construction details

If you choose to place the switches as I did, i.e., poking through the same slot that the 5-way switch used, then it's a little bit tricky to drill the holes through the pickguard.  I used the two screw holes for the 5-way switch, to temporarily screw a block of wood to the back of the pickguard, so that I could drill through.  I used the narrow blade of a pair of scissors to drill starter holes, deep enough that the diameter of the hole notched the plastic on both sides of the slot.  This provided enough of a starter to keep my handheld cordless drill centered, to then drill 1/4" holes for the switch necks.  It was necessary to run the drill at a very slow speed, it has a great tendency to wander in this situation.  (I probably would have done better to take the pickguard to my workshop, where I could use the drill press to do this, but it was entirely viable to do it with a handheld drill.)

The switches don't look entirely bad just poking through the slot, but I wanted it to look a bit more professional, so I fabricated a brass switch-plate which goes on top of the slot and covers it up, with holes that the switches poke through.  I used a bar of 1/8" thick, 1/2" wide brass, available at places like Lowe's, Home Depot, etc..  I marked the center points for the five holes (three 1/4" holes for the switches, and two 3/16" holes for the mounting screws, the latter with countersinking to 1/4" diameter for the screw heads), and drilled them on the drill press.  Then I used a handheld electric jigsaw to saw the bar to length (while it was screwed to a wooden block which I also cut into).  I used a coarse sanding wheel, #60 grit, made for a machine but held in my hand, to round the corners and shape the edges on the piece.  Then I used #180 sandpaper to rough up and freshen the surface all over the brass, to remove oxidation and leave a good surface for painting.

I fashioned another wooden block with nails to hold the piece in position for painting, i.e., raised up in the air, not lying flat on a surface.  I painted the piece black with acrylic nail polish, several coats with 12-24 hours drying time in between; then I sealed the finish with spray-on matte clearcoat, again, a liberal number of very light coats, with lots of drying time in between.

The switch plate is attached with #4-40 screws.  I had hoped to find nuts to fit the existing screws that attached the 5-way switch, but these are some strange thread, not 40, not 32, maybe metric or something?  So these get saved with the 5-way switch (probably better that way); and I use the generic #4-40s.  They are inferior in my view, just because they have a slightly bluer silverish colour; the original screws have a slight yellow cast, which matches all the other silver (chrome) hardware on the guitar.  The #4-40s look a bit cheap and "Home Depot" in comparison.  Hopefully, having them partially countersunk in the black switch plate will reduce the unpleasantness of their appearance, even as it brings attention to all the shiny metal parts through contrast.

But I wouldn't put it past myself to replace these screws with black-anodized #4-40 hex-head screws.  Because, yep, I keep noticing them, and yep, they keep bothering me!

In the photo above, you can see that the switches are in positions 0-1-1.  This is "Strat" tone #2, i.e., treble and middle pickups: one of my favourite settings for single-coil guitars, for many types of clean or near-clean playing.  This particular setting is, of course, available without doing all this extra work.  But once you start sampling the six out-of-phase tones, I think you'll agree with me that no Strat should be without this extended capability.