Guitar switch as found on current production U.S.A. Fender Strat guitars. Made in the U.S.A. by Oak. This replacement Strat 5 way switch comes complete with two dome-head nickel mounting screws. Switch tip not included.
These days the 5 way Strat switch is taken for granted but in the first 3 decades of the Stratocaster’s history (during the 1950’s, 60’s and most of the 70’s) the standard switch fitted at the Fender factory was a 3 position selector. The classic in-between pickup sounds were still achievable but players had to resort to carefully balancing the lever between positions to get the combination of bridge and middle and middle and neck pickups, now commonly referred to as positions 2 and 4 on a 5 way switch. It was only around 1977 did Fender start to fit a 5 way switch as standard to make it much easier to select all 5 tones. There is a common misconception that the combined pickup sounds in positions 2 and 4 are out of phase - this is not true and actually the pickups remain in-phase. The true sound of 2 pickups being out of phase with each other is a much thinner tone with a drop in volume but with a big emphasis on mid-range - somewhat of an acquired taste!
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