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Anyone have audio files of dRY Z pickups in action?

Heard a lot about them, just haven;t heard them!
 
A Greco EG-500 Les Paul with a strange headstock

http://cgi.ebay.com/GRECO-EG500-1979-LP-Cherry-Made-in-Japan-MIJ-Rare_W0QQitemZ220105199648QQcmdZViewItem

I've seen these headstocks in some Greco catalogues from the 70's.
I wonder why they are different.

btw I got hold of a 1979 Greco Super Real probably a EG-500 and I'll run through the features.
Fret edge binding, Solid body (not chambered) around 10 lbs, Tenon and dowel neck joint, 3 piece top, the best neck I've ever played with absolutely no buzzing and hardly any fret wear.
Considering this is a low end Greco the workmanship is top notch.
The pickups are probably not the greatest but it is a low end Super Real but all the rest is outstanding.
 
I think that was called the Go headstock and it went back to the mid 70s ... I see it for the first time in my books on the MR series. They used several other headstock designs on various models too...like the RWs, MEs and the CVs more than likely among others.
 
japanstrat said:
Considering this is a low end Greco the workmanship is top notch.

I've got a 1981 black EG-500C, and that's my experience as well. This was some guy's toy, so it wasn't played much. Everything about the guitar is top notch - the frets and intonation are perfect, the workmanship is great, and despite being a bit heavy, the resonance is very strong. The fingerboard is dark rosewood (much better than the light stuff from India). It even has fret-edge binding.

I bought it from some guy on ebay called "mustangaxeslinger." There are hardly any dings or scratches. One I installed new pickups, I had a guitar that would be worth $3000 if the headstock said "Gibson". I like the low-end Grecos from 80-82, as well as the high end 1800/2500.

He has another one, though I don't know if it's as good as the one I received. He's not the best photographer on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Greco-MIJ-LP-Custom-Black-Beauty-EG500-1981-Model_W0QQitemZ200104400610QQihZ010QQcategoryZ47072QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
villager said:
are you saying you have an 1800 or a 2500?

please do tell....

I've played an 1800 once, but the guy wouldn't sell it. It was quite nice. I'm getting a mystery Greco later this week from a guy who claims it's a one-piece back and solid top. I'll post pics when it arrives.
 
villager said:
who had the 1800? I am interested as i though I owned the only 2 outside Japan, and would love to see the greco when you get it...

I can't remember the guy's name, but he was Japanese. This was back in my college days, and I met the guy at a house party. He was also a student and was playing with the band at the party. The guitar may be back in Japan, but I remember he told me they were much cheaper than Gibsons.
 
I'm a neby (as well) and posted a Greco a separate thread. Sorry!

I bought a Greco on ebay but now i'm wondering what it is! It has a contoured body (top side of the back) and I can't find anything like it. Is it a fake? Or is it something 'special'? It's sold as a Japanese Greco.

Thanx
Mac

http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=017&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=270121317939&rd=1&rd=1

A Greco EG-800 Sunburst Standard Guitar.

These are made by the Fugi-gen Gakki company and were only sold in Japan. This was probably made in the late 70's but has no serial number. Its a bit of a rarity as it has binding like a standard model but inlays as per the custom model.

In excellent used condition. (see pics) A solid-body guitar that is good on the front with only the odd small scratch and a couple of lacquer chips. The binding has shrunk slightly in the cutaway area. The back is also good with a few small scratches and a couple of tiny unnoticeable dings. The back of the neck and headstock are clean. The original hardware is good - it has the high spec Greco grover style tuners - as are the electrics. The pickups are a matched pair of generic japanese paf clones. The fretboard and frets are good with a small amount of visible fretwear in a few places.
 
Hi, I'm new here, I recently bought this slightly abused plaintop Greco LP but I don't know which model it is. I'm a bit confused with the several model numbers, can someone identify this guitar for me? The seller said the pickups are not original, but didn't know what they are. It is made in 83, has a gold Greco logo on the headstock but no other writing. On the back of the headstock there is a small sticker that says 500, not sure if that is the model number. It has a long tenon and a one piece neck. It is a solidbody, thick maple top. Here are a few pics. Also if someone knows anzthing about the pickups, please let me know. I thought thez were dimarzios, but I wrote an email to dimarzio and they replied me that they don't seem to be dimarzios. Anyway, the guitar plays really well.

