NGD & pics: 2009 Charvel Pro-Mod 6th USA batch So-Cal in polar white

[MountainDog]

Anyone know how I can "rotate" the pickup selector switch so that it is more horizontal? At the moment it is "diagonal". Making it more horizontal would make it easier for my pinky finger to flick the switch.

This will depend on how much room is in the body cavity under the switch. Unscrew the pickguard, slightly loosen the switch mounting ring, lift up the pickguard and rotate the switch to the position you want, then see if the pickguard can fall back into the body. If it fits ok, lift the pickguard back up and tighten the mounting ring while holding the switch in position, drop the pickguard back down and reinstall the pickguard mounting screws. I, like you, like the switch horizontal on all my guitars so I rotate my 3-way switches this way if they need it.

[MountainDog]

You can use some pliers to loosen the switch mounting ring, but the perfect tool is this one:
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools...i_Spanner.html

[MountainDog]

One thing I noticed is that the fingertip swing-tensioning nut on the whammy bar doesn't really lock the trem arm in place. The bar still swings freely even after I've fully tightened the nut. This is in contrast with the OFR on my Soloist where I can tighten the nut and make the bar stay at a desired angle instead of swinging freely. Any hints?

I think one of my San Dimas USA has this problem also, while another doesn't. I bought both used, so unsure if the bar(s) were original to the guitar(s). You could try adding a rubber o-ring on the bar shaft so that when you tighten the nut down lightly against the o-ring it would give some resistance. (Can get o-rings from an auto part store). Another option is getting a trem bar from Schaller/Allparts/Gotoh and see if that works. I just bought a used Jackson SDX from guitar center that was missing the bar, and the one the salesman found in the drawer and installed swung freely like yours. This floyd was the FR Special, so I bought a FR Special bar and it works perfectly as you can tighten to the tension desired. So trying another bar might be best for you.