Crestline SG Copy

Ok, first off this is my second Crestlis SG copy, (my first met a horrible demise in my back yard when I was 15.)I also own a ES-355 Crestline copy. I purchased it on e-pay, and it came in pristine condition, except for the usual scratches and the fact it sat in a smokers attic.The finish is a red wine, and the neck is slimmer than that of its Gibson counterpart. The frets are medium jumbo and the tuners are standard issue.However my other Crestline tuners were replaced with Grovers.This was an obvious estate sale find.It is in mint condition, the flatwound strings it came with from the factory were still on it.The case it came in is original as well, crappy vinyl-cardboard.
the pickups are the standard passive. As for the year it was made , I'm geuessing, early to mid 70's.

My rig is a Carvin vintage tube head with a Fender half-stack,through an Rp-150 processor.
Honestly when I plug it in it sounds alright,lots of low end,the bridge pup is a little weak, so i may switch it out in the future. Upon opening the guts I noticed it hadn't been opened ever.Which is the first thing i do with a used axe after visually evaluating it.
For Punk rock, pretty much anything goes, blues it does a great job,anything else is up to the cat holding the guitar.

The guitar was played only a few times before i bought it,and the action with the old flatwounds was pretty high.I'm talking side guitar perfect.The string saddles on the tune-o-matic bridge are plastic.And that is common among old japanese knock-offs, but it sucks in general.So those will HAVE to go.Although this is the first crestline I have seen with these on it.Overall the integrity is pretty good on this guitar call thigs considered.

I have already cleaned, restrung this beast and beaten on it, and it has held up quite well.The tuners are a small concern but i may leave them for asthetic value.The plastic saddles suck, but don seem to affect the sound or playability.I did replace the strap buttons with strap locks,(*remember that horrible end in the back yard?*).
And I may replace the pups with some Gibson USA's, just for the hell of it.

The company has been and went.

I hve been playing 18 years.
I own over 25 guitars of all brands and styles, some cheap some expensive(Fenders-5 Squiers-1 Gibson-1 Epi-1 Kay-1 Jackson-1 Ibanez-1
Audition-1 Brawley-1 BC Rich-1 Crestline-2 etc, so on.
I am a bit of a guitar collector,maybe a junkie too.
Enough about me, This guitar is a replacxement for my first Crestline.
It was my first electric, and i just had to get my hands on one.

This guitar is a Crestline SG copy. I am sure it was made in the mid-70?s. There may have been a sticker serial number on it at some time, but I do not remember. The chrome backplate where the neck is bolted onto the body says: ?Made in Japan?. It has 4 screws holding the neck on.
When I was a child taking guitar lessons at Monroeville Music Center, I recall seeing these types of guitars for sale there. They carried these new Crestline guitars then, I think they were SG copies and Les Paul copies. They also carried Fender and Gibson.
The Crestline SG copies started around $259 I think. I recall some were green, a dark transparent green I think. Some were a deep dark transparent Wine Red stain, a lot like the popular color they use on Gibsons. Around December 1982, they were moving their store to a new location, and found some old guitars and things in their attic space, that were unused, (New Old Stock), and this was one of them. So they decided to sell them off.
This was not a used guitar, but it had some scratches in the finish on the back of the neck and body. It was apparently not kept in a box or case while in storage, so was damaged. Originally it cost around $300. I got it for $132, and was very happy with it for a while.

Here are cosmetic details:
It?s the dark red transparent stain color.
Crystalline logo written in cursive letters, in one 'mother of pearl' inlay on the heartsick. Which has a perfectly smooth thick layer of shiny gloss over it all. Can?t see any defect in it. Under that, in the middle of the headstock, is a shield, in gold, with a crown on it, and ?Crestline? written down thru it, diagonally. The top of the headstock is black, like on Gibsons. Around the top edges there is a white binding on the side edge that meets with the white and black purfling around the edge on the top. (Unless its actually part of the side of the binding, a lamination.) Has a slightly unique shape to the truss rod cover, which is a white and black laminated cover.

The original tuners were 6 individual tuners, with chrome covers over the gears on back, with smallish chrome oval-shaped tuner knobs. This guitar did not like to stay in tune, so this was one of the first things I upgraded. I bought Gotoh sealed tuners and put them on, which are very good tuners, and were cheaper than the Grovers or Schaller ones they sell.

The nut was plastic, after a while I wore a little, so I replaced it with a bone nut, which I slotted and shaped myself from a blank bone nut. I should have used a brass one probably, but couldn?t find a brass one at the time. It worked ok for a long time, but bone is kind of soft, so will wear also.

