Control plate for ASAT Blues Boy

[55tele]

Does any one know the correct dimensions for an ASAT control plate? My BluesBoy plate is showing some wear and I am considering replacement. My plate measures end to end (width) a touch more than 160mm with mounting holes 150mm apart and the other dimension about 32mm. It is a US ASAT Bluesboy that is about 8 years old....don't know if it has US or Imported pots...I think US.....

Anyone really know if a Fender Tele Plate would fit? Or is this part available through G&L?

[55tele]

For future refrence, a US Fender control plate does NOT fit my US Bluesboy. The plate itself is the same length and width. The distance / dimension between the mounting screws is slightly narrower with the Fender plate; just enough that mounting holes do not match up. Also the tone pot hole is closer to the end of the plate with the Fender version...(may have still worked?, but different)..shifted about a half diameter's length toward the end.....

The Fender plate was also thinner.....

It was a no go for me and I will live with the chrome wearing through to the nickel around my volume pot............unless I can get a direct G&L replacement.....

I wonder if doing this "adjustment" to hardware is an attempt to make the instrument just different enough to prevent lawsuits????

[Craig]

For future refrence, a US Fender control plate does NOT fit my US Bluesboy. The plate itself is the same length and width. The distance / dimension between the mounting screws is slightly narrower with the Fender plate; just enough that mounting holes do not match up. Also the tone pot hole is closer to the end of the plate with the Fender version...(may have still worked?, but different)..shifted about a half diameter's length toward the end.....

The Fender plate was also thinner.....

It was a no go for me and I will live with the chrome wearing through to the nickel around my volume pot............unless I can get a direct G&L replacement.....

I wonder if doing this "adjustment" to hardware is an attempt to make the instrument just different enough to prevent lawsuits????

I don't know about that, but they are now standard size and
I do believe the screw holes line up with standard tele plates.
I think this was done some time after 2005.

Hope this helps, well, perhaps others.

[Serge]

Don't want tto be the squeaky wheel here, but my own recent experience with control plates mirrors 55tele's.

I recently wired concentric volume controls on my (2007 US-built) Bluesboy, mounting the switch and (new) no-load tone control on a Fender plate.

Turns out the mounting holes on the Fender plate do not quite match the holes on the G&L plate/Bluesboy body (by about 1.5mm) . As I have measured them, the G&L plate is also substantially thicker than the Fender plate (5/64" vs 3/64" according to my electronic digital caliper). I have a 2011 US-built Bluesboy on which I observed the same differences (i.e., the plates on both my 2007 and my 2011 are dimensionally identical).

I measured other Tele-style control plates (Fender-USA; Fender-Japan; generic metric with SAE-sized pot mounting holes) hoping to find a G&L twin. Of these, the Fender-Japan plate seems to be a pretty good match dimensionally to the G&L (although it is 1/64" thinner and 1/64" wider); however, the switch- and pot-mounting holes have to be reamed out if one is to oufit it with SAE-sized pots and switch.

YMMV

[louis cyfer]

i swapped to a mark rutters control plate with a slant switch and it's flipped around, but had no issue with fitting on my 07 bluesboy.

[Serge]

Good for you if the fit is perfect!

I have taken some pics http://www.flickr.com/photos/50316788@N ... hotostream and http://www.flickr.com/photos/50316788@N ... hotostream showing a Fender USA Tele plate on a US-built Bluesboy and a G&L (US-? Korea-?) stamped control plate on a US-built Bluesboy. In both cases, I have first screwed in the fastener at the other end of the plate. The Tele plate leaves some gap with the pickguard, and the screwholes on the plate and guitar do not quite line up.

Since G&L now have their DF trems (metric!) and other parts made in Korea, I would not be surprised that their ASAT control plates come from the same factory, hence the 150mm center to center control plate mounting holes. It would be nice if we could get the real stuff from G&L, given the perfect fit and thicker build of the plates.

Got around to snapping a picture of a Fender Japan (metric, 150mm centers) Tele control plate on the 2007 US Bluesboy http://www.flickr.com/photos/50316788@N ... hotostream . The fit is perfect at the pickguard, mounting holes on the plate and holes on the guitar match. The metric sized late I have (for SAE-sized pots) is 2mm wider and would require reshaping the pickguard area surronding the tip of the plate.