I would be fine with the Epiphone Crestwood Custom. Epiphone has really hit it out of the park here lately... I don’t have my tracking number yet...
this model comes in red too, I dislike the typical red mahogany guitars, but I was almost tempted. got my tracking... Monday....
First impressions, The bad: The fret ends were horrible for this price point. Ends are sharp but did clean up quickly. The pickguard could fit the neck area a bit better (needs a little filing) No gig bag, at this price there should be something. Fretboard looks pretty dry. The wood insert on the tremolo maybe should match the fretboard closer? Maybe.... The good: Everything else. She sounds great! Looks even better. tuners seem smooth and accurate, the white buttons are nice. the “thong” headstock plate is nice enough, and the headstock shape looks better without the superfluous humpty-humps of just a couple years ago. very vintagey frets with nice shaped inlays, the Indian laurel FB looks nice with very few imperfections, and some nice lighter streaks. (I’ll be changing strings and oiling in the next couple days) hardware including the tremolo are very nice (this is my first nylon saddle TOM) mini-humbuckers, you know they were an Epiphone pre-Gibson invention, right? Nobody does them better. Conclusion: I have some setup to do, which I would have to do no matter how much the instrument cost. The fret ends aren’t a big deal for me to fix, but they could have been nicer. I took me a while to find the right coronet/wilshire/crestwood, and I think I’ve gotten it without spending thousands on a vintage one. This is a dream guitar For me the way that some people might dream of a 59 Les Paul. I took the plastic off the pickguard, she’s mine now. here’s some hastily shot pics... changed the knobs... hate tophats...
Stained the wood block thingie... Gretsch Electromatic hard shell case fits close to perfect... Just the mini humbuckers...
dammit now I'm thinking of getting the Coronet too... Good thing they only come in black and cherry, that's a deterrent...
Ok coronet is off the table, I traded some unused musically retaliated stuffs for this... The covered pickup rule still applies to SG’s and Les Paul’s. Flying V’s and Explorer’s are a grey area... so I now have one guitar that won’t get a bigsby. I need to get a couple more pickguards.
No idea of current cost. Funny thing, I'm 63, a guitar like that one (same color and everything) was the first real Gibson I ever played in my life. An friend of a friend came to my house and had it, this was around 1973, so I was 15. Made an impression on me for sure. I love all guitars, but I always go back to Gibson types, it's a hard habit to break! But it IS a Les Paul, not an SG!