The fingerboard was very black, I thought it was ebony maybe, but its probably rosewood. It might not be, because the grain seems finer and tighter and less gritty than rosewood. Not entirely sure what type of wood it is. The fingerboard has regular jumbo frets. They seem the same as my fender standard stratocaster and my Gibson SG.
It has 22 Frets, with big block inlays that look maybe more like white celuloid than mother of pearl, (?) and start at the first fret. (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17.)

The neck is very nice, and slim the whole way up. Has a nice white binding around the edge of the fretboard with little black dot position markers on the side. It feels very similar to my Gibson SG, very similar. The neck size seems to stay the same all the way up, on my Gibson I think it gets slightly thicker (maybe). The body joins around the 17th-19th fret though. On my Gibson SG the body doesn?t start there yet, because it?s a set-in neck. This crestline has a bolt on neck so you always have that with bolt ons around there.

The shape of the body is very much like my Gibson. It has the wide humbucker-type of covers, with the bigger style ?batwing? pickguard cover, like on most Gibsons. It is made with a laminate, black with the white under it; the edges of it are beveled so the whit

it suited my various musical styles pretty much. i like oldies, rock, classics. (cream, led zep, beatles, the who) also blues, and newer things, like nirvana etc. clean sounds also distortion. treble also bassier sounds.
i was using various amps with it. tube and non tube types. originally it used to sound a little more bitey, but little less gain than after i changed the pickups.

accousticly, without an amp, it sounds just a little brighter than my gibson SG. so i would imagine its just the way the wood is.. but that is ok.
i have played jazz guitar parts with it, and it sounded good for that too.

I HATE IT that you cannot reach the higher frets!
all of the bolt-on necks are like that. its a wonderful rythm guitar for any style tho.
would probably be nice to try some humbuckers with split coil switches for a single coil sound.
now that i think of it, its easier to reach higher frets with this than with my fender strat, because they at least attempt to make the body blend in with the neck somewhat.
the strat has this block of wood that sits in your hand, or beside it, that prevents you from moving right up the neck to the higher frets. if you play one you know what i mean.

the attention given to the woodwork itself is great, the finish was fine on all the old crestlines. i dont know what kind of finish it is, if its even a laquer or acrylic of soem sort. might be a form of laquer. its old enough to be.
it was setup ok when i got it, but i tinkered around with it a bit after a while when i'd replace parts, or decide to try a different gauge strings.
the pickups were adjusted ok. its hard to tell if the top is bookmatched or if its one peice.
sometimes guitar companies would put three pieces, or two together on the body. sometimes the necks are one, two, or even three, or four peices. i suspect the body is one piece. and the neck also one piece.

they did good work with the wood and the dressings. the laminations and frets and inlays were done very well. i have only had to replace the input jack. the pots are the originals and still work with no noises or problems.
i think the toggle might even be the original one. I had to replace the one on my Gibson SG and its much newer.

if they must put on a bigsby style tremelo, they should put roller saddles on the bridge. the tuners were really not very good either. its a shame, the wood and the finish were really decent.
it is a good guitar to pick up for a cheap price and put some new pickups and tuners on.

its gone through years of live playing. the plastic nut was maybe too soft? the gloss finish on it is very hardy. the only scrathes on it, are the ones that it came with, and i havent babied this guitar either.
tuners were el cheapo.
the strap buttons? i took them off years ago, and put on locking ones.
it was dependable for the most part. didnt use a backup guitar then, didnt need one.

never ever dealt with the company.
i wished they would have had brochures out or something like that when they were new. i don't recall seeing any.
they should have had some kind of owners manual booklet thing.
i didnt have a warranty. i dont know if they originally had warantees or not.
i should find out more about this company from the guy who used to own the music store that sold them, since i know him still. if i find out more, i will post it. they made decent guitars, i dont know why they were so unknown. the wood work and cosmetics were great.

i've been playing for about 30 years. i own Fender strat, Gibson SG, Harmony Rocket, Crestline SG, Fender Bass, Yamaha acc, Fender Acc., etc. Amps: Peavey Deuce, Fender, JMF Spectra 125, Alamo Dart,Peavey Musician.
if it were lost or stolen i might buy another like it.. i saw one like it last year and almost bought it. if i found one the right price, with less nicks and scratches, i'd buy it.

I love the SG shape, its not ugly or bulky, a very comfortable guitar. beautiful woodwork, color, and laminations, inlays.
i hated the tuners right off but thats not major. I like the color a lot, and the grain. i like big block inlays, theyre dressy.
i was not shopping for guitars when i bought it. but I wanted one like that for years. wished it wasnt nicked up, but thats why it was cheap.
i give it an 8 or 9..