Guitar players are currently losing their minds over an easy and affordable new gear hack that looks like it could completely eliminate unwanted pickup switching, and keep fourth position players securely locked in.
Owing to the design of Stratocasters and Stratocaster-style guitars, their five-way blade pickup switches are often situated awkwardly underneath the strings. This puts them in prime position for unwanted pickup switches when your strumming hand starts to stray.
It’s a particular problem for funk players and those who like to remain rooted in the fourth position. One off-course strum and that pickup selector could be sent straight into first position territory, losing those chewy rhythm sounds.
Cory Wong’s signature Strat had a built-in button to bypass the pickup selector, but otherwise the main remedy available to you was… well, just being a bit more careful.
Now, though, a Reddit user with the handle ‘meta_damage’ has shared a new, low budget hack that could make such problems a thing of the past – and all it really requires is a spare guitar pick.
Switch Hack for Funky 4th Position Players from r/Guitar
It’s very simple: as per meta_damage’s post, players can simply take a thin guitar pick, drill a hole into its point, and fit it underneath one of the screws that secures the pickup selector to the scratchplate.
This works, as demonstrated by the images above, by wedging the bulk end of the pick into toggle switch and securing the fourth position – and, in turn, serves as a barrier to prevent it from slipping into treble-y tonal waters.
As an added bonus, if the pick has been secured with just the right amount of slack, it can easily be swung out of the way for when those bridge tones are required.
“When I really get immersed in playing, especially funky stuff with fast and wild strumming, I often knock my selector switch away from the beloved 4th position,” meta_damage explains in their post.
“I drilled a hole through an [sic] spare pick… such that when attached to the guitar with the lower screw of the selector it prevents the switch from being (easily) changed while playing.”
Understandably, meta_damage’s hack has got people talking. “I thought I'd seen every 'hack' possible over the past 30 years of playing guitar. This one genuinely delights me!” one commenter wrote. “My god this is genius,” gushed another.
Now, switch locks are already a thing, but purchasing a pro-made accessory will set you back some pennies – an unnecessary expense, it seems, if the same outcome can be achieved by using an old pick. It doesn't look hard to do, either.
Social media is often the hotbed for guitar innovation, as regular players look for inventive ways to solve problems and achieve certain sounds. Earlier this year, for example, TikTok went crazy for a $12 tennis accessory that helped channel rubber bridge guitar tones.
