Losing sound on bridge pickup

[bglaze]

I have a 35th Anniversary Core Custom 24. 95% of the time I can switch between pickups and coil split settings without issue. However, a small percentage of the time, when I switch to my bridge pickup (or when I toggle the bridge-side mini-toggle while already on my bridge pickup) I will lose sound altogether. Sometimes it resolves itself within half a second; sometimes I need to toggle the mini-toggle to resolve it.

I started noticing this a few months ago, and I also noticed that there was some scratchiness when switching to my bridge pickup. So, I sprayed some DeoxIT into the mini-toggles as well as onto the main toggle connections on the inside. This removed the scratchiness 100% -- I haven't experienced it once since I sprayed the components. However, the sound disconnection still occurs from time to time.

Whenever the connection resolves (either on its own after half a second, or by me toggling the bridge-side mini-toggle) the sound comes back in a quick swell (from low to max volume).

While inspecting my components, I noticed that a metal wire connector on my bridge-side mini-toggle was awfully close to the metal bracket on the side of the switch housing. So, I gently bent it up and away from that housing by about 1/4".

Here is a picture of the connector I am referring to (the green arrow is aiming at the point of concern):

I went about a week without having this problem again, so I thought the problem had been fixed. But, it happened again last night when I switched my bridge pickup from split to full-humbucker mode. My sound dropped, and it didn't resolve until I switched the mini-toggle one direction. Then, it continued to work fine in both modes.

Before I replace this mini-toggle, does anybody have any other ideas as to how I might troubleshoot this? Could the problem live anywhere else other than the mini-toggle?

Other ideas I had:

- Cold solder joint, maybe? If so, any advice on hunting this down?
- Loose or dirty connections? Not sure which connections might contribute to my problem, but curious if anyone knows of specific connections I should check?
- I'd like to making sure that my main toggle connection points are indeed clean and oxidation free. Any advice on cleaning the main toggle connections?
- Problem with the bridge pickup itself? This seems unlikely, but worth checking?

Has anyone ever experience anything similar to the problem I am describing?

Also, I know that I am missing a lot of correct terminology in this post, so please forgive that.

Thanks so much in advance!!!

 

[Lewguitar]

I've experienced something like this. A terminal from the pickup selector switch of my SE Silver Sky was touching the black coating of the interior of the control cavity and shorting out every so often. It was just close enough that once in a blue moon it'd touch and start turning the pickup off. I had to bend it away from the conductive paint and now it's fine. Look for anything like that.

 

[MartinGe]

Hi bglaze,
I habe a similar or maybe the same problem, play this guitar since 2020. Could you resolve it in the meantime? Did you replace the mini toggle?

 

[vhalen50]

I had this issue with a customers s2 594. I replaced the toggle and reflowed all wires. still happened. Replaced the volume pot, no issues. Give it a shot.

 

[MartinGe]

Hi vhalen 50,
thank you for this post, I'll try it.