I just found a Gneco mini humbucker gold top in Tokyo...I can't believe how good it plays and sounds...of course I bought it! Thanks for the history lesson!
Great Content! I am diving into guitars after spending many years dealing only with basses. The similarities between the japanese brands from this era (late 70' early 80') is overwhelming in the realm of Stratocasters. I haven't looked too much at LPs yet.
Excellent video. There is so much bs and bad info out there on all the vintage mij stuff. It's mind blowing to me that anyone buys a new guitar from China, Indo, even Korea when these instruments are still out there at way reasonable prices.
I have a Yamaha Studio Lord from 1980, set neck, Mahogany/maple body, Maple neck, Rosewood fret board, the head stock is a open book but not identical to the Gibson and the contoured Maple top is not identical to the Gibson, I think of it as a quality guitar that happens to resemble a Gibson Les Paul. The Yamaha was never exported when it was being manufactured. Sometimes I think they came from the same factory as the Greco as they are similar.
Just bought a 73 made in Japan on the bolt on plate..no serial number. M K on the truss rod cover. Last Fretboard position has a star in a circle stamped into the wood. Gneco headstock emblem.
Hello Rob. Thanks so much for your video series about Greco, I actually bought one turned out the GE450 in tobacco sunburst, and it seems unique, but still wonder why it’s labelled as 450 when the quality is exceptional, I’m comparing it to custom shop not even standard real thing. I still wonder if my guitar feels like this, so how about the higher number ones. I still have a feeling that because of the higher volume produced back then there could be a misplacing of wrong label tags on the wrong actual models. My guitar is exceptionally good and I love it, it’s all original. I play it through boss k 50 mkii ex .
Great info👍🏻 i just picked up a Burny LPC i absolutely love it the quality and playability is better than most gibsons i have played. Next on my Radar is a Greco and an Orville
since you didn't mention it, the top of the line les pauls are the egf1200 and egf1800 Super Reals. the reason why these are the most highly sought after is because they have dry z pickups, which are considered the most accurate reproduction of early gibson paf's that have ever been produced. Dry Z's only lasted for a few years but fujigen (who built greco guitars) bought maxon, the company that made dry z's and they discontinued dry z pickups and went to the dry 1982 pickups. The dry 1982's never achieved the rarity or collectability of dry z pickups and can be found for around 10% of what people ask for dry z's (as of this time the last set of dry z pickups sold on ebay or reverb went for 2k). For a short time after Fujigen bought Maxon they still had a stock of Dry z pickups and some of the higher les paul or es335's have one or two of them in their mint collection models, which replaced the super reals. In 1983 Fujigen took leftover dry z pickups and put a dry 1982 sticker on them, but they are still Dry z pickups (they have both the dry 1982 sticker and the serial number and z stamp of dry z's). For a very short time after Fujigen bought Maxon, they continued production of dry z pickups. You can tell one of these pickups because the serial number begins with an 8, have the stamps typical of dry z's and a dry 1982 sticker. All the earlier dry z pickups begin with the number 2 (the number is the production line).
Hi. Thank you for making this video. Essential viewing for anyone looking to explore the world of vintage MIJ guitars. Question: Is there a general rule-of-thumb for which level/models of Greco LPs that one would expect to have a nitro finish? Thank you!👍🙏✌
Hi Rob, I wondered if you could help me date my Greco Black Beauty. I bought it in a pawn shop 10 years ago, and traded it off about around six yrs after that. Then miraculously i found it in a music store last weekend for sale and bought it back! I love this Greco, it's one of the best one's I've ever played, From your video, I'm thinking it's an '80s but it's a little different than anything you've talking about...it has no SN#, and some parts have been replaced. Can I send a pic of the headstock so you can give me some feedback on what year it is? Thanks!
Personally I think that the most bang for the buck-Greco is an early Rock Spirits. Other than suggested in this video they were around from as early as 1985 and had regular set necks at the time. It's practically an EG-1200 except for the nitro finish and the fret binding - two features that I personally can live without. The price on these is still reasonable as they are confused with the "lesser-quality' bolt-ons from the nineties.
Hello Rob. I just bought the EG450 straight from Japan. do you think these models are still bang for the buck? Are they compared to the real gib. Also I learnt that the number of the model EG450 indicates the value of the guitar back then, is that correct? Also what makes EG700 better guitar in specs than these models EG450? First I ordered eg700 cancelled it then ordered eg450 for the £100 price difference. And kind of regretted the cancellation Anyway let’s see how the EG450 plays and feels , it could be good guitar. Thanks for the videos and knowledge Waell
Hey there Rob, I'm looking to buy what appears to be a 1975 Bolt-On LP style Greco with the Greco branded pickups and I was wondering if you could help out with how much these guitars may be going for. Cheers!
Very interesting especially when you talk about the highend Super Real models like 2500 and 2600. I was a member in the Tokai registry with a lot of guys from all over the world collecting all the highend Tokais and Grecos and Burnys and so on. In more than one decade no one there was able to buy or show a model higher than the regular 1800 showed in the catalogue. The myth about 2500s and higher was always around but even when some of those guys came from Japan or had excellent sources to get the most collectable guitars from there not one found the holy grail even if some spent more than 20 years with the search.
g'day mate. I have recently been given an old les paul copy. Sounds bloody great. The thing is it is identical to the 76 Greco, yet the name on the head stock is AXIOM . Any info you could throw my way would be much appreciated. Sounds like ifb you don't know , welll....
Rob, you’re awesome, dude! Just wanted to say thanks to you, Dunsy and Lucas Fowler for all the help and info on these gorgeous guitars. As of today, I have joined the brotherhood with a ‘78 EG-700 straight from Japan!
Hey mate I have a question, I found a local used guitars shop in my area and they're selling an EG500 for 500 Euros. Do you think it's good value? Or should i wait till i find a better model.
I'm late to the party. But I'm just getting interested in the Greco LPs. I see them on reverb. Music Dealers in Japan. Have you ordered from Japan? Or ordered from Reverb? Is ordering from these sites reliable? Thank you 👍
