When we think of electric guitars with three pickups we immediately come up with the Fender Stratocaster which made its debut in 1954

But when and what was the first electric guitar with three pickups?

We all think of the Gibson ES-5 introduced in 1950 (which from 1955 was also known as the Switchmaster) as being the first electric guitar with three pickups –

but this is not strictly true...

Interestingly, according to the Gibson records there were just twelve ES-350 Special that were made between June and July of 1949 – and each of these twelve guitars had three P-90 pickups. These are obviously very rare instruments and I hope that you will enjoy reading my description, looking at the photographs and even watching and listening to Phil X play our 1959 Gibson ES-350 Special

Full description at:

http://www.frettedamericana.com/product/1949-gibson-es-350