Info on 70s Epiphone Wilshire (Crestwood?) please

StuartMac290

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/1976-japanese-epiphone-wilshire/1269820836

A friend of mine is considering buying this and has asked my advice, but I know nothing about them. A quick Wiki suggests it can't be a 1976 model- any ideas or thoughts on this listing?

JezWynd

This might help

Stuckfast

That's way overpriced for a Japanese Epiphone. Not sure why he thinks it's particularly rare, or a Japan-only model. Didn't Epiphone just move production to Japan in the late 60s to cut costs?

I have an ET-270 from a similar era. It's a fun guitar (albeit an original model rather than a recreation of one of the earler US designs) but not especially well made or desirable. I'd be pretty happy to get £350 for it I should think, and I can't see why the Wilshire would be any more valuable.

Strangefan

And fugly...... Don't forget fugly! 

mikeyrob73

the only look good with the batwing headstock IMHO 

Bucket

At least it's not one of the really shitty ones with a bolt-on neck.

HarrySeven

Re. MIJ set-neck Epi - In my experience, a more realistic price would be somewhere between £275-£375 (but it would need to be pretty damn exceptional at the upper end). £300 would be about right. If I spotted one in decent nick and playing well, I'd buy it at that money.

Caveat - a chunk of MIJ Epi models were multi-badged bolt-on neck cheap shite and worth nowhere near the "Lawsuit"/"Mojo" bullshit OTT pricing some sellers attempt to get away with (I can think of a few candidates in particular).

StuartMac290

Thanks guys, he's decided to pass for now-obvious reasons!

Funkfingers

Strangefan said:

And fugly...... Don't forget fugly! 

And the neck position pickup is too close to the bridge.

StuartMac290 said:

A friend of mine is considering buying this - any ideas or thoughts on this listing?

It might be worth contacting the vendor to express an interest BUT only at a realistic market price. (If the vendor can find somebody dumb enough to pay seven hundred quid, good luck to him.) There is no need to suggest a figure at this stage. Let the vendor stew in his own avarice for a while. 

UnclePsychosis

I think the Wilshere is one of the coolest guitars ever but that one is seriously overpriced.