Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster – U.S.A. – 1955

TYPE

Electric Hollow Body Archtop guitar

FEATURES

Maple body and neck

Rosewood fretboard

Three dog-ear P-90 single-coil pickups

INFORMATION

The ES-5 Switchmaster was released in 1955 and although the guitar itself had not undergone any changes, the electronics had been completely renewed.
A four-position switch labeled ‘1-2-3-ALL’ allowed the guitarist to select any of the P-90 single coil pickups or activate all three at once. To give the guitarist even more control, each pickup had its own pair of volume and tone controls. In 1957, the P-90s were replaced by PAF humbuckers.
The model remained in production until 1962 and a revised model has been offered since 1995.