WTH guitar is this???

[John Lamb]

Hey - I just got a vintage Philharmonic guitar - it seems to be made by the Italian maker Crucianelli, but I can't find a danged thing on the internet about it. Anyone know anything? Thanks!

 

[shinksma]

Looks like another one of those 1960s European made guitars that got produced to serve the market of players who couldn't afford one of the "main" brands back then (F, G, Rick, Gretsch).

Japanese models also popped up, like the one played by Peter Capaldi's Doctor Who:

“We had a great day when I went to pick the Doctor’s guitar,” he recalls. “We went to Denmark Street and went to various vintage guitar shops, looking for Doctor Who’s guitar. And at first I thought it should be like a Stratocaster or a Telecaster, one of those old classic guitars, but they all started to look like I was having a midlife crisis.”

“We ended up with a guitar that looked like a Fender Stratocaster that had been described to someone who had never seen one.”

“That [joke] is hilarious, if you’re into guitars…”

It was/is a Yamaha SGV-800 "Black Sparkle".

 

[John Lamb]

Yeah I figured ... and I can find some Crucianelli (accordion maker who transitioned to apparently well made guitars for a few years) with the Philharmonic on the headstock... but the font is different. The pickup selector buttons are interesting (seems Crucianelli used some accordion parts, and the switches do look like accordion buttons). I can't see anything non-hollowbody in their catalog that looks like the body shape, though.

 

[Lister]

What's it sound like? I'm assuming each button is per pickup, but can you combine?

 

[John Lamb]

I don't know yet! It hasn't arrived lol. I'm assuming you can. From what I hear about Crucianelli guitars, they are well made and still have their fans. Don't know anything about Philharmonic guitars yet. I'd love to know the year, etc. They are supposed to have made some of the earliest solid bodies.

 

[John Lamb]

This is one of the only things I can find
https://www.guitarage.nl/guitars/1364-1960s-philharmonic-by-crucianelli-guitar-made-in-italy/

 

[Black Plaid]

Pretty sure it's a pre-factory PRS Custom Switchmaster.

 

[toothace]

Pretty sure it's a pre-factory PRS Custom Switchmaster.

No, no, no....it's a Sorcerer's Pre-Apprentice

 

[RickP]

No, no, no....it's a Sorcerer's Pre-Apprentice

Made by Cruciatus... painful to play