 
Tommy, your guitar is an EG59-50. Pickups DO appear to be non original Dimarzio Super Distortions (not bad). That guitar normally would have come with "Screamin 82" pickups. You definitely have a Mint Collection era Greco there, looks like a brazilian rosewood board too. Nice catch. I have a couple of similar ones with the 500 sticker on the back. They both sound and play very nice, especially given that they are in the lower price range of that era.
 
Quick question, hopefully the great knowledge base here can give me some information:

In what years/on what models did Greco use nitro finishes? Specifically I'm asking about mid-eighties.

Is there any non-destructive means to tell if a given Greco has a nitro finish? Are there certain structural or hardware aspects that would imply a model which probably had a nitro finish?
 
A couple of questions:

What models are 'Mint Collection'? ... or: How do I determine if a given model is a Mint Collection?

There's a lot of talk about the models from the 80's ... but what about 70's Greco's? They are often equal in price to the low-end 80's - but what about quality?

Thanks

/megl
 
The Mint Collection runs from about 1982 to around 1991 and most of them have a open o ( a o with a bit of the top missing) in the Greco logo.
The open o Mint Collection Grecos run from around 1982 to around 1990.
The last mention of the Mint Collection I can see in the Greco catalogues is 1988 and after that Greco were pushing their non Gibson designs (like Ibanez) more and some of the last Greco Gibson copies don't have serials probably because they were made with no definite release date in mind.
By the late 80's Kanda Shokai had lost interest in making the Greco Gibson copies probably due to low sales plus Kanda Shokai had a lot of other models that were more important in terms of sales and they had Fender Japan as well.
The quality depends on price and the price is usually in the model number, the higher the model number the higher the price the higher the features.
The lower end Greco Gibson copies are still made from Mahogany and not like some Chinese Gibson copies that are made from Agathis or whatever.
What you usually don't get on the lower end Greco Gibson copies is well matched or special feature maple tops, nitro finishes, fret edge binding and top of the line pickups.
Most of the Mint Collection have the 50's Gibson long tenon neck joint.
The Super Reals come before the Mint Collection from late 1979-1982 and they are perhaps the most accurate Greco Gibson copies although a lot of them don't have the 50's Gibson long tenon neck joint they have a neck joint based on the 70's Gibsons.
The 1970's Greco Gibson copies have bolt on necks like 70's Ibanez Gibson copies in the first half of the 70's and then have set necks in the last half of the 70's and are maybe less accurate copies and some have chambered bodies (the chambered bodies seem to run up to 1982 on low end models) like Gibson is doing now and the set neck ones have neck joints based on the 70's Gibsons.
.
 
japanstrat, thanks a lot for your reply!

About the open o's: Is it only a Mint Collection feature? Or did they make other models with the open o as well?

The extras you mention in the higher end models are not so important for me - playability and sound is key! Pickups can easily be changed. Nitro might be nice though ;-) Can you recommend specific low end models to look out for?

The 70 models: This might be blasphemic to say, but I really like the chambered bodies. I certainly want a set neck with a long tennon, so I should look out for second half 70's I guess. I've seen some really nice Greco's from 77 to 79

/megl
 
The open o was on the first Greco Mint Collection series around 1981/1982 and the open o stops around 1990.
At the same time Greco also made some Grecos with closed o's and also made some closed o's in the early 1990's.
So I would say a Mint Collection has a open o but other people might say that the closed o's from the early 1990's are also Mint Collections it's hard to say exactly as Kanda Shokai who made the Grecos did unexpected things sometimes.
The set neck Grecos up till 1982 can have a 70's Gibson tenon which is not the long tenon everyone knows.
It's a tenon that stops at the beginning of the neck pickup hole or fingerboard end rather than extending into the neck pickup hole like a long tenon.
The Mint Collection series mostly do have the 50's Gibson long tenon.
Personally it makes no difference to me both tenon types are better than the modern Gibson tenons which are very short.

There are a fair few Mint Collection models.
Here are a few and their original selling price in Yen.
As the prices go down the pickups also go down with the Dry pickups reserved for the top of the line.

EG58-120 DRY 120,000 Yen
EG-59-70 DOUBLE TRICK 70,000 Yen
EG-56-60 HOT LICK 60,000 Yen
EG-59-50 SCREAMIN 50,000 Yen
EG59-45 SCREAMIN 45,000 Yen
 

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