Not easy being green

Yes, it has been over 2 months since the last post here. Belated Happy New Year 2019, and Happy Lunar New Year while it is still the season.

This popped up for sale earlier this week and I couldn't resist getting it.  It is an ESP Japan guitar with all the goodness that entails, plus the amazing inlay work in the headstock, fretboard and body. As a nice touch it has a pair of Seth Lover Seymour Duncans which I really like for a PAF-like humbucker.

It is apparently an ESP 30th anniversary model from 2004. I found an old listing of this on Reverb from Ishibashi with a list price of $4648. The serial matches so it looks like someone bought it a couple of years ago and then traded in to another guitar store in Tokyo last week. 

There is also an e-bay reseller who is listing this very guitar for some reason. the pictures are different from the Ishibashi listing so perhaps the guitar was resold recently.

These Potbellys are available as ESP or Edwards models and this one at least has a great balance between body and neck.  Green is not my colour of choice for guitars but it works pretty well IMO for this one. 

Thirty-six MIJ Guitars

Back at the old place in Aoyama the sun came through the window just right to take pictures of guitars on the wall hanger. Here are 36 Japanese made guitars from Greco, Tokai, Burny, Bacchus, Epiphone, Edwards (yes, an MIJ in there!), Orville by Gibson, Navigator (ESP) and a very rare Bison Golden Era reissue. I wish I had kept a few of these but they all have since passed on to new owners. 

And yes, I know I should have kept that Greco SG-800 Custom in cream.

Well played, and still going 1979 SE-600J

Here is a recent acquisition: 1979 Greco SE-600J. This was based on a customized strat Jeff Beck used during the 1978 Japan tour "Jeff Beck with Stanley Clarke." Even thoughJeff didn't seem to use this strat exclusively after the tour Greco was soon to issue their own versions along with similar models from Aria Pro II, Fernandes and Navigator. I have had a couple of these including a light mint condition 1981 SE-500J Spacey Sounds model that was about 7 and a half pounds. This one from 1979 looks like to wild older brother compared to that one and has a ton of honest play wear in it. It weighs 9 and a half pounds which is more than a good number of Les Pauls.  Check out the fretboard wear at the first few frets. All in all a nice (if a bit heavy) natural relic that sounds and plays great.

Mint Collection EC57-60 1982 "Super Real"LP Custom

1982 Greco Mint Collection EC57-60. Sure, it doesn't have and ebony fretboard or MOP inlays but it is a pretty good Gibson substitute with the all-mahogany body/top/neck, 50's style neck and headstock angle. 

Deal of the moment: Japanese-made Edwards SG on Yahoo Japan

Here is a nice example of those older Edwards that have fret-edge binding and look pretty similar to ESP Navigators.  Just 29,800 yen through your favorite bidding proxy service!

2-screw truss rod cover

Fret-edge binding and nice looking inlays