Crown City Imports Acoustic

[mudogramx]

I have a guitar in my possession that was purchased in the early 80s from a pawn shop for about $200. It looks a lot like a Martin D-18. I'm thinking its from the lawsuit era of the 70s. There is a tag that says "Crown City Imports" inside the soundhole followed by a model number, "FW-613". It also says its made in Japan. There is a logo of a crown on the headstock. I've searched around and it seems to share the serial number of a Terada guitar made during that time, but it does not have any indication that it is indeed a Terada (logo, company name, etc.). Does anyone know anything about these guitars? Thanks.

[groundresonance]

I have a Crown guitar that I bought new in the late 70's / early 80's. I went in to buy a new Gibson or Guild, but I liked the feel and sound of this one, and it was cheeper, so I bought it. Since then I have sold all my guitars, keeping only the Crown in my attic. I picked it up last fall and the sound totally amazed me, like a it grew up / matured in the last 30 years. So I bought a Martin HD28V to compare, and I still like my Crown the best. I liked it best back then, and I still do today. More definition. I hear individual strings better and not just loud echoing volume. Finding info is hard and I get bad info sometimes. Wikipedia seems to be the best. It was it's own company in Japan that finally went broke in the mid 80's.
Mine is Rosewood back and sides with a spruce top. The spruce looks to be much better quality than my Martin. I am getting into these Crown guitars and keep my eyes out for them. I paid $130 for mine new in the music store in the Los Angeles area. Someone selling a Crown said it was a Teisco. No where is a Crown ever mentioned in Teisco info. I think Crown was pretty much only made by one company in Japan that was trying to make a quality guitar and imported by Crown City Imports in the US. The inside stickers are all pretty similar. I think the older ones had the Crown City Imports and later became just 'Crown' like mine. The oldest ones didn't have anything on the head stock, then just a decal came along and then inlaid in straight cursive was "Crown" lettering like mine. The decals were arched lettering. I've also seen a crown emblem decal without the word "Crown". I think the model had a lot to do with it too.
One thing I do know is - I really like my Crown guitar.
Let me know if you find anything out, as I am interested also.
Bob

[andocommando]

I have a fantastic Crown that my father bought back in 1971 or 72', its what I learned on. It's now being handed down to me :-). Mine is a D-28 copy from what I can tell. It has the Crown logo in gold in cursive on the headstock. It's model is 301. If i could find another one of these i would buy! This thing is a cannon!

[Randyd]

Originally Posted by andocommando

I have a fantastic Crown that my father bought back in 1971 or 72', its what I learned on. It's now being handed down to me :-). Mine is a D-28 copy from what I can tell. It has the Crown logo in gold in cursive on the headstock. It's model is 301. If i could find another one of these i would buy! This thing is a cannon!

In a package deal, I just acquired a Crown from an 86 yr old luthier who's now retired. It has sat on his shelf for a few decades, all fixed. The owner never came to pick it up. It plays well and has beautiful dark wood, but I'm not interested in keeping it as I have too many guitars. Please let me know if you might be interested. Yes, it does project very well.