Re: will a pickup selector fit in the hole for a tone/volume knob?
Erik is absolutely right. On all count.
You CAN use a drill press and a sharp bit, but it`s unecesarily dangerous to the instrument, and is like shooting a squirrel with a tomahawk missile. Yeah, it will get the job done, but a .22 will do it just as well with a MUCH lower risk of collateral damage.
The main issue with the drill press is that even with a steel bit (wood bits are useless in this situation because there`s no material to center the brad on) you run a huge risk of the bit running off center, and that can and will cause all sorts of unwanted funk.
If you absolutely "have" to use a drill press for whatever tenuous reason, go slow, with the sharpest bit you have, and drill from the top, supporting the back of the thin cavity wall on a lump of clay or block of scrap wood (otherwise even moderate pressure runs the risk of cracking the finish in literally every direction around the hole)... Yes, you need to remove the electronics to do this properly. Which btw is another thing that speaks for the fluted reamer or rat-tail file.
And to be honest, by the time I`ve got the right bit in the press, a block of wood, the guitar properly clamped down... you`d already be done wiring in the PU toggle if you did it with a reamer, it`s not like you`re trying to take out 3 inches of wood, more like 3 mm.
Re
ilot holes. Pilot holes are usually about 2-3 mm across and are specifically drilled to allow the unsharpened "chisel" tip of a larger bit to stay centered and allow the flutes to do the work, reducing wear on the bit as well as the physical energy necesary to accomplish the task. A pilot hole the size of a pot hole would be a pilot for about a 3-5 inch drill bit.. A size which almost nobody drills "classically" but uses a core drill for.
As far as the presicion argument goes: The hole`s dimensions do not dictate the angle of the mounted component, the plane of the cavity inside relative to the instrument`s top does. As far as the size goes: If you`re not jackhammering the file in for minutes at a time with absolutely zero in-process scrutiny of the progress, you shouldn`t have any issues. If however you ARE, which is the only way to consistently get such results, you shouldn`t be working on any kind of precision systems anyway.
IMO and IME, Drill press: "quick", great for people that like to be lazy or aren`t worried so much about precision or collateral damage. File and /or reamer: just as fast, clean, professional, safe for both the operator and the instrument. All of this or course assumes that the operator is of average or better skill and intelligence...
*edit* On the other hand, it IS an LTD instrument, so the best way to do it would be to take a 2 inch drill bit, put it right where the neck and body meet, and go hog wild straight down... you can even use a hand dril or chisel and sledgehammer in this case :laugh2::beerchug:
All of that said, the micro switch /washer solution is good if you can manage the switch properly on the fly (size may be an issue) , and definitely the ideal solution if you may want to flip the instrument at a later date. No matter how cheap the axe is, less (unreversable) mods almost always means more cash on resale.
