Greco Pickup Codes ........ again ..........

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MIJvintage

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I'm sure this has been covered here before but I have a question about Greco pickups & the stamped codes on the bases, that are present on examples up to the late 1981 time frame.

My main item of interest is the first digit in the code, and what it designates; the single digit in the first/far left column.

As I understand it the codes are a date code, as explained below.
Corrections are welcome if my understanding in in era :)

Example 1:
811113
8***** = factory code?
*1**** = year/1981
**11** = month/November
****13 = day of month/13th

Example 2:
200220
2***** = factory code?
*0**** = year/1980
**02** = month/February
****20 = day of month/20th

If the 8 & the 2 in the first/far left column in each code is a factory code, are there any theories as to what the 8 & the 2 designate?

Does anyone know of other numbers besides an 8, or a 2 in the first/far left column?

Thanks for any & all replies :)
 
Hi Rich, I have seen 1,2,5 & 8
But up to 1981 I have only seen 1 & 2 as the first digit in the 6 digit format.
I asked Maxon myself last year about the numbering system, and they replied (in English), which I did post here.
The reply was it was a factory code only, but they did not expand exactly what numbers they used or why.

kind regards, Mick
 
I have a 1978 SE-700 Early Sixties, the pick-ups are stamped 31276. Mystifies me, doesn't relate to the year (no '8') but guessed it could be either a 77 or 76 'old stock' pick-up! I know with both Fender and Gibson its not uncommon for components to have non-matching dates - parts bins getting re-filled and older stuff staying on the bottom, eventually getting to be used months/years later.
 
wishbonz said:
I have a 1978 SE-700 Early Sixties, the pick-ups are stamped 31276. Mystifies me, doesn't relate to the year (no '8') but guessed it could be either a 77 or 76 'old stock' pick-up! I know with both Fender and Gibson its not uncommon for components to have non-matching dates - parts bins getting re-filled and older stuff staying on the bottom, eventually getting to be used months/years later.


the '31276' is actually a mold mark seen on the base of the EXCEL single coil Strat pickups.

Some will even have the '31276' & the 'EXCEL' both as a mold mark but again, these are not stamped, as most of the pickup codes are stamped .........
 

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