Fixing a Crackling Switch on the Parker Nitefly Mojo

Last Updated 9/14/05
By Paul J. Marossy

I have had my Parker Nitefly Mojo for about a month now, but I have been a little annoyed with pickup selector switches that crackle when operated. One morning, I decided to look at the physical construction of the main offender, the piezo/magnetic pickup switch, to see if there was anything I could do to remedy this. Looking at the switch closely while operating the toggle, it became obvious to me that the problem was that the plastic post that contacts the metal tabs on the switch required a little too much force to engage. This appears to cause some kind of "slapback" while switching, and causes the crackling noise. The solution would then be to make the interaction between this plastic piece and the metal tabs a little smoother.

The solution is really very simple to implement. I pulled the switch out of the body and got out my precision files. I then carefully filed the edges of the plastic post that make contact with the metal tabs until it was more of a smooth transistion and less of a snap. I did just a little bit of filing and checking the operation several times until I had a nice combination of smooth switching while at the same time maintaining a feeling of positive switching. Now, there is no more crackling when I use the switch, and I can now say that my guitar is now perfect! The whole operation took about ten minutes.

I hope that you find this information useful if you have this problem with your own Fly.