2013 Lightly Aged Crews LED-1959 - $3,000

[currypowder]

All of the other guitars in my MIJ post sold, so I thought I'd start a separate thread for the best of the bunch, which is still available.

$3,000 Shipped (buyer pays payment fees, if any)

The Crews LED-1959 series is Japanese craftsmanship at its absolute finest. These guitars are hand made in very small batches using the finest materials and attention to detail. This is a custom boutique builder level instrument that's as good as any Single Cut I've ever owned. You may ask why I would let this one go. It's simply because I have 2 other LED models. It has been very difficult deciding which one to sell, they are all very similar in quality and tone.

This particular guitar has a Honduras mahogany body and neck with a solid flame maple top and a nice, dark Brazilian rosewood fretboard. The finish is Honey Burst and there is some light aging that was applied by the builder that includes some very light weather checking and play wear that I would characterize as "under the bed" wear, a guitar that has been mainly stored in its case and only played sparingly over the years.

The pickups that originally came with the guitar were K&T Clicks, but a previous owner replaced them with K&T Frictions. K&T is a boutique pickup winder in Japan that was founded by Jun Takano, the man who developed and wound the famed Maxon DryZ pickups of the early 80s. K&T pickups are my favorite for that "tele on steroids" PAF tone, I have yet to come across a pickup that does it as well. The Frictions are in the PAF realm, but on the hotter side with resistance of each measuring right at 9.1. Still, they are very clear and articulate, just a little more mid-rangey, IMO.

The neck is a nice chunky '59 C style that I find very comfortable. And with the light aging, the fingerboard has been nicely rolled. The neck measurements are:

Width - 1.71" at the nut, 2.07" at the 12th fret

Depth - 0.92" at the 1st fret, 0.98" at the 12th fret

The guitar weighs 8.7 pounds and will come in a Crews hardshell case.

There's a reason you don't see this brand and model for sale very often in the US. Very few are made each year and even fewer come up FS on the used market (like low single digits each year) Plus, the Brazilian RW fretboard makes it very difficult to import them from Japan. A very select few make it over the Pacific, though, and this is one of them.

More info and pics here - Crews LED-1959

[1 bottlerocket]

Man, I wish I had the money. Everything you said about Crews is true, times 10. I had the fortune to test out the batches of Crews guitars that came through the stores when I was living in Japan. They are on-par or better than just about anything Gibson puts out. If I had the cash that would be mine. I also had the fortune to meet Jun at a party and he knows his stuff, for sure.

[currypowder]

6 hours ago, 1 bottlerocket said:

Man, I wish I had the money. Everything you said about Crews is true, times 10. I had the fortune to test out the batches of Crews guitars that came through the stores when I was living in Japan. They are on-par or better than just about anything Gibson puts out. If I had the cash that would be mine. I also had the fortune to meet Jun at a party and he knows his stuff, for sure.

Thanks for this. I'm hoping to get to Japan in the next couple of years. Perhaps I'll have the opportunity to meet some of these high end builders.

[1 bottlerocket]

If you go, be sure to send me a PM and I can initiate some contacts for you and set out some places that may be of interest.

[currypowder]

1 hour ago, 1 bottlerocket said:

If you go, be sure to send me a PM and I can initiate some contacts for you and set out some places that may be of interest.

Definitely will do.

[HAMERMAN]

Never heard of these before so I was looking for the LED's.......    🙂

[currypowder]

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[currypowder]

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[currypowder]

Bump. Price drop to $2,800