Gibson Les Paul Switchmaster Custom 1957
Many many years ago when I first started playing the guitar etc. John Miles was an artist I liked. Remember him? Most famous was his breakthrough hit of Music - which is a marvellous tune, with a bit of 7/4 timing thrown in with piano, orchestra and rock guitar solo. Anyway John Miles had a black Les Paul Custom - hmmm.... another influence on my desire for one of these in later years maybe. But his was special. Many customs from the late 50s were built with three pickups - it was the default set up and continued into the SG custom that followed in the 60s - it is extremely rare to see a two pickup SG custom although two pick Les Paul Customs became the norm after the 1970 reintroduction. John's had three pickups but rather than the usual three way switch and two vol and tones his had a four way slider switch and six controls. Here is a video of him playing it in 1976 in one of his hits Slow Down. Esp about 1:30 in you'll see the guitar duri...