1957 Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster

Excellent condition featuring 17" wide body with rounded cutaway, laminated maple top, back and sides, multiple bound top and back, two bound oversized f-holes, three humbucking pickups with black pickup surrounds, multi-ply elevated black pickguard with gold mounting bracket, three volume controls and three tone controls (separate volume and tone controls for each pickup) with gold bonnet knobs, four-way pickup selector switch on cutaway bout with multi-ply black and white switch plate and black plastic switch tip, adjustable height rosewood bridge, Bigsby tailpiece, two-piece flamed maple neck with centerstripe, multiple bound pointed end Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with pearl block inlays starting at the first fret, bone nut, bound headstock, black peghead overlay with pearl Gibson and crown shaped inlays, multi-ply bell shaped truss rod cover, vintage Kluson style waffle back tuning machines with green keystone buttons, black stinger on the back of the headstock, two metal strap buttons, nickel plated metal hardware, sunburst finish, and original brown hard shell case. 

This 1957 Gibson ES-5 is set up incredibly well and has an exceptionally straight neck. The frets are original to this instrument and appear to have been dressed. This guitar is visually stunning with a great looking sunburst finish and moderately figured top which shows motion under light. This guitar is very fun to play and sounds absolutely fantastic plugged in.

Before we acquired this guitar, it fell victim to the unfortunately common vintage guitar douchebaggery - The pickups, wiring harness, tailpiece, knobs, and tuners were robbed from this guitar. The guitar is now set up with three incredible sounding Brandonwound PAF humbucking pickups, a new wiring harness (the original pot cans remain), and an older Bigsby tailpiece. The four-way pickup selector switch is original. The tuners are very good functioning waffle back replicas and the gold bonnet knobs are also replicas. With the modifications, this guitar has been transformed into a killer everyday player ready for travel for live performance and studio work. The Brandonwound PAF humbuckers are woody and organic sounding. The Bigsby tailpiece works great and definitely gives this guitar even more versatility. This Gibson is by far the coolest hollowbody guitar in our shop. If you're looking for an all around badass vintage hollowbody, this is the one.