Changing MSc supervisor late in the game I am considering asking another professor to be my thesis advisor. My situation differs from that of other question-askers in that:


I am in a position where I have done enough research to write my thesis and be done in a couple of months.
My relationship with my current advisor, while rough at times, in generally good. 


So why do I want to switch? 

I feel that my research topic is a dead end. This wouldn't really bother me too much except that my particular topic turns out to be interesting to very few people (the number one complaint by reviewers). The result is that despite achieving good results, we have been having trouble publishing at the general and more influential conferences. 

When I began my project I thought it was interesting, but no longer think this, partially because of reviewer feed-back, but more because of my expanding knowledge of the field. 

additional context: I also feel that the work is quite trivial in that what I did to achieve good results is what anyone in the hotter subfields would do. The reason that it wasn't done before is that the method wasn't known/understood by my advisor (or tried by others in the relatively small community). 

On the other hand, I have worked on another project in one of my classes that is not only more interesting to me, but is part of a much 'hotter' subfield. 

I guess I am concerned with attaching my name to a thesis that few people will care about when I can potentially work on something else with much more interest. Not only that, but the latter project is in the area where I would like to do a PhD. 

I don't mind that switching would add upwards of a year to my program. Rather, I am hesitant to make this move for the following reasons:

I don't want to do something that will harm my current advisor. I also don't want to piss this person off as they are my main reference for the past two years of work. Is switching likely to have either of these effects? 

The professor I would like to switch to is very new and I don't want to put him in a position that might cause him to come into conflict with my current advisor. How likely is this?

Any advice on the above questions would be great. I just don't have the experience to know if my concerns are valid.
Switching now seems like a poor choice. You can finish in a bit, you say. And then you can change areas. Your old professor is happy with you. You have a success under your belt. The world is open to you. 

Anyone can change at any time. There is no real reason to waste your past work. 

You can then take up, somehow, in the new area, perhaps with the other professor. Or, maybe even apply for a doctoral program that will support you in the new area. 

Being in an area with only a few people is fairly common in some fields (mathematics, say). It is a tradeoff. There is less competition, for example, though you have to look harder for collaborators. 

Don't think that finishing in the current track will lock you in to that forever. You have valuable experience that you can exploit in a lot of ways. 

And even if you do switch, abandoning old work, don't make a habit of it. Throughout your career other opportunities will sometimes seem pretty bright. If you chase every one you won't ever accomplish much. Finish what you start unless the situation is so bad as to have negative impacts on your life. That doesn't seem to be what you say here.