Corona APN 100 HSEO NAT, 2015, natural, converted from headless

For sale is this cross between a steel-string electro-acoustic guitar and a telecaster due to collection down-sizing. It is based on a “Corona APN 100 HSEO NAT” which I purchased from an Italian Reverb-seller in March 2021 as new. The guitar was without blemish, but one could tell that it had been hanging on the wall in that shop for a long time (quite dusty, very old strings …), so after contacting the manufacturer in South Korea (Schoolmusic Co Ltd) they informed me that acc. to the serial number, the guitar was manufactured in 2015 already. I didn’t mind too much as I really liked the unusual body shape that reminded me of swiss guitar-builders Claudia and Claudio Pagelli who used to design similarly outlandish shapes.

This guitar was originally a headless-guitar when I received it, with the machine heads hidden in a cavity accessible from the back of the guitar. Tuning it was very awkward, and changing strings even more so, and so I decided to fit the guitar with a normal neck. I purchased a Telecaster-style neck and adjusted the neck-length (leaving the fingerboard to overlap) to make the neck and scale-length work correctly with the existing bridge position. I had to shim the neck a little bit to adjust the neck-angle but now it works well, with an acceptable string action of 2mm at the 12th fret. Pls. note that there is a small crack at the end of the "skunk stripe" on the back of the neck, i.e. at the end of the truss-rod channel, see picture. This is how I received the neck and it has been stable for the last 5 years (had it in stock before buying this guitar), and also under pressure since I fit it onto this guitar in 2021. To make sure, I have inserted some medium viscosity cyanoacrylate glue w/out binding up the truss rod of course. I fit a new bridge pad on the inside made from very hard old german oak to counter any forces it receives from the strings' ball-ends. I also made a lid from a piece of mahogany to close the cavity, which now allows access to the underside of the bridge for string-changes. To enable quick access, I used magnets rather than screws to hold the lid in place. The magnets are quite small, but the lid stays in place when moving around and using the guitar normally, just not sure it would stay put if you’d swing the guitar around wildly on stage or so … 😉

From factory, the former headless neck was attached with screws from the front, i.e. through the fingerboard, which I thought was rather crude. I changed this to four long “Nectite” screws through the neckblock into the Nectite nuts/bushings embedded in the neck-heel, which makes for a very stable and safe neck joint. There was some slight tear-out (despite taping everything off) when drilling out the recesses for the screw-heads and their bushings on the back, pls. see the fotos included.

Another piece of information I received from the original manufacturer in South Korea was that the triangular-shaped string-holder/clamshell bridge is made of what they called “tech-wood”, apparently a mixture of some kind of epoxy (?) and wood-dust (or “wood powder” in their words). The fingerboard of the original headless neck was also made from that material. The original neck is not included in the sale, btw..

Other than that, the guitar has an under-saddle piezo pickup and an on-board preamp that also features a tuner. The preamp is a little awkwardly positioned towards the back of the guitar, possible due to the original position of the tuner-pegs inside the guitar-body, although I don’t remember the pre-amp position being particularly helpful then either. It also has a sound-port in the upper bout, probably because acoustically, it isn’t very loud due to its rather heavy internal construction (to previously house the tuners …). It was actually sold as a “travel guitar” and marketed as an instrument that could be played late at night without disturbing anyone. Amplified, it sounds very much like a steel-string acoustic guitar with an under-saddle pick-up – which it is! The guitar is currently strung with medium strength electric guitar strings (GHS Boomer). I chose the category "parlor guitar" here on Reverb as I had to chose one and it is quite small, just fyi.

I think it would be ideal for a singer in an “acoustic” band who also plays a little rhythm guitar.

Pls. note that this guitar is sold as is and as described here in words and images, excluding any warranty, guarantee, or liability, each to the extent permitted by law. Returns and replacements are excluded.

The guitar is located in Kirchheim near Munich, Germany, personal pick-up is possible and encouraged.

Now reduced to EUR280,- including shipping within Germany, for other destinations pls. inquire prior to making an offer/buying! I will include the original “Corona” gig-bag but pls. note that the new neck will stick out at the top so to say, so this gig bag is really only included for shipping purposes, the buyer will have to find a gig-bag or case that fits the guitar and its new neck if they want to transport it later. I will of course pad and secure the protruding headstock very well and the guitar will be shipped very well padded and packaged.

Thanks for stopping by! 😊