pgtr

I have a mid 70s tilt tele column and found this little curved spring or contactor hanging loosely just inside where the tilt lever screws in. It's a small strip of curved copper. Maybe it acts as a spring or possibly an electric contact inside the column. But I haven't found enough detailed pix of a torn down column to figure out what it might be...

Can anyone confirm if this part goes inside a tilt tele column? And if so what it does? (which may mean I'll have to tear the thing down to re-install it...)

Thanks,

bazza77

Looks like the electrical contact parts for the key buzzer piece . Especially as there made of copper.

Unless you really want that feature , then you have to go fairly deep into the column to replace it.

GunPowder

Could be a part of the key buzzer switch - but very deformed

bazza77

There's nothing else in the column that looks anything close to the O.P picture.

pgtr

Looking at the picture of the buzzer switch I agree it is almost certainly a piece off of one but distorted. Thanks for the fast responses!

I can probably test this 'feature' on the column by installing a key cylinder and checking continuity on the 2 wires (pink and black I think). But if the key buzzer switch isn't working properly - I think that alone I could live without (vs diving into the guts of the column).

While on the subject of tilt tele columns: I picked this mid 1970s column up long ago, it 'may' have been rebuilt, It's very clean in appearance, smooth mechanical operations, tilt spring seems strong and overall it seems very tight - no obvious slop anywhere.

What else should I check out electrically or mechanically before proceeding with a swap into a 71 with a fixed column?

thx