Greco "Super Real" Mint Collection EG60-150

Greco "Super Real" Mint Collection EG60-150

A rare guitar made right at the beginning of the Mint Collection line in early 1982.It has serial number 2 0376. It is the second to highest model in the 1982 Mint Collection Catalog with the only difference between this and the top EG60-180 model being a higher quality flame maple top. This one has a pretty interesting top in that the flame is very even but is not always that strong or noticeable depending on the viewing angle.
The back is made of two pieces center-matched.

The guitar is very light at 3.8 kg and has a thin 60's profile neck. It plays and sounds as well as the other Grecos I have had. The top carve as seen below is fairly steep up to the pickups.  

No black paint in the cavities here

Two-hole bobbin zebra DRY1982 pickups

The pickups are uncovered DRY1982 pickups with zebra bobbins.  These have to be among the earliest DRY1982 pickups as they only have 2 holes in the bobbins like the DRY-Z pickups and do not have the 3-hole bobbins that appeared with the Mint Collection series to more accurately replicate the original Gibson PAF pickup bobbins. What does that mean? I think it probably means that they are essentially DRY-Zs that were ordered with no stamp or covers for production of this guitar. There are examples of DRY-Z pickups produced in 1982 and these would have been made during the same period. To my ears they sound very close to the DRY-Zs 

The headstock has the "Super Real Model" script which only lasted for the initial period of the Mint Collection series. It was pictured on all the LPs in the 1982 Mint Collection catalog so it appears that there was originally an intention to continue using it but for some reason it was dropped on later models.

Beauty of the Japanese Burst ;-)

It came with the original Super Real hard case and all the original tags. You can see the Greco version of the original Gibson tag on the left, the blue"Mint Collection" tag with the model number, the Greco Handbook and a button from what was apparently a sales promotion at the time. 

Super Real hard case with case candy

Long tenon. "ラ" is for lacquer (ラカー)

  

Demo of Tokai Love Rock LS-150 (1981)

New look for an old Tokai.

1981 Tokai LS-150
Here is a short sample of Aoyama Oyaji's playing. Hopefully the Tokai LS-150 will make you overlook a few of the bum notes. The Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and the PAF in the neck were not great for this guitar but that is all up to personal taste. There is now a pair of hot W. Boggs PAF-type pickups installed (thanks Denny!!). Readings are mid-8k for the neck and mid-9k for the bridge and I have figured out that resistance readings don't mean too much when listening to the voicing of a pickup.  You can have different pickups with the same resistance that will be louder/quieter and have completely different response. I understand the winder ended up having some business trouble but he sure knew how to wind a pickup.

Nice inlay work. Jacaranda? No idea.

Burst View

Tokai LS-150 (1981)

Update

Been away...

Aoyama Oyaji is now in Singapore, but managed to cart some guitars here with him.

Greco TL-800 Super Real and Tokai ST-80 Spingy Sound

Bacchus Classic BLS-FM

Old Tokai LS-150

Tokai Love Rock LS-150 (1981)

Last week I ran into this old piece of wood and metal at a great local store here in Tokyo called Nico Nico. It had just arrived at the store. I tried it out and was surprised at how thick the neck was. It is right around that '58 profile that I like. I would have probably bought it right there but there was no price and the boss has to have a look at everything for the price but he was off that day.  I left my number and waited for a call but had gone through this before at other places with other guitars and knew that often there is someone already ahead in line for things like this. A week later the boss called and let me know the price and that he would hang on to it for me. The next day I went down and picked it up.

It is by far the nicest Tokai and one of the nicest guitars *period* I have ever played. The lacquer finish is thin and has a great feel. I would say it feels and plays as well as the Greco EGF-1200 Super Real I used to have, but without the 3 piece back or 4.5 kg weight. For me the 1980-82 Japanese guitars have something special about them. Could just be my impression though. Here are a few pics. You can see the checking in the finish on the back.

1978 Greco Tele-gib?

Today this old Greco tele arrived. It looks like it was made by Fujigen and the neckplate has a 78*** serial number so it is around 34 years old. It was originally routed for humbuckers but the previous owner put a single "Screamin'" pickup in the bridge with the pole pieces facing away from the bridge. The neck and frets are in good shape and it sounds pretty good even with the old strings on. It has no selector switch as it only has the single pickup.The black paint actually doesn't look too bad but I wonder what the wood grain looks like underneath.









I've seen a few Tele-gibs from Greco that are modelled after the original tele that Seymour Duncan modified and gave to Jeff Beck.I don't see one listed in the 1978 catalog though so perhaps they were a little shy in advertising it as Jeff was a regular visitor to Japan in those days.

Below is a pristine example of one of those old Greco Tele-gibs from 1978 from guitarsjapan.com:

***I am not terribly concerned about using these photos as the fine folks over there currently have my Greco Eg59-85 (top right, mislabeled as EGF-850) listed for sale on their site for some reason...likely because most of their guitars are not "their guitars" but are simply reposts of guitars that are or were for sale in Japan at other stores. They use pictures from the owners of guitars without permission. I sent an email to the guy running the site but no response. In any case, thanks guitarsjapan.com!**

Spring is here

Beautiful day in Tokyo today. Some small progress on the Japanese Guitars 101 page.


Guitar picture of the day:

Greco EGC-800 "Super Sound" from 1981 

Soft Opening

Japanese Guitars
                                                              Welcome to blog post number one. 

This is a place to put down a few thoughts about old and new Japanese guitars (like Tokai, Burny, Greco and Bacchus)in particular, and other guitars/amps, music and whatever else seems to fit. 

Greco Super Real SE-???

1990 Greco EG-1700