Alternative replacements to the Leslie Switch

[torea]

I'm thinking of making my own halfmoon, since buying them seems so expensive. I thought I read somewhere here that Strat pickup switches could be used, but I can't find any info on whether or not these switches are rated for AC. Will guitar pickup switches work?

Thanks!

[TheAdmiral]

The good news is that switch conducts very little current as all it has to do is operate the relay. For safety though, it really should be AC rated. There are plenty of microswitches available that will also work. Brendon has made a wooden half moon that looks nice. Copy his.

[jdoc]

I prefer to drop the power at the switch to 12v with a relay. Lots of curious grandkids fwiw

[torea]

The good news is that switch conducts very little current as all it has to do is operate the relay. For safety though, it really should be AC rated. There are plenty of microswitches available that will also work. Brendon has made a wooden half moon that looks nice. Copy his.

Yeah my dad was thinking of making a halfmoon, if not for cost saving measures then for the fun and look of it. The reason I'm trying to stray away from other switches is I haven't found a large one with an easy throw. The Leslie halfmoons flip back and forth very easily, and I know Strat pickup switches do too. I might end up emailing a Fender rep and seeing if I can get some info from them.Do you have any suggestions for big, easy throwing switches?

[torea]

I prefer to drop the power at the switch to 12v with a relay. Lots of curious grandkids fwiw

How do you do that?

[paulj0557]

Fender guitar switches were originally three way appliance switches that were used to switch wall current loads for General Electric I believe. Various manufactures have made them through the years and they come in various degrees of quality. Wurlitzer 4300's are filled with these switches ( ah' I just can't get over a 4300 selling for $200 at best, and a hunk of wood with strings on it of the same 1964 era selling for ten times that...). You can loosen the terminals on the fender switches, and even remove or loosen the springs for your Leslie switch project. Good luck.


To switch the 110V with a smaller gauge wire a relay is what you use. Essentially a relay is just a switch with an electromagnet ( you know how a solenoid works- the right hand rule...
http://www.google.com/search?q=solen...w=1280&bih=859

So now that you know how a solenoid works you can now imagine how a relay works. To move the piece of metal, 'iron core' in the center of the coil of wire ( your solenoid) takes relatively little current. So once this core moves it can then do work. The work it does in the relay is move a set of contacts into a conductive path, say two terminals- one carrying in the 110v, and the other carrying it out to the motor. The core of the solenoid is electrically isolated from the switch contacts by non conductive hardware.

Your relay will show on it's side a diagram of what's inside as well as what resistance is needed to close the contacts. If you look up relays you can get a better picture of what this is, but essentially it means the wire that goes to your Leslie half moon switch does not have to be a positive voltage, instead this positive switching voltage ( usually 5v or 12 v, use a good quality wall wart for this supply...very low amps, even 200-300 milliamps will probably work fine) goes to your relay along with the switched ( 110V) and what goes to your half moon is the potential to ground wire with a resistor. It's not rocket science. You can even use a contact switch that uses your body capacitance to switch the Leslie on/off fast/slow. Lowes sells a wall switch plate that is just a flat piece of metal and one very thin inconspicuous wire that can be concealed along a baseboard etc. At the other end is a little box about the size of a small ice cube. On this box is a 110v receptacle and two wires, and that tiny thin wire going to the switch plate. The way it works is simple. Plug your lamp into it and run the black and red wires to a 110v source and when you touch the metal plate the light comes on. This circuit probably is using an SCR circuit to do the switching and so in this case it might be hooked into the same 110v required working voltage. If you are not switching 110v it won't work. Whereas if you use a stock contact relay like in your automobile, or microwave oven or TV these use isolated terminals and so therefor you can switch any signal, even a line level signal.

Careful when switching week signals you might get a nasty 'pop'. There are ways to remedy this. You can use a solid state relay in the form of an IC. A 4016B is what is typically used to switch voicing in many organs. This is the chip that Craig Anderton designed his solid state guitar pedal bypass circuit in the famous book '27 Electronic Projects For Musicians' back in the 70's. Note the maximum loads on this IC.

[jimmywilliams]

As far as I am aware the inner mechanism of the half-moon MEE switch is exactly the same as a Fender 3-way pickup selector switch. To make a 2-way Tremolo switch I think you can file down one of the nubs (or something like that I think...). I was going to experiment with this at one time but never bothered. Just make sure you understand how the multiple contacts are wired.

[Orgrinder010]

Here is an original wooden leslie switch from the early 40's. Wouldn't be hard to reproduce, and it could still be considered "accurate" equipment.

[paulj0557]

Here is an original wooden leslie switch from the early 40's. Wouldn't be hard to reproduce, and it could still be considered "accurate" equipment.

YOU WILL GET FAR TOO MUCH ARCING W/ 110v through the following over continued use.
So use a simple 5 to 12 volt relay. Actually, with the M3 having a 6V AC tube heater filament supply you can always add a simple diode to make it 6V DC for your relay.

Nice and simple! You can get the 3-ways from -

http://www.amazon.com/Ernie-Ball-Pic.../dp/B002NLWGSS

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/pro...er-Switch.html

[Orgrinder010]

YOU WILL GET FAR TOO MUCH ARCING W/ 110v through the following over continued use.
So use a simple 5 to 12 volt relay.

I was referring to the enclosure for the switch itself, not the method of switching.