Note On The 4PDT Switch

[smallbearelec]

I followed up with Cliff today. Manufacturing problems have pushed out delivery to mid-Summer at least. Sorry I have to bear bad news; they thought at NAMM that they had something that was closer to market than it really was. It will happen yet, but not tomorrow.

[nelson]

Damn!

[scaesic]

i dont understand why you'd need a 4pdt, and i also don't get why it's so difficult to manufacture.

[markr04]

"But this one goes to 11" 

[Mark Hammer]

i dont understand why you'd need a 4pdt, and i also don't get why it's so difficult to manufacture.

There ARE some things that might want a 4PDT switch to do, such as phaser-to-univibe cap switching, or order reversal in two-effect pedals.

As for why it is so difficult to do, take a SPDT, a DPDT, and a 3PDT apart, and you'll probably see.  Inside are little rocker contacts, one per set of switches (3 for a 3PDT).  They are moved by a plastic rocker panel that couples them all mechanically.  The rocker panel, in turn, is moved by a little plastic doohickey connected to the plunger.  The challenge would seem to be distributing the pressure applied by the foot on the switch across the rocker panel in an evenly distributed way so as to make all the rocker contacts move in synchrony.  If you've ever used a single-roller Bigsby, you'll be familiar with how moving one pivot point does not always guarantee equal distribution of movement across the all 6 strings. The same thing applies in this context when it comes to contacts.  You CAN address this by making the rocker contacts slender so that a 4PDT takes up the same footprint as a 3PDT but that puts a little too much onus on the little walls inside the switch that guide/settle the rocker contacts to hold up despite being thinner.  Having thinner rocker contacts also changes the current rating.

It's not an easy task making a 4PDT.

[Alex C]

Pun alert!

Sorry I have to bear bad news;

[markr04]

Looks like they're already available in some form.

[Unbeliever]

Practically everything is available 'in some form' if you want thousands of them and deal direct with the factory! 

[analogmike]

Looks like they're already available in some form.

I used those fujisokus on our stereo chorus pedals for years. Andy Powell of Wishbone ash would break his on every tour. Richard Williams of Kansas every other tour. Needless to say, we no longer use them.

We started using relays and 3PDT switches and that worked, so in 2006 we redid the board to mount the relay on it. 3 revisions and thousands of dollars later (see the popping thread...) it works well but a 4pdt would work even better and be cheaper and probably more reliable.

[rockgardenlove]

"But this one goes to 11" 

Gotta love Spynal Tap