Almost "Back To The Future"

A wonderful example of one of only fifty-six ES-5 Switchmasters made in 1957. This superbly curvaceous 17-inch single Venetian cutaway weighs just 7.40 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a full-size scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Bound laminated maple body, two-piece maple neck with mahogany strip, and rosewood fretboard with 20 frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. The tuners were changed to Grovers at one time, but are now back to the original individual Kluson Super tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons. Three powerful P-90 pickups with outputs of 7.85k, 7.68k, and 7.68k, respectively. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Six controls (three volume, three tone) and one four-way toggle switch (hence the name Switchmaster). Gold plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. ABR-1 non-retainer Tune-O-Matic bridge with metal saddles on rosewood base and specific multi-loop tailpiece. The sides and the neck are richly flamed, and the color of the guitar is almost a Tobaccoburst, rather than the usual Sunburst. All of the hardware is gold-plated. The condition of the guitar itself is spectacular, with the absolute bare minimum of body checking. The only reason that we have given it a rating of 8.75 and not 9.25, as it richly deserves, is because of the once-changed tuners. Housed in its original 'Stone' brown hardshell case with green felt lining (9.25).

This particular guitar was almost immortalized in the movie Back to the Future. "I rented Back to the Future the red Gibson ES-345 played by Michael J. Fox during the big prom scene. The prop man said they needed a guitar from 1955, so I suggested they use an ES-5 Switchmaster, pre-humbucking pickup, which was appropriate to the era but also looked kind of futuristic, with its three pickups and four-position switch. They had the guitar for six weeks when the art director decided he wanted a red guitar with a whammy bar instead. As far as I knew, no such guitar existed in the mid-'50s, so I offered them a red ES-345 with a vibrato, a guitar probably made around 1961. They were fine with it, and rented this instrument for another seven weeks. Then, after principal photography wrapped, they needed it again for some reshoots and kept it for two more weeks" (Norman Harris, Norman's Rare Guitars: 30 Years of Buying, Selling and Collecting, p. 191). This ES-5 Switchmaster is the one that Norm rented for six weeks.

In 1949, Gibson upstaged the growing number of competitors who were joining the electric guitar industry by launching the very first instrument to be fitted with three pickups. Where other makers were content with the traditional complement of one or two pickups, Gibson felt that its new ES-5 would lead the market in electronic munificence. Before long, it became apparent that the original ES-5 was not as controllable as many players might like, as it had no pickup switching. So in 1956 Gibson issued the ES-5 with redesigned electronics, as the ES-5 Switchmaster. The supreme electronic version of the famed Gibson L-5, the ES-5 Electric Spanish Guitar combined the acclaimed features of the L-5 with the finest method of electronic guitar amplification. Three separately controlled, adjustable, magnetic pickups reproduce the full, rich tones and harmonics to make the ES-5 truly "the instrument of a thousand voices." Many of the great old rock 'n rollers played a Switchmaster, including one of the greatest rockers of all time -- Carl Perkins.