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Topic: Help needed with National New Yorker pickup selector switch |
Fred Kinbom
From:
Berlin, Germany, via Stockholm, Sweden.
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Posted 11 Aug 2007 1:47 pm |
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Dear folks,
My 1937 National New Yorker's three-way pickup selector switch ("Hawaiian-Chimes-Harp") has developed a potential issue.
The chicken-head knob switch goes from "8 o'clock" to "4 o'clock", so to speak. When I got the guitar, "Hawaiian" was connected from 8 o'clock to about 10:30, "Chimes" from 10:30 to about 1:30, and "Harp" from 1:30 to 4 o'clock, if you understand what I mean. Basically, there are not three fixed positions, but rather a knob that one turns until the "next" setting is connected.
The first two settings still work like this, but the "Harp" setting now only "kicks in" at a very precise position. When one turns the knob clockwise from "Chimes" there is a drop of signal on the bass side of the strings where the "Chimes" ends, and only at about "2:30" exactly does the "Harp" setting connect fully (from 2:30 to 4 the drop occurs again).
The setting works fine once connected, but I wonder why this has happened. Also, a few times the setting has cut out while I was playing and I had to readjust the knob to once again find the spot where the "Harp" setting fully works. This is not so good, as "Harp" is the setting I use the most.
Is there any simple remedy for this?
The pickup configuration on this New Yorker is unorthodox to say the least. There is a blade brigde pickup, then two pairs (covering the bass- and treble strings respectively) of concealed pickups under the fretboard.
I am extremely reluctant to leave this lap steel to a tech who is not familiar with this model (i.e. any tech this side of the pond!), so I really hope that the "Harp" setting gets even more difficult to dial in.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
(NOTE: This knob functions differently from the "Hawaiian-Chimes-Harp" knob on all National New Yorkers from ca. 1939 onwards. From then on, the New Yorker had one pickup instead of three and the chicken-head knob, although retaining the names of the three settings, functioned as a three-way tone control, not a pickup selector.)
Many thanks!
Fred
_________________
www.fredrikkinbom.com - New lap steel album out now - listen here: fredrikkinbom.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-lap-steel-and-harmonium |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 11 Aug 2007 6:13 pm
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I'm not familiar with the way that is switching between pick-up combinations and tone caps, but if you can get at the control, some contact cleaner would be the way to start. That may well be all that's ailing it. (you gotta start somewhere  )
I've had my Newyorker since new (1950) and never opened it up till this spring just to look under the switch plate. It has a resistor wired in there, likely to get different tone with a switch as opposed to a tone pot. I didn't get into it to see how it's wired.  |
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Fred Kinbom
From:
Berlin, Germany, via Stockholm, Sweden.
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 12 Aug 2007 8:15 pm
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| Fred, put a paper towel under the switch/pot area to keep the cleaner off the guitar, and spray where ever you see an opening in them, and work the knob back and forth etc to spread the stuff out internally. |
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Fred Kinbom
From:
Berlin, Germany, via Stockholm, Sweden.
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Posted 13 Aug 2007 11:20 am
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Thanks so much for the help Bill! I followed your advice and the problem is now solved! 
I'm sitting here with the New Yorker semi-open and the "drop" is now gone. Still a slight bit of crackle when turning the knob, but no drop of signal and the "Harp" setting now again works like it should.
I had to remove the bridge/bridge pickup (one unit) in order to remove the panel the covered the small opening where I could access the switch with the contact cleaner spray nozzle. Amazing to look inside an electric guitar from 1937! I don't think these electronics have seen the light of day many times since the guitar was built 70 years ago, if ever. Everything looks untampered with.
Thanks again! It's really great with all the helpfulness on this forum!
All the best,
Fred (who was born 25 years after Bill bought his New Yorker! )
_________________
www.fredrikkinbom.com - New lap steel album out now - listen here: fredrikkinbom.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-lap-steel-and-harmonium |
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Fred Kinbom
From:
Berlin, Germany, via Stockholm, Sweden.
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Posted 13 Aug 2007 11:40 am
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For those interested: This pickup selector switch seems to engage three different combinations of metal "tongues" (8 in total, of which 2 are "double"). The "Harp" setting uses the concealed neck pickups only, and bypasses the blade bridge pickup entirely.
Fred
_________________
www.fredrikkinbom.com - New lap steel album out now - listen here: fredrikkinbom.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-lap-steel-and-harmonium |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 13 Aug 2007 7:35 pm
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| Fred, that switch sounds like it would be difficult to find a replacement for, so you had better keep it lubed!! |
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, but once I have accessed the pot/switch, where exactly do I spray the contact cleaner and roughly how much?