Do you have...switch aggression?

RVA

RVA

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How do you treat your switches? Do you simply move them, or do you flick 'em, shift 'em and slap 'em.

Paul Reed Smith does not treat his very gently. At first I thought, well he does own a whole company if it breaks. But then I realized that he loves guitars as much as anyone and would never abuse them. Then I thought, maybe he wants to show their durability, but a 5 minute demo proves nothing and you are only asking for complaints if you encourage people to abuse their equipment. Then I thought, maybe this keeps the contacts clean! But really I have no idea.

I have noticed this for some time and seen this type of treatment by store owners in sales vids, players showing off their prized guitars, players paid to demo, etc. What gives? I tried to do Google search for a possible reason to no avail.

 
I never abuse anything on my guitars.Mod them,change them up,re mod them but never abuse them.
 
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JohnnyGoo said:
I never abuse anything on my guitars.Mod them,change them up,re mod them but never abuse them.
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Me too. But people who seemingly care for these guitars are not bothered by this aggressive switching. It almost seems odd, but maybe I am missing simething. This video is only one example and there are many others done by many other people. Keep an eye out when checking out demos.
 
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Don't know 'bout no switches, but I sure like that 408.

Kidding aside, I know that I whack switches that are down on the lower bout a lot harder than, say, the pickup selector on a Les Paul. Only reason I can think of is that instinctively, since I can't see them as well, I want to be certain it goes where I want it. Hardest switch position for me is middle pickup on a Strat. I have to think it into place, so rarely use it unless I am playing along, which is a shame because I prefer that position to the bridge on a Strat.
 
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I don't flip my switches hard like in the video, but that may indeed be a good marketing technique. Kinda like how a Timex "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking."
 
Two observartions.

First, I definitely hear Paul's Maryland accent!

Second, I switch pretty much the same way he does. I suppose I'm usually just a little more gentle than in this video. But if I switch in a gig, mid-song, I may switch just as aggressively. I did it just yesterday with my Strat...flipping from bridge to neck in a single swipe.

It's not so much a sense of switching aggressively as it is the need to switch quickly.
 
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smitty_p said:
Two observartions.

First, I definitely hear Paul's Maryland accent!

Second, I switch pretty much the same way he does. I suppose I'm usually just a little more gentle than in this video. But if I switch in a gig, mid-song, I may switch just as aggressively. I did it just yesterday with my Strat...flipping from bridge to neck in a single swipe.

It's not so much a sense of switching aggressively as it is the need to switch quickly.
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Yes but for a demo? And I have seen him flicking harder than this. Maybe he has pent up aggression. The guitar game is a tough one!
 
I've seen people switching on the fly while playing hitting the switches much harder. Especially the pick up selector on a Les Paul.
 
Sp8ctre said:
I've seen people switching on the fly while playing hitting the switches much harder. Especially the pick up selector on a Les Paul.
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Yeah. Besides, no one is ~trying~ to hit the switch hard. It's just that if you're making a switch on the fly, you need to do it fast, such as if you're playing a rhythm part on one pickup and you're coming up to a lead break and you want to switch to a different pickup. I'll flick the switch quickly from one to the other. Switching into middle positions obviously requires a bit more finesse, as it is easy to over-shoot the correct position.

Generally speaking, when I practice a song, I practice the switching and volume control along with everything else. Even if I'm practicing unplugged, I'll still go through the motions of switching pickups and making any volume/tone adjustments.
 
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I don't hit my switches that hard ... he hits those switches harder than Eazy-E! :ROFLMAO:


I just do the pinky flick most of the time
 
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Switchcraft did a really good engineering job on that
Gibson pickup selector switch. One of my SGs is from
the mid 60s and still has the original switch. That's
over half a century of getting slammed around.
 
Tony M. said:
Switchcraft did a really good engineering job on that
Gibson pickup selector switch. One of my SGs is from
the mid 60s and still has the original switch. That's
over half a century of getting slammed around.
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Well, Epiphone did a lousy job, as my LP special switch was bad out of the box. Ok, cheap guitar, cheap components too, I know. Still had a bad switch, though.
 
Bocc69 said:
Well, Epiphone did a lousy job, as my LP special switch was bad out of the box. Ok, cheap guitar, cheap components too, I know. Still had a bad switch, though.
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While Epiphone makes some fantastic guitars I've found that on all but the highest end the electronics are crap.
 
Tony M. said:
Switchcraft did a really good engineering job on that
Gibson pickup selector switch. One of my SGs is from
the mid 60s and still has the original switch. That's
over half a century of getting slammed around.
Click to expand...

My '74 SG still has the original switch, too.
 
The switches in Epiphones are rubbish

My Epiphone has had a Switchcraft switch and jack installed together with Mojotone CTS pots and all new wiring
 
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