The Guitar Magazine – July 2019

“THE NECK IS FAIRLY ROUNDED AND

CHUNKY, EVEN BY MID-50S GIBSON

STANDARDS, BUT WE LOVE IT, AND

THE PLAYABILITY AND TUNING

STABILITY CANNOT BE FAULTED”

ABOVE TOP RIGHT Jazzbox

geometry means that all

the pickup rings have

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bridge pickup ring is the

rarest of all the M69s

ABOVE RIGHT A pale

Brazilian rosewood

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this guitar retains its

original nibbed frets

them out and coax out their best qualities. We
also discover that in doing so, each individual tone
becomes more characterful.
The middle pickup does the best job of capturing
the Switchmaster’s acoustic tone, with the correct
bass and treble balance and a wiry, yet slightly hollow,
snarl through the midrange. The neck setting is no
less clear, but it fattens and refines the tone to a more
fluid and vocal sweetness.
Meanwhile, the bridge pickup’s quacky chime
and woody twang are almost guaranteed to outrage
members of the Jazz Research Group. We can’t resist
the temptation to add some overdrive. Incredibly, you
could easily play a set of punk tunes with this guitar.
If you like jazz, blues, 50s style rock ’n’ roll and jump
blues, the Switchmaster has it all covered.
After a while it occurs to us that it may be possible
to position the switch between the individual pickup
settings – Stratocaster style – and discover it can
indeed be done. Placing the switch between the
bridge and middle positions should be the same as
selecting ‘all’ with the neck volume set to zero. But
as it turns out, the in between setting is brighter,
spankier and bizarrely Stratty. Although the pickups
aren’t out of phase, it’s not unlike a T-Bone Walker

or Peter Green tone – and it might be our favourite

Switchmaster sound. You can also use the switch to

combine the neck and middle pickups for a similar

tone with extra body.

Further investigation reveals that it’s the same for

all the individual pickups, so the ‘all’ setting must

introduce a subtle degree of treble bleed.

Using the switch itself feels more like shifting a

gearstick. We find it quirky in a cool sort of way and

it’s easy enough to handle. The neck is fairly rounded

and chunky, even by mid-50s Gibson standards, but

we love it, and the playability and tuning stability

cannot be faulted.

Before long, we even manage to cope with the

pickup spacing and if you select ‘all’ then turn off

the middle-pickup volume control, it’s a fabulous

tone for Chet picking and you won’t hear any

unwanted noises. This really is a beautiful and

fascinating instrument.

VINTAGE BENCH TEST

GUITAR MAGAZINE 93