The ES-5 heralded the start of the new generation of Gibson instruments. By the end of that decade, however, the instrument’s future was less certain. Thinline semi-solids were now the choice of many Gibson archtop users, and the bulky, though elegant Switchmaster was starting to look and sound dated.

It had been given humbucking pickups in place of it’s P-90s in 1957, and it underwent a change in styling four years later, when it acquired a sharp “Florentine” cutaway.

However, by the time this alteration was made, the number of Switchmasters being produced was already beginning to dwindle, and the guitar was eventually discontinued in 1962.