Epiphone pickup selector switch question

A while back my Blackstar HT5 started to lose power and volume. I went as far as to bring it into a local shop to have it checked out. They plugged it in and it worked great. They suggested it may be my chords or effects. It was ok for a while and started to do the same thing recently. I am fortunate enough to have a Gibson LP 50's tribute and a cheap Strat copy, which I am rather fond of, along with another amp. I started to eliminate things, swapping out guitars, chords, effects and no effects. I narrowed it down to my Epiphone LP Standard Pro and realized it was the bridge pickup that was dropping in power. I did a quick Google search and some one suggested the selector toggle switch. I backed the retaining ring off ever so slightly and everything came back. It works great. I may have to replace it at some point, but for now, I am half tempted to put a drop of Loctite on it and leave it as is. I did tighten it again and the pickup dropped out as before. My question is what could cause this? Maybe being over tight doesn't allow the blades in the switch full contact? Just curious. Anyone experience this before?

In my (legendary) 2002 Epiphone Les Paul Classic, I had to carve out a bit of the switch cavity as they use a shielding paint that would sometimes connect with the switch shorting it out. I replaced everything on my Epiphone to Gibson USA spec and the wiring is now vintage correct. I haven't had a problem since then.

My advice if you don't want to cut into the wood, would be to slip a small business card in between the wall of the cavity and the switch itself. If that works, you know what the problem is.

Thank you. I will have a look at that.

ADP said:

In my (legendary) 2002 Epiphone Les Paul Classic, I had to carve out a bit of the switch cavity as they use a shielding paint that would sometimes connect with the switch shorting it out. I replaced everything on my Epiphone to Gibson USA spec and the wiring is now vintage correct. I haven't had a problem since then.

My advice if you don't want to cut into the wood, would be to slip a small business card in between the wall of the cavity and the switch itself. If that works, you know what the problem is.

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