switch, which is attached to the pot via a circuit board. The DPDT switch can perform many tasks, such as coil-tap, series/parallel, phase-switching, etc. Anything that a push/pull pot or mini-toggle DPDT switch will do, this will do.
The pot can be used as either a volume or tone control. If you choose to use it as a volume control, you'll find a volume kit built in, which can be turned on or off to suit your preference. If you use it as a tone control, you'll find three capacitors built in, which can be individually selected, or combined, via the mini-DIP switches. This gives you six different values to choose from, which allows you to dial in the tone control to your liking.
The unit is solderless, so all nine terminals (six for the switch, and three for the pot) are accessed via a solderless terminal block. The centerline spacing of the switch-tip-to-pot-shaft was determined by the Tele's control spacing, so that the switch lines up precisely between the two pots when the unit is attached to a Tele® control plate. This also provides a convenient spacing when used on a Strat®, as can be seen on the white Strat®-shaped templates in the image above. Once the knobs are mounted, the switch is perfectly centered between the first two knobs and the switch. You will have to drill a hole in your pickguard or control plate for the switch to poke through (Callaham stainless Tele® control plates will be available soon, with the holes pre-drilled by Callaham).
The unit is very low-profile, and there is some limited amount of height adjustment available to compensate for the thickness of various pickguards, by playing with the washers underneath the pot. Typically, the pushbutton is nearly flush with the substrate when in the down position, and sticks up just slightly when in the up position. Hence it is out of the way, yet very convenient and accessible. The unit ships with both parchment (off-white) and black switch tips so you can use whichever is more visually-appealing.