Home / Instruments /Accessories / Ordering / Tips / Friends

archtop.com

1957 Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster

Status: Pricing and hold status for all instruments currently available is shown on our Instruments page here. If this instrument does not appear on the Instruments page it has been sold, and is no longer available. Photos and descriptions of Previously Sold instruments may be found here. To be notified of examples of this model or similar instruments in the future, please contact [email protected],. Please be specific on which instrument(s) you're looking for, and we'll be happy to contact you as soon as they become available.

Serial #: A-26795, orange label FON#: U891-16

Body size at lower bout: 17", Scale length: 25 1/2" Nut: 1 11/16" Neck depth: .77/.85, 1st/10th frets

Materials: Highly flamed arched tiger maple top; solid flame maple back; solid flame maple neck with walnut centerstripe; L-5 style Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with block mother of pearl inlays and pointed finial; quintuple bound body with bound neck and headstock; solid bone nut.

Hardware: All original gold hardware includes triple PAF humbucking pickups; loop design trapeze tailpiece with engraved crossbar; Kluson Super waffleback tuners with single-ring tulip keys; ABR-1 Tuneomatic bridge; gold bonnet volume and tone knobs; 4 way pickup selector switch with top hat knob; beveled 5-ply pickguard.

Notes: It's always a pleasure when a highly collectible guitar is also a superb working instrument for the serious player. Introduced in 1949, the triple pickup ES-5 was the most versatile electric guitar Gibson ever produced. In late 1955, the guitar was renamed the Switchmaster, fitted with separate volume and tone controls for each pickup and a unique four way selector switch. In the latter half of 1957, the revolutionary Patent Applied For humbucking pickup was introduced, and the Switchmaster became one of the first Gibsons to be supplied with these most desirable of all vintage pickups. With only 30 of the blonde models produced in its model year, this guitar is perhaps one of a dozen or so to be outfitted with the first year PAF.

From an outstanding private collection, the guitar has been maintained in 100% original condition, with all factory finish, hardware, binding and electronics. Both body and neck are crisscrossed with particularly handsome flame maple. Carefully maintained, the instrument is without pick, buckle or thumb wear, with recent pro fretwork. With an elegant bound fingerboard of solid Brazilian rosewood, the neck has smooth low action over a comfy full C profile, and smooth low action over a fresh high-precision setup.

The natural blonde finish is ambered to a deep golden hue, with some normal age checking to attest to its originality. A few patches of thumb wear on the neck and the usual couple of stress marks around the jack, are the chief traces of its long career. The PAF pickups still show a bit of gold plating, and ABR-1 Tuneomatic bridge, engraved loop tailpiece, Kluson Super tuners, gold bell knobs and 4 way selector switch are all original, as are the wiring and controls, each still enclosed in their original shielding cans.

With six independent volume and tone controls and four-way selector switch, this pioneering model offers a degree of tonal flexibility unparalleled in traditional archtop guitars. Lush, flamy and gorgeous, and endowed with a superabundance of the most coveted pickups in the world, this magisterial instrument is truly a pinnacle in the evolution of the modern electric guitar. One only: call now.

Case: Original brown Gibson Lifton hardshell case with pink plush interior.

Home / Instruments /Accessories / Ordering / Tips / Friends