CSL

product types: 

  • acoustic guitars
  • bass guitars
  • electric guitars

Information: 

The CSL brand name was used on guitars distributed in the UK by Summerfield Brothers of Gateshead England. CSL stands for Charles Summerfield Limited. CSL guitars were made during the 1970s in the FujiGen Gakki factory in Matsumoto Japan.

FujiGen made many guitars for other brands including Ibanez, Fender, Yamaha and Greco. CSL instruments were typically copies of popular American models including electric and acoustic guitars as well as basses by Fender, Gibson and Rickenbacker. FujiGen certainly knew how to build guitars so the CSL models should  be worth a try.

The CSL company was wound up in 1993, but Maurice Summerfield (the son of Charles) now trades as Summerfield Musical Instruments.

 

Location

Charles Summerfield Limited
Saltmeadows Road
NE8 3AJ Gateshead , TWR
United Kingdom
Tyne & Wear GB

19 Comments

Location

CSL haven't been in Saltmeadows Road since the early 1990's. The company was wound up in 1993. Maurice the guitar playing son of Charles now trades as Summerfield Musical Instruments and the address is : 

Vance Court, Transbritannia Enterprise Park, Blaydon-on-Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE21 5NH

old 70's Les Pauls

Hi, in 1976 I bought a Black CSL Les Paul Deluxe 59 'er because the CSL Les Paul Custom that  a fitted tenon neck I fancied had been sold when I got back to buy it when I got my wages I still have the 59'er and it still works pretty good but I am still looking to find the CSL Les Paul Custom with the fitted neck they are very hard to find as is the one I have, hopfully there is one out there somewhere I did hear the Custom being played once at the Buffs Club in Stockton and it sounded great but the artiste wouldn't part with it even though it was not his main guitar.  I just thought I would let you know some of your dad's guitars are still out there and are as good as they were bought, Thanks Maurice, Take Care.

CSL Les Paul Custom

I haw a CSL Black Beauty Les Paul Custom, gold hardware (now fading) three humbucker pickups that still plays exceptionally well. It's a great guitar mimicking the Gibson model brilliantly. It sounds great through a Marshall Stack

Lefty?

Back in the day (1976 ish) & looking for my 1st electric, a lefty was hard to find - especially 2nd hand. I picked up a Les Paul (black) for 70 pounds (quite a lot of money then).
Still have it - still plays well - looks great. Beautifully made guitar

csl les paul

I had a csl les paul ,with a loverly solid case and gold hardware.my flat in fawdon newcastle  was robbed.thas the last I seen of my csl.i hope the thieves rot.

I had a csl les paul

Hey, You wanna make me cry? I bought a CSL Les Paul Goldtop in Tottenham court road in the early seventies and what a beauty she was. In looks and sound and playablity.

Mine got stolen to from an Aparent friend from my flat. I really still cry over it today. They belonged to the Law Suite Guitars that Gibson was having so much problems with. Yes they did use the same componants and hardware right down to the pickups.They came out of the same Factory. as Gibson. Saw proof of it myself. Because of this beauty I am about to buy either an Epiphone Goldtop 50s modell or an Epipjhone 1959er the new Inspired by Gibson range with real Gibson pckups.

Iv'e also gt a CSL Black Les Paul and a CSL Red strat lying around in case someones Interested. I really can't say much about the condition of them but I can if anyone would like me to check. I would leave the Epis and buy a CSL Goldtop anytime but can't find one.

CSL Les Paul

My first really playable guitar was a CSL Les Paul bought from Lou Macari's shop in Charing Cross Road. I think 1974 and cost me £82. If I hadn't bought this I would probably have given up playing guitar ... I traded that one in for a Strat in 1992, but in 2017 I found and purchased another 70's CSL Les Paul. Needs some work but the sound is awesome, I'm, lucky enough to have a couple of Gibson Les Pauls now, but the CSL has a unique sound and character, looking forward to getting it in tip-top condition :)

CSL Guitars.

I have a CSL SG style twin neck. 12 string on top and 6 string on the bottom.
I've had this guitar for approx 25 years and, apart from a refret about 5 years ago, the guitar is in original condition including its case. The build quality is superb and it still sounds and plays amazing.
Just letting folk know that the brand is still.out there, and still gets played at gigs whenever I can.

