rotary switches

[Chicken Poc]

I'm wondering if anyone can help me out with rotary switches. I have a caseless casio sk-1, which i want to rehouse, and wire the keys to several rotary switches, but before i attempt this (since rotary switches are so expensive) I want to ask a few questions. what's the difference between ceramic rotary switches and non ceramic? what does all this pole and switch stuff mean? the sk-1 has 4 keys that are powered by 1 source each, and i think there are 8 of these, so would i need 8 switches that are 4 contact, 1 pole? i'm so confused on this rotary switch stuff. and if i want the keys to blend in between switching, do i get make-before-break?

[Gordonjcp]

what's the difference between ceramic rotary switches and non ceramic?
Ceramic ones have the switch wafers made of ceramic, non-ceramic have it made out of a kind of glass-reinforced resin.  You want the non-ceramic ones, they're much cheaper and you are presumably not dealing with high-voltage RF signals here.

what does all this pole and switch stuff mean?
"Pole" refers to the number of switches that are combined together, so a two-pole four-way switch would switch two circuits into four possible ways each.

[Chicken Poc]

thank you very much for your help!