Three new affordable models based on ’50s originals
(Image credit: Epiphone)
Epiphone has announced new versions of three of its classic solidbody electric guitars, the Coronet, Wilshire and Crestwood.
Filed under Gibson’s Designer Collection – along with the DC Pro – the models hark back to Epiphone’s earliest original solidbody designs, and feature new pickups, a downsized Kalamazoo headstock with ‘bikini’ badge, and very attractive price points indeed.
Epiphone Coronet – $399
(Image credit: Epiphone)
The most affordable of the bunch, the Coronet is a no-nonsense, single-pickup double-cutaway, based on the 1959 original.
That pickup is an Epiphone Pro P-90 Dogear, mounted to the guitar’s mahogany body, and controlled via one tone and one volume knob.
The medium-C mahogany neck features a an Indian laurel fingerboard with 12” radius, while strings are anchored through an Epiphone Lightning Bar compensated wraparound bridge.
It’s available in Cherry and Black finishes.
Epiphone Wilshire P-90 – $449
(Image credit: Epiphone)
In more recent years, the Wilshire has been best known as the dual-humbucker signature model of My Chemical Romance’s Frank Iero, but this latest incarnation harks back to its 1959 origin.
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Like the Coronet, it features a double-cutaway mahogany body, but boasts a pair of those Epiphone Pro P-90 Soapbars, adjusted via two tone controls, and two volume knobs.
Otherwise, the specs are very similar, with the same mahogany neck and laurel fingerboard, with the addition of an Epiphone LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece.
The color options are the same, too – Cherry or Ebony – but we dig the tortoiseshell pickguard on this one.
Epiphone Crestwood Custom – $549
(Image credit: Epiphone)
The Crestwood is Epiphone’s very first original solidbody design, dating back to 1958, although this version is based on the 1959 Custom model.
Two Epiphone Pro Mini Humbuckers set the Crestwood apart from its double-cut brothers, as does the Tremtone vibrato tailpiece, and the LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge comes fitted with Graph Tech TUSQ saddles.
There are also ivory button Epiphone Deluxe tuners, while the classy-looking clear pickguard features a white center stripe and foil E logo.
Otherwise, the model is spec’d similarly to the rest of the range, and comes in Cherry and Polaris White finishes.
For more info on the new guitars, pay a visit to Epiphone.com.
Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.
