Greco "Mint Collection" guitars

Some pictures of the nice Mint Collection guitars I have seen. These were made from 1982 to 1990. 

EG59-100 and EG59-50

EG58-120

EC68-55JS

Rare EG60-150

EG59-50

EG59-85

EG-600 Goldtop

EG57-60

EGC-750

Likely EG60-150

1990 EG-600

Fretboard EG59-100

EG-1700 from 1990. Must have been a shop order.

VanZandt '57 model strat

VanZandt '57 Strat

Thin Nitro Finish + flame maple

Goodbye and farewell!

In the bowels of the Peninsula Shopping Centre in Singapore are several guitar stores. Hiding out in one was this Japanese ex-pat guitar, VanZandt stratocaster homage number 1833. Beautifully done thin nitrocellulose lacquer finish on a one-piece lightweight ash body. The flame-maple neck is has a fat C-shape and is also done in a thin nitro finish. 7 lbs 3 oz. 

I haven't had the guard off yet but assume that it has VanZandt pickups. Fullertone pickups were used in some models.

I ended up trading the blonde VanZandt and a couple of other guitars for this one. Sad to see blondie go but it was a great introduction to VanZandt guitars. 

VanZandt STV-R1 I presume

Tales From The Woodheap : So it arrived...along with 4 others =/This Ornetts...

Tales From The Woodheap : So it arrived...along with 4 others =/This Ornetts...: So it arrived...along with 4 others =/ This Ornetts is one killer machine...7.9 lbs, solid no chambering. Thin lacquer finish, 1 piece ...

 Ornetts guitars have their own unique thing going on with the truss rod design and headstock. A brand to keep an eye out for. The new Greco guitar lineup is made by the same manufacturer and the discontinued LPs are selling these days at a large discount.

A few good Burnys

From what I have seen 1980s were a good time for MIJ guitars, and Burnys were no exception with the FLGs and early RLGs. Here are a few "entry level RLG-50s" that I had the pleasure of seeing up close. For what were supposedly "plain-top" Les Paul copies they seemed to use a lot of nice maple for the tops.

You will notice in the photos belos the 30 degree angle pointers on the control knob. This is usually a pretty good indicator of an early-80's RLG Burny.  These RLG-50s had the lower-end pickups and wiring and poly finish but were very well made guitars, if not a bit heavy on average. Three of the four I had were around or over 10 lbs!

These models can be deceptive due to their looks and lack of a model number on the guitars. I have seen more than a few owners of likely RLG-50s assuming that the nice top on their guitar means they must be RLG-120/150/custom orders. That is a pretty good compliment to for the lowly RLG-50!

Deep in the Heart of Texas - VanZandt STV-R1

This recent addition is a VanZandt- brand Stratocaster model made for the Taurus corporation in Japan by manufacturer PGM (Professional Guitar Manufacture). I can't find any official page for PGM but the linked store has some pictures and Japanese info.

Taurus distributes several brands of musical equipment in Japan including VanZandt pickups. I got this one used in near mint condition from the good folks at A.T. Style guitars in Saitama, Japan. 

This particular one has 22 frets, a 9 inch radius fretboard and larger frets than the vintage-correct ones which makes it easier to play with a lower action.

It reminds me a bit of David Gilmour's mystery strat from the 50's. The "vintage" VanZant pickups are excellent lower output strat pickups and the noise level is very low for single pickups. Perhaps the aluminum pickguard has a lot to do with that. I can't find anything at all about this guitar that I would change other than it would be nice if they came with a hard case for the list price ($3000 or so US equivalent).

Reproduction paper-in-oil capacitor

From what I can tell the VanZandt guitar line has been going for about 20 years. They have no real low-end guitars as almost all are made with top quality materials. Lots of the older rosewood-board strats/teles use Brazilian rosewood. 

You can see the thin nitro finish that shows the grain of the ash body. No thick-finish Fender lacquer here.

VanZandt STV-R1 

Part II coming soon - VanZandt gold.