Hey, all.
Maybe you can help. The S-1 switch on my '04 Delux Strat is beginning
to waffle between normal and real thin and tinny. At least through my G-DEC. When the button is up, no problem. Down=problem. And it's not always malfunctioning. Just most of the time.
Is this a replaceable part? I've done surgery on my Tele before, so I'm not afraid to get blood on my hands.

Thanks.

It is replacable. its not easy though. Is the capacitor on the volume/s1 ok, could that be causing the problem?

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No no and no

Capacitor? I dont know, I havent opened it up yet. Actually I hate to.
But, if need be, I will.
Would you know if this capacitor is proprietary in the mechanism, or is it
just in line?

Thanks, Niki.

And wouldn't you know, it has stopped cutting out now.....

Ah, Martian warned us about those S-1 switches...

There is a cap wired across two of the terminals on the top.

If you havent looked under the hood before, get ready for a shock

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No no and no

Yeah, the Tele was pretty simple.
Thanks, man.

Just for comparison: I was playing my Am. Deluxe on Friday night. I don't use the S1 switch much so I thought I'd try it out to see if there were some interesting sounds there. I could press the button in and get the various tones but the switch wouldn't return to the "out" position. It would make the guitar cut out, or I could push the switch to the "in" position and it would be fine. The guitar is under warranty so I tried to call Fender for help - this at about 7 p.m. Eastern Time so I didn't catch them. So, I checked my local authorized service centers. I e-mailed Darren Riley, a local service provider, and he told me to bring it in on Saturday. When I got it to the shop he told me he'd replace the S1 switch under warranty. I told him that of all the features on the Am. Deluxe I cared least about the S1. He suggested replacing the switch with a regular volume pot and rewiring so that the lower tone knob was for the bridge pickup and the top tone pot for the neck/middle. I said let's do it! Can't wait to get the guitar back but Darren told me it would be 2 weeks.

I can live with that - while I was in the shop he turned away two guys, telling them he was backed up for a year on repairs!!

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Custom Shop '59 Stratocaster
AV Hot Rod '52 Telecaster
AV '56 Stratocaster
'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

oldguy101 where can I find out what martian said about s1 switches. My deluxe started waffling bad , I replaced s1 switch and 5 way switch and still having trouble. Is it best to just do away with the s1 switch?

Welcome to the forum. I would think if you replaced the both and your are still having the problem you should be looking elsewhere. I don't go along with the thought that its just that S-1 switches problematic just think how many are used by fender sure there is going to be some going bad. Why do you think there is a market for 3-way and 5-way switches and tone/volume pots they all can go bad and do.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Welcome.

You could always just ask me.

In a nutshell, I said the S-1 switches are way too frail and better suited for gentle, occasional use in a sealed environment as from a manufacturing standpoint, they cannot take even moderate, sustained use. Further, that you are forced to replace this grossly overpriced, lousy design of a switch when, not if it craps out with an identical grossly overpriced, lousy switch, bound to crap out sooner than later too; unless of course, you want to get into different on-board switching components to achieve the same end. On a secondary note, I also said, some love them and some hate them. I am obviously in the latter group as personally find them unreliable and useless any way for the combinations I require out of my Strats. YMMV.

Consider: There appears to be more complaints about these S-1 switches than pickup selector switches and pots of late where obviously, the pickup selector switches and pots have been around infinitely longer. There are too many S-1 switches needing replacement in a disproportionately short amount of time since their relatively recent introduction.

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You dig?

Well as I said if he already replaced the S-1 and the 5-way and still has the problem he should look elsewhere. Apparently thats not the problem!!!!

And they somewhat new but there are a lot of them out there on Fender guitars and the basses. I have replaced a few of them. It is a feature I could do without.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Sight unseen, I cannot automatically presume that based on the erratic nature of these S-1 switches. And with absolutely NO offense intended to the person who installed the the replacement components, what the completed job looks like.

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You dig?

Just a follow up on my S1 experience: I brought my Am. Deluxe to the shop to replace the S1 switch after it failed (warranty work). While there I explained to the tech. that I never use the switch and he suggested replacing with a standard volume pot. He also suggested re-wiring the Strat so that the bottom tone pot controls the bridge pickup and the top tone pot controls the middle and neck. I said okay and left the guitar with him.

I picked the guitar up on Monday and the tech. explained that when he pulled the pick guard he decided to replace the 5-way switch with a standard switch. I wondered about that until he showed me the S1 5-way. What a mess of wire! The tech. kept the S1 and 5-way switch wired as a unit so it can be put back in the guitar if needed.

I like the look and sound of the guitar now. I'm still getting used to the new pot wiring - at first every switch position sounded the same. However, with a bit more volume and not too much tone rolled off the bridge I get some nice sound choices.

I agree with Martian and cvilleira on the S1 quality. When I looked at the old switch it appeared as if the small metal post that the S1 center piece pushes on had broken. It was pushed to the side of the channel and was binding. This is a light duty switch if I ever saw one!

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Custom Shop '59 Stratocaster
AV Hot Rod '52 Telecaster
AV '56 Stratocaster
'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

BTW, that tiny 'special' capcitor in the S-1 switch is a:
iC 503Z cap

This is a REALLY cheap cap. It's basically a 0.05uf cap w/ a designed tolerance of +80% / -20%. Yup, you read that right. This cap can be anywhere between 0.09uf to 0.04uf at eny given time.

The regular tone cap is a 0.022uf (+/- 10%) cap.

Personally, I think the SCN's sound ALOT better with a 0.047uf (or 0.033uf). A slightly darker cap takes a lot of the shrilly sound out and restores a lot more tone that's hard to dial out w/ the stock 0.022uf cap.

I ended up replacing the tone cap with a 0.047uf cap and the special tone cap w/ a 0.33uf cap (I just went w/ what I had a the time). This is pretty delicate soldering, so I wouldn't attempt this if you just bought your first soldering iron.

It made a huge difference in tone and the S-1 switch actually works and sounds good. When I kick in a distortion pedal, I can hit the button and get a really nice compressed tone.