I bought that Guitar.
I found this post trying to figure out exactly what it was. These confused me a bit. I guess that the Mint collection SGs only had a few model #s helps. From the picture I couldn't tell if it has a yellow inlay or a decal. Any guesses out there? I think I've seen models supposedly from this era with the more Gibson loooking inlay too.
The finished looked like it might be lacquer. I always look chips in the finish and the gloss. Poly seems to have more glare, and often dents instead of chipping. Going from the lower glare, and chips, I'm hoping it's lacquer. I don't know if I'd buy a guitar without a few chips. That said, who knows? It could be thin poly, and the '90 catalog did say poly on all SGs. I'm hoping the neck isn't too big, or at least a nice comfortable big.
Did any of these have fret edge binding in '89? I don't really even like fret edge binding, but it does seem to indicate the higher end models.
What pickups might be in this one and what are they like? hopefully something that sound like a VH 1.
This is my third attempt to get a great Japanese SG to go with my Gibson SGs. So far I've had two Burnys and an Edwards and none of them quite did it for me. I sold the Burnys (after stealing the pickups out of one and putting Duncans in one) and I think I'm going to sell the Edwards. I was going to get one of the Orvilles for sale right now, but the Guitars Japan guy said Grecos have more "mojo" and as you could see, the price was great w/ shipping, original parts, and a bunch of Tonepros stuff.
Long post, huh?