Sony STR DE845 receiver speaker selector short

I have a Sony STR DE 845 receiver with the speaker selector knob (A+B, off, A, B) on the far right side. Recently that switch has shorted out and it has no sound regardless of where the switch is positioned. If you turn the switch very hard to the left (A+B selection) sound will come on as long as you hold the switch, upon release it turns off again.

The unit comes out of protect mode just fine, it appears to simply be a short in the switch. I have removed the front panel and there is approx. 12 points on the circuit. Is there any way to by-pass the switch to operate in a 2 channel mode only?