“INCREDIBLY, YOU COULD EASILY
PLAY PUNK TUNES WITH THIS
GUITAR. IF YOU LIKE JAZZ, ROCK
’N’ ROLL AND JUMP BLUES, THE
SWITCHMASTER HAS IT COVERED”
ABOVE Given the
extravagance on display
elsewhere, the bound
headstock and crown inlay
have a restrained elegance
RIGHT Gibson’s high-end
jazz guitars often featured
ɵƤÝƺĈùÝûl·ɶfńƍžŕōƇƍōĈŸž
and this black ‘stinger’ motif
technique, the middle pickup can get in the way. It
would probably be noticeable enough with P-90s,
but humbuckers with plastic rings are even bigger.
There’s a sizeable gap between Strat pickups, but
these PAFs are barely 20mm apart. Also, the pickups
are so microphonic – as they should be – that with
the middle pickup selected, every time a plectrum or
thumb pick touches the cover, a loud thump comes
through the speaker.
Do the added tonal options make up for having
to adjust your playing approach? Much depends on
how you quantify tonal qualities. On the one hand,
you might find the individual and combined tones
all have merit, or you may consider them such close
variations on a theme that it’s not worth the extra
complication or obstruction.
All that said, we’re determined to give this guitar
a chance to sing, so we spend a very worthwhile 10
minutes or so adjusting the pickup heights to balanceVINTAGE BENCH TEST92