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Most Celebrities, and most Mosrites in general that I see have the metal switch tip with the rings. It is/was made of brass and nickel plated consisting of a taper, flat spot on top, and two rings. (thanks Danny!)



However, every once in a while I see a Celebrity with a black switch tip. At first I assumed that it was changed out at some point after it left the factory. And, I assumed they are the same ones I see most often on a Gibson.

I'm wondering if they are original or not. Did they run out of the brass ones from time to time and put in these black ones as a back up?

The one pictured below is interesting to me because it is on a Celebrity 12 string, serial number C0016. This is an original Celebrity, mortise and tenon neck joint. This would be the 12th Celebrity 12 string sold from production, so a very early guitar.



Any thoughts?

Changing the switch tip or "Toggle Bat" on any guitar that uses a standard threaded tip is far too easy to let it be used as a determining factor of originality. I know that in our store, when someone wants one, they will steal them. Through the years I will guess that we have replaced a hundred different tips. The truly sad ones are the vintage pieces that cannot be replaced with the correct age or style knob. And that's why the really expensive stuff is not reachable for anyone to handle.

Gibson uses a shorter than standard lever and knob. The threaded section is 8-32 and 5/16" long. When you order a Lev-R switch from Switchcraft, the lever and knob is 1/8" or so longer. Rickenbacker uses the longer lever and knob.

Now comes the tricky part. The shorter knobs like the Gretschs, Gibsons and the Mosrites will fit the same threads, but obviously will not thread all the way down on the longer levers. The longer knobs will fit on the shorter levers and will thread all the way down.

The black knob on the 12-string appears to be a longer one. If you remove it, is the threaded lever the longer style as well or is it the short style one? The other question would be what style frame does the switch have, right angle or straight? On the solid bodies most companies including Mosrite use the right angle switches. On the hollow bodies a lot seem to use the straight ones. I know that on the Celebs with the front control panel mounted switches they used the right angle switch. But the 12-string is different, the switch is mounted through the top, like a ES-330 or 335. Perhaps when they were designing these guitars, they ordered in a bunch of straight frame switches to test fit and they came in with the longer levers and knobs. I'm afraid that this may be one of those many unanswerable questions. Maybe Andy has some real insight.

Is this the straight switch or right angle switch? This is the one that I normally see on Celebrities.

Sarah93003 wrote:I'm wondering if they are original or not. Did they run out of the brass ones from time to time and put in these black ones as a back up?
http://i513.photobucket.com/albums/t331 ... ck_Tip.jpg
Any thoughts?

Well, the black "Toggle Bat" [thanks Mr. Bill] at least matches the black finish of this Celebrity