At the tender age of 17 and

At the tender age of 17 and with no musical knowledge whatsoever I bought a CSL Les Paul copy with dimazio pickups fitted for the princely sum of £80 from a pokey back street shop come studio in Leicester. I knew nothing about them except it looked nice. 35 years on it's still in constant use. A Gibson playing colleague of mine once commented on the quality of it favourably.

CSL Tele Custom

Back in the 70's I used to help out my mate setting up guitars and doing a bit of selling etc in a well known music store in the South of England and fell in love with two guitars. One was a new Green Fender Telecaster (think Mr Rossi from Status Quo) The other was a new black Fender Tele Custom with a humbucker in the bridge position and a maple neck.
Being married with one little rugrat and another on the way, both the Fenders were beyond my means at that time.
One Saturday I was opening up new stock when to my surprise I saw a CSL replica of the same black Tele Custom guitar. It had a slimmer neck which I prefer and plugged in it sounded just as good as the genuine article. When I saw the price, I did a deal with the shop manager and it was immediately mine.
This became my main gigging guitar throughout the rest of the 70's, it did a lot of work, earned me a lot of money and never ever let me down.
I'm now in my seventies and I still own this guitar, it's as straight as it ever was and has never even had a screw removed to look inside. It's never needed refretting and the action is still absolutely fine. I dug it out and plugged it in recently and it still plays and sounds absolutely great.

The only downside I can see to this guitar today, is that it's worth nowhere near what a genuine Fender might be valued at, but that doesn't matter because to me it's still a great guitar that has earns its keep time and time again and I'll never sell it.
I now have over 30 guitars in my arsenal to choose from and I've not used this old girl for many years so maybe it's about time for her to sing again.
Just thought you'd all like to know that here's another one, still doing Stirling service after all these years.
Thank you to Mr Summerfield.
Cheers and keep picking.
Ray

CSL: black Fender Tele Custom with a humbucker

Dear Ray and others,

I still own a CSL, black Fender Tele Custom with a bridge Humbucker and a maple neck. It was my first decent guitar which I bought secondhand, in the 70's, with money I had received from a redundancy payment.

I still enoy it, although I find it a little on the light side and not balanced very well. For many years I have owned a 1968 Gibson 335 and a new black Strat with a maple neck. However, I still enjoy picking up and plugging in the CSL.

I enjoyed reading your piece Ray.

Best wishes,

Ray Little

CSL double neck

hello all
Back in 1972, I was a young 16 year old looking for something different, the guitarist that worked in the shop showed me the
C S L double neck six and twelve, it was a fantasticically made guitar for the price and its been with me all over during my many years as a pro entertainer. So its now coming up for 48 years service and is still a talking point, nowadays its starting to get heavy but I just keep taking the pain relief and carry on playing

CSL DOUBLE NECK

I have a 72 CSL twin-neck sitting right beside me as I type this. Awesome thing. 

CSL 335 copy

Looking for a cherry red 335 as had one back in early 80s loved it

CSL 335 Copy

Hi, you may be in luck. I have one ive owned for about a decade, finally got around to replacing the missing knobs and scratch plate, giving the thing a clean and tidy up. thinking of selling it if you're still looking for one...

 

CSL

I bought my CSL 6/12 twin neck in Denmark street in 1976. Still got it. Still plays beautifully but as we’re both now retired it is an ornament (and talking point) on my wall. I gigged it for 30 years and it became trademark!

CSL Les Paul

I have a CSL Les Paul - White (or more like Ivory, faded quite nicely), bolt on neck. I'd guess it's c1975 - I bought it off a friend I was in a band with at about 16 years old (He'd just got a real Gibson) . The action and playability was and still is excellant - better than my Fender Strat and Tele - and beautifully made. The gold-plated fittings are all a bit worn now. The sound was a tad disappointing compared to the real Gibson, So I tried replacing the pickups with DiMarzio's (plus a phase reversal switch). Didn't really improve it. I've recently thought about replacing the Pots - anybody got any experience of doing this? I guess it has a good sound for more jazz - like material of if using significant pedal effects. The neck and fretboard are lovely but I suspect the body is nothing special (it's HEAVY!). Still gets played from time to time.

CSL Strat with onboard effects

I bought this Strat copy new in 1978 from Norman Hacketts in Reading.
The unique point that caught my eye was the in built effects including distortion, Treble boost and phaser. Does any have any information about this particular guitar as ì saw a les paul in the shop with the same effects but it was a black body and I had already bought a similar guitar secondhand. Varying that I've never seen or heard anything like it.