1959 Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster, PAF's + OHSC

Beautiful, natural/blonde finish Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster in excellent condition, featuring 3 original, long magnet PAF pickups that sound sublime! This is a stunning guitar, 1 of only 33 made in 1959. This one is with a beautifully flamed curly Maple top. The flame is feathery in appearance and very consistent throughout. With the honeyed natural finish, gold hardware and high end appointments this is a very special instrument, befitting its high status in the Gibson lineup behind only the Super 400 and L-5.
This example is clean and original having been well looked after throughout it's life. Besides two small extra holes under the tailpiece bracket and some extra holes for a different truss rod cover (custom engraved covers were fairly popular back then) the guitar is all original with the all important PAF pickups remaining. 
Tone wise this is very versatile guitar with it's 3 PAF's all living up to their reputation. The switching enables individual pickup selection or a combination of any two, and with the Volume and Tone controld for each pickups there is a huge array aof sounds to play with.
Playability wise the neck is fast and the all important '59 neck profile feels great in the hand. The geometry is good and it's setup very well ensuring fantastic playability up the neck. Like it's L-5 stablemate the scale length is 25.5" and the body is 17" wide.
These models are testament to Gibson's quality of materials and craftsmanship during this period, and given the originality and condition, not to mention the original Lifton brown case this is a very special package that earns it's place in any vintage collection.