Once again, the tone i'm striving for is from The Wall era, which is between 1978-1981. With some photos in the Phil Taylor book, The Black Strat, Phil had mentioned at about 1986, David started converting his guitars from 3-way CRL switches to 5-way CRL switches.
What is interesting in this photo, is the fact that it was taken during the About Face recording session. Notice how the switch tip is not sitting in the center nor the far bottom. It was known at the time for guitarists to wedge their switches in between to couple either the middle/bridge pickups or the neck/middle pickups for different tonalities. Phil had stated that it was about 1977 that Fender started offering 5-way switches for upgrades to the 3-way switches. In the majority of all photos and videos i've seen Gilmour playing the Black Strat during The Wall era, it is obvious that he still has a 3-way CRL switch installed on the Black Strat. This was a speculation, and still is until I get an answer from the publishing company to clarify whether it has been switched out or not (the page Phil Taylor discusses about the 5-way switches is on page 134 on the Third Edition on The Black Strat). For now, it only makes sense to put in a Genuine 3-way CRL switch.
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| CRL 3-Way Switch (Disc Side) |
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| CRL 3-Way Switch (Spring Side) |
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| CRL 5-Way Switch (Disc Side) |
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| CRL 5-Way Switch (Spring Side) |
This is the recent CRL 3-way switch out on the market. It is wired up in the same manner as a CRL 5-way switch (the solder tabs on the spring side of the switch is in fact shifted more to the right than on the 5-way switch, but still follows the same pattern in wiring as a 5-way switch). There are, of course, different styles of 3-way switches. Fender had put out 2 different versions, this one being the appropriate one for this setup. These were also known to be used in Telecasters of the early 60's.
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| Left: CRL 5-Way Switch ; Right: CRL 3-Way Switch |
I want to at least have a visual to the difference between the 5-way and 3-way switch. Do you see the solder tabs on the spring side of the switch? Note how the 5-way has one HIGHER than the 3-way. Mind you that all wiring to a 5-way is the EXACT pattern as a 3-way, it's just your first point in pushed down. There are four tabs, same on the 3-way as the 5-way.
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| Original 1970 CRL 3-Way Switch |
To give you a better idea, here is a photo of an original 1970 CRL 3-way switch.
I think i've gone through everything that I think is important for the build right now. This has been a big step in having this Black Strat come out really well! For the next post, I will list a group of parts (mostly hardware) that is being used on the build, as well as part numbers (if applicable) or websites that offer those parts. Soon after those posts mentioned earlier, I will get to assembly and preparation for a shop to take over some parts that either need modification or repair! Looks like I'll have this done in no time!
David Sarmiento
