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'57 Custom....Switchmaster???

zhivago

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 29, 2004
Messages
1,417
This looks SO cool!!!!

It popped up on my Gbase list this morning... :jim

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Ed Driscoll

Les Paul Forum Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
4,691
Don't get me wrong, it's a nice start -- but it really needs more controls for optimum fine-tuning.

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UEF

New member
Joined
Jul 31, 2018
Messages
19
This one or a similar one is currently for sale at New Kings Road Guitar Emporium
 

StSpider

Active member
Joined
Aug 24, 2002
Messages
2,148
Holy crap that photoshopped picture, a relic from the early days of the internet! It must have 15 years or something...
 

fakejake

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
1,274
Sweeeet!! Did it come like this from the factory as a custom order, or were the mods done afterwards?
 

zhivago

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 29, 2004
Messages
1,417
I assume it was a crazy factory one-off...I just love the Switchmaster vibe! :hank
 

Highway Star

New member
Joined
Oct 8, 2017
Messages
192
Wooooow, awesome guitar. A switchmaster that goes to 11 :dude:. The middle pickup make sense on this one :3zone
 

Black58

New member
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
10,139
:note "I want a whole lotta knobs .... A whole lotta knobs." :note ..... :hee
 

Frutiger

Active member
Joined
Oct 17, 2007
Messages
727
That is off the charts cool in my book!

I wonder if it's in the shop? I'll have a walk to Denmark Street today and see.
 

JJ Jones

Active member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Messages
1,260
There is a few odd Customs in Robb Lawrence’s book.
I think one like this is pictured.
 

latestarter

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Joined
Nov 9, 2009
Messages
4,173
I totally dig this...is it speculated as a factory original, or it's known?
 

Frutiger

Active member
Joined
Oct 17, 2007
Messages
727
I totally dig this...is it speculated as a factory original, or it's known?

In the Gbase listing they state that it's a factory original, custom order.

Here are some of my observations (just observations - I'm not an authority on this type of thing and wouldn't want to authenticate a guitar of this value):

• The tuners have been changed (as you can see from the pics) but the remaining footprints are wrong for a custom - it should ideally have Super Kluson outlines, but it has standard Kluson outlines (it's also had Schallers by the look of the extra holes). Has anyone ever seen a Custom from any year with standard gold Klusons on it? Unless it was a factory Grover to start with - then Klusons, then Schallers, then back to Grovers?

• The bridge has been changed to a wired one. In the Rob Lawrence book the bridge looks original, maybe it sunk and had to be replaced?

• The dots at the end of the fretboard binding are badly installed and look to be too low in the binding, could have had work done in that area though.

• The binding is very yellow, way more than any of my vintage Gibson's.

• The nut's been replaced.

• The last inlay is thinner.

• None of the wear on the pickups seems to match - some of which you could put down to different people with different playing styles owning it. The middle pickup has very little wear, maybe whoever owed it dumped the pickup into the cavity so it didn't get in the way?

• It's heavy, or at least it's a couple of pounds heavier than my '56, although it's got an extra PAF, two more pots and that 4-way switch!

• If it is a custom order then they took an already drilled body and modified it - you can see through the gap in the 4-way that it's been drilled for a toggle switch and then cut for the switchmaster switch afterwards. The paint goes into the cutouts, so it was painted after the work was done

• The screws holding the switch in place aren't the screws typically used, but that doesn't mean they're not original.

• The top finish doesn't have any of the depth my custom does (even though mine is heavily checked you can see the paint is rich and has depth to it). It also doesn't seem to have the patina the hardware displays. Again, that's not to say there's anything untoward, just that all the vintage customs I have played have had rich, glossy black paint with a real depth to the finish.

If anyone else gets to check it out I'd be interested to hear if your observations tally with mine.

It's very, very cool but not without issues.
 

roxrob

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2003
Messages
221
Hi...late to this thread but I remember seeing John Miles playing one of these in the 70s. Can't have been too many of them made, could have been the same one perhaps?


Rob
 
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