Oak Grigsby Made by?

[frets]

Hi Guys😸

I am attempting to complain to Oak Grigsby about the new screws they are using. The switch screws are even more of a gold color and unusable. They are no longer stainless steel. So I am trying to complain to Oak Grigsby. I figure if they have enough complaints, they will change their screws.

Anyway, I lodged a complaint to Electroswitch as I thought they were the maker of Oak Grigsby switches. They are telling me they are not the maker. I’ve googled online and have come up with Electroswitch. So I am confused given my inquiry to Electroswitch rendered a negative response regarding whether they manufactured Oak Grigsby.

I’m wondering if anyone on the forum knows the parent company for Oak Grigsby.

Thank you😸

[unreg]

Electroswitch owns at least two companies:

1.) a Mexican company Oak Grigsby
2.) a USA company CRL


toneshapers.com/collections/oak-grigsby
said:

Fender used CRL switches for decades, but the Mexican-made Oak switches are less expensive than the USA-made CRL switches, prompting Fender's move from CRL to Oak.

So, perhaps Electroswitch makes neither Oak Grigsby or CRL switches; you’d probably have to translate your message into Español and email it to Oak Grigsby. I bet there’s a free translator by someone like google or DuckDuckGo to help speed that translation.


EDIT: NM, DuckDuckGo’s translate feature only works for translating short phrases. You can enter (without quotes):
“translate Hello, good morning to Spanish”
And DuckDuckGo will return that translated phrase. Though, its page with the translation that appears may allow you to paste in your message and rerun the translate service.

From search results it appears google’s translate service only translates words, short phrases, or websites.


When I recommended them, I was thinking of a newish translate service in Firefox’es browser.

[cynical1]

Oct 26, 2023 14:41:49 GMT -5 frets said:

I figure if they have enough complaints, they will change their screws.

Well, you can wish in one hand....

Stainless steel Phillips 6-32 x 5/8" screws readily available from Fastenal.

HTC1

[ssstonelover]

I have a great hardware store locally that has all sorts of stainless screws, metric and 'standard', but I can understand the annoyance and lack of corporate response, as I've reached out to companies asking, requesting or complaining from time to time.

Speaking of Oak Grigsby I see they now seemingly offer 'reverse wafers' and thinner super switches too, so much easier to squeeze into Teles, Strats, or whatever.
thin type
reverse type

[frets]

The thin Superswitch is a challenge to solder to but it is a brilliant switch.

I’m still hassling Electroswitch about their worthless pop metal screws.

I did buy some nice half inch stainless steel screws from Monsterbolts. 10 cents a piece. So 20 cents for two screws that Oak Grigsby could have provided. Whine😸

Has anyone tried their 6 way blade switch?

[newey]

Oct 31, 2023 20:47:41 GMT -5 frets said:

Has anyone tried their 6 way blade switch?

I bought one a few years ago but never used it in anything yet, it's still in the parts bin. I did post a pinout of it, which is oddball, not what you would expect. It's essentially designed to allow all the std Strat selections plus N + B, but other uses will be limited. It is most definitely not a Superswitch with 6 positions, which is what I assumed when I bought it (their website had limited info and no pinout diagram).

[frets]

Can you point me in the direction of the pinout?

[newey]

frets-

Here's the thread in question:

guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/7948/new-6-lever-switch

But I was misremembering when I wrote above that I thought it was like a Superswitch. I thought at first that it was like a regular Strat switch with an extra shorting position- but then reTrEaD pointed out that that would imply 7 positions. In any event, the pinout is still oddball.

[frets]

Thanks Newey, I really appreciate it.

I think I am going to buy one and try it out. I found one for $14.85. If I do, I will post a schematic. It probably will be a while.

[stevewf]

Hey frets, sorry to hear about the lame hardware. Indeed, rust-prone hardware is not desirable, especially where rocking' sweaty hands tend to touch.

Shopping for screws: I found that both my Oak Grigsby 5-way and Fender 4-way use 6-32 machine screws for mounting.

BTW, The Oak Grigsby, which is one of those "inward-facing terminals" blades, came with screws that are 3/4 inch long, far too long for mounting in a pickguard - the screws actually contact one of the common terminals on either end! To boot, the screws were self-tapping, which I thought was not optimal. Luckily, my nearby hardware store sells screws in bulk so I now have the right ones.

Where'd you find 6-way blades for so cheap?

[ssstonelover]

If the 6-way is anything like the 4-way Oak Grigsby, the lever movement going from 1 to 6 will exceed a 5-way's lever throw, which means you may likely have to slightly length the slot on the pickguard to get positive electrical engagement of the 'end' positions. Hopefully I'm wrong, but try to anticipate that issue.

[newey]

ssstonelover-

Hopefully I'm wrong, but try to anticipate that issue.

No question of hoping otherwise, the slot will need to be lengthened. When I bought mine from Allparts, their website expressly said so, and I confirmed it when I test-mounted it. That was the main reason mine went into the parts box instead of into the project I had planned for it. IIRC, by just eyeballing it, I estimated about 1/4" more (which would have to be 1/8" on each side, to maintain the screw spacing). Not a lot of woodworking but I didn't have the tools needed to do it, and wasn't going to buy tooling for what would have probably been a one-time use.

[thetragichero]

walk into any ace hardware in the country with the offending screw. hand it to someone wearing a red shirt and say "i need this in stainless steel"

my brother lives about 15 minutes from mcmaster carr so when he makes the trek north to visit my folks he'll take orders for us northern folk