Just bought a Greco from Yahoo Japan.

Well, after much frustration I actually won an auction on Yahoo Japan and am now the owner of a 1982 Greco Mint Collection EG59-100 for 42,500 Yen. Or at least I think I am.

The headstock was cracked on the back and expertly repaired. While repairing the back the seller redid the headstock with a fake Gibson logo, painting over the Greco logo. So... both the serial number and the actual proof it's a Greco are gone. Close examination of the body does seem to confirm that it is a Greco EG59 model and probably a 100. The seller has 464 positive feedbacks and no negative feedback, and he went into great detail about the guitar, and the repair work he did. I trust that it is the real deal (a Greco EG59-100, not a Gibson). With the volume of guitar business he does on Yahoo japan I see no reason why he'd risk his reputation. He could have tried to pass it off as a real Gibson and make no mention of the cracked headstock (it's virtually invisible).

We all know posts like this are worthless without pics so a link to some pictures of the guitar can be found at
http://photos.yahoo.co.jp/bc/puti_guitar68/lst?.dir=/Greco+EG59&.view=t
Regrettably, the only shot of the front of the headstock was on the actual auction itself and you need to be a member of Yahoo Japan to see it. I've been unable to direct link the images. I'll see if I can host them and post them soon.

So, what do you guys think? I won't receive the guitar for a few weeks but do you think I did alright or did I get taken?

i saw that one looked nice fair price too..dark flames ..its either a 70+ or a 100 ..you can only tell by the PU's if they are still original they will be Greco DRY (have a Z on them)..the EG59-70's and above are very very nice ..

Thanks villager, I was wondering how I'd tell if the pickups were Dry models or not. Does the finish look like Lacquer or Poly to you guys? It looks like lacquer to me but I know almost nothing about finishes.

Here are the images from the auction, including a shot of the redone "Gibson" headstock. I've seen Explorers with that gold logo but never a Les Paul, they've always been MOP, so it looks obviously fake to me. I wish he'd just left the Greco logo but the fake Gibson logo looks OK too I guess.





I'm not usually a big Cherry Sunburst fan but the darkness of the red combined with the subtly flamed maple look pretty tasty to me. The guitar doesn't appear to have any dings anywhere. The only sign of wear I can see is a close-up of the bridge, the low E side appears slightly worn or corroded.

Flametop to Boot- Great buy !!

If pickups are DRY ones they could had that DRY inscription on the back,just like Tokai who put in their old ones ('57 PAF for example).....

EG59-75 and above is lacquer...

villager said:

EG59-75 and above is lacquer...

Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought that'd be one way to tell if it's a EG59-70 or a 100. Really, I'm happy either way I think.

Well, my guitar arrived, with a fresh ding on the beautiful flame top from shipping. It took a big hit on the right side/front and dented in the binding and popped off some lacquer. The strap pin on the bottom was bent at a 45 degree angle too. I am currently in negotiations with the Canadian Postal service as to how to address this.

The guitar is otherwise beautiful, with slight body damage consistent with being 23 years old. The flames "dance" very easily and I finally understand the difference between a real flametop and veneer. The headstock repair was very well done. I've had a few people already assume it's some weird custom shop Gibson. I still wish it just said Greco.

The precise model number is still elusive to me. I pulled the pickups and the neck pickup says "Screamin" which points to it being a EG59-50. (It's long tenon BTW) The bridge pickup remains anonymous but seems newer than the neck. The ding on the front shows that the finish is definitely lacquer which was only available on EG59-100's or better to my knowledge. Also, the high quality of the flametop in person seems to indicate higher than an EG59-50 to me. One of the MOP inlays is crooked though, which is kinda lame and points to a lower model. The bridge tailpiece is aluminum not zinc, pointing to a 59-100. So, I'm confused. I don't really care as I'm quite happy with the guitar but I'm curious to know as much as possible about my new baby. Does anyone have any further ideas on identification? What do you think, is it a 50 or a 100?

The neck is thicker than my '81 Gibson Les Paul but I'm slowly getting accustomed to it. The neck pickup sounds great, the bridge also sounds quite good but is too trebly for me I think. Oh, I just remembered, the guitar is wired out of phase giving it an awesome... uh, out of phase sound in the middle toggle position. Question, could wiring the pickups out of phase be causing the excessive treble I hear on the bridge pickup? I wonder if it's 250K potted.