CSL Double Neck Bass & 6 String Walnut c.1970s MIJ Double Neck Electric Guitar

This is a CSL Double Neck electric bass & 6 string guitar in a Walnut finish. In the 1970s, CSL (Charles Summerfield LTD) was a UK based Distributor of Japanese-made instruments produced in the Fujigen plant, which at the time was manufacturing guitars for Ibanez. Many of the infamous ‘Lawsuit’ era guitars came form this factory, with this particular model clearly being based on the Gibson EDS-1275, although with a bass neck instead of a 12 string. CSL ceased trading in 1993.

Made in Japan in the ‘70s, this guitar features a bolt-on construction comprising a Mahogany body, twin Mahogany necks, & twin Rosewood fingerboards. Chrome hardware is fitted including a 2-point compensated bass bridge, Kahler Flyer tremolo bridge & sealed tuning machines, with ‘Tulip’ buttons on the guitar neck. Both sides of the guitar have twin Maxon WN14427 humbucking pickups fitted, with open coils on the guitar side & covered humbuckers on the bass, with a ‘Mudbucker’ style pickup in the neck position of the bass. There is a 2-position switch which selects which side of the instrument is active, as well as a 3-way toggle switch & independent volume & tone controls which control whichever neck is selected.

Both of the necks play very well. The bass neck has fairly wide nut width, which means that the strings are well spaced for accurate fretting. The guitar side is slightly wider, although on the slightly narrow side for a Gibson-style guitar. This works well for lead playing & even tricky chord voicings as it means notes are within easy reach. Clearly as a double neck the instrument is heavy, but due to the smooth curves of the SG style body it remains comfortable in both standing & seated positions. Due to the weight though, it’s perhaps not the guitar to play the whole gig with!

Amplified, the open-coil humbuckers in the guitar deliver thick & full bodied tones, well suited to rock & metal tones. There’s plenty of power in the neck position for pushing your lead lines to the front of the mix, whilst the bridge pickup is nicely bright & clear which works well for riffs & rhythm playing. The Bass pickups are thick & low-end heavy, perfect for filling out the bottom end of any live band mix. The ‘Mudbucker’ style pickup in the neck position is particularly powerful, producing plenty of grunt & bit of top end sparkle that captures the attack & agression of your playing. A seriously cool instrument which at around 50 years old has its very own story to tell.