1970's Japanese Ranger Electric with Goldfoil pickup

I acquired this guitar in July 2009 and it is a unknown Ranger model single pickup Electric Guitar from the 1970's I believe. The guitar is in nice condition and all original as far as I can tell except for the missing nut. Nice straight neck with a huge headstock that is seen on many guitars from the 1960's and 1970's. It reminds me a lot of the Telestar guitars from the 1960's which were made by Kawai. The great thing about this guitar is the goldfoil pickup which were found on some of the 1960's and 1970's Japanese guitars. I have also come across another almost identical model that was labeled Crestline but I'm sure they were made in the same Japanese factory.








Crestline guitars were built in Japan from the mid to late 1970s and distributed by the Grossman Music Corporation of Cleveland, OH. They are entry level to intermediate solid body guitars featured designs based on classic American favorites. Crestline offered a wide range of stringed instruments, including classical, folk, dreadnought, and twelve-string acoustics; solid body electric guitars and basses; amplifiers; banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles. Considering the amount of instruments available, the Crestline trademark was probably used on guitars built by one of the bigger Japanese guitar producers and rebranded for the U.S. market. One model reviewed at a vintage guitar show was based on Gibson's Les Paul design, and had Grover tuners, two Japanese covered humbuckers, and decent wood.

1970's Univox Gimme Les Paul Copy

I acquired this guitar in April 2008 and it has a market value of $112. I was told it was a Univox with natural finish that had been painted because of the "ugly" color that the finish had yellowed to over time. I was also told that the pickups had been replaced and were thought to be Seymour Duncan pickups now. I replaced the missing knobs with generic speed knobs in black to match the pickups. It really sounds good now and you might even be able to remove the paint to get back to the original finish.






Univox is a defunct American musical instrument and amplifier manufacturer. In the early 1960s the Unicord Corporation, a manufacturer of electronic transformers purchased the Amplifier Corporation of America of Westbury, New York. They began marketing a line of amplifiers under the name of Univox. The company was purchased by Gulf + Western in 1967.




Guitar making operations moved to Japan in 1975 where they continued making guitars until 1982. Production under the Univox name was halted after a fire at the Matsumoku factory. After this time instruments were made in Korea under the name Westbury. The Unicord Corporation was purchased by Korg in 1985, effectively ending the line for good.




Univox was best known for making copies of instruments from better known companies such as Mosrite, Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, Ampeg/Dan Armstrong, Epiphone and others. These copies are often referred to as lawsuit copies among collectors. The Univox Hi-Flier was largely based on the Mosrite "Ventures" guitar; it was popularized in the early 1990s by Kurt Cobain, almost two decades after original production had stopped.

1970's Crestline Goldfoil MIJ

It is a unknown Crestline model single pickup Electric Guitar from the 1970's with a single goldfoil pickup. The prize on this guitar is the goldfoil pickup and I've already used it for another project.

Crestline guitars were built in Japan from the mid to late 1970s and distributed by the Grossman Music Corporation of Cleveland, OH. They are entry level to intermediate solid body guitars featured designs based on classic American favorites. Crestline offered a wide range of stringed instruments, including classical, folk, dreadnought, and twelve-string acoustics; solid body electric guitars and basses; amplifiers; banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles. Considering the amount of instruments available, the Crestline trademark was probably used on guitars built by one of the bigger Japanese guitar producers and rebranded for the U.S. market. One model reviewed at a vintage guitar show was based on Gibson's Les Paul design, and had Grover tuners, two Japanese covered humbuckers, and decent wood.

This guitar will be sold on ebay soon. Check my about me page for the ebay listing.