I814310

Environmentally friendly packing

I was a bit surprised when the Japan Post guy showed up on Saturday night and handed me the package on the left. Usually guitars show up in at least rectangular boxes of some kind. Fortunately the cargo was intact. This 1981 Greco SE-500 looked to be in very rough shape from the auction pictures so I was thinking it would need some serious work, or at worst be a source of some nice parts.


I814310, with the bridge riding exceptionally high due to the 6 screws being a cm out of their normal position. 

3TS SE-500 1981

Not looking too good

The action looked like something was not going to end well but after adjusting the bridge and the truss rod nut the action is just perfect. The frets are in great condition and after a good cleaning of some unidentified gunk this SE-500 is back in action.

Before 

After, weighing in at all of 3.1 kg. Lightest Greco strat I have had.

In bits and pieces for some cleaning and inspection

3TS finish, except under the pickguard. Why waste paint?

Number 5 for SE-500

Stamped steel saddles

Deviser (Bacchus, Momose, Headway) Catalog 2003

Here is a link to a PDF of the 2003 Deviser Catalog. It has the Vintage Series Fender and Gibson copies. I don't know of any other links to older or newer catalogs.

Time machine Greco Spacey Sound SE-500 - D818100

A lot was going right on the Fujigen line to put out this combination of wood, metal and plastic back in April 1981. Aoyama Oyaji was just in Grade 6 back then and probably had never seen an electric guitar in person when Kenji Oyama was putting this together.

What happened here with the 2-piece ash body matched with a thick '54 style neck with some decent flame? I thought SE-500s were made with leftovers from the woodpile. It sounds like the specs of an SE-600 or even SE-800 aside from the thin poly, which feels pretty close to the nitro finishes they used back then anyway. I'll put it down to the Japanese work ethic at the time and some luck in whatever Kenji had on the woodpile at the time.

A number was stamped on bodies according to the model. Here the "5" stamp was used for this SE-500. If you think you might have a partscaster Greco check the neck pocket for the stamp.

This must have been stored in a nice place with air conditioning as there is pretty much no tarnishing or oxidation at all. Really "Mint" condition aside from a small bump on the upper back side.

It is also a light guitar at 3.4 kg which is pretty much perfect for my tastes. It has great sustain and the Excel pickups are wonderful strat replicas no matter what anyone says. Here are a few more pictures:

Time machine Greco Spacey Sound SE-500 - D818100

A lot was going right on the Fujigen line to put out this combination of wood, metal and plastic back in April 1981. Aoyama Oyaji was just in Grade 6 back then and probably had never seen an electric guitar in person when Kenji Oyama was putting this together.

What happened here with the 2-piece ash body matched with a thick '54 style neck with some decent flame? I thought SE-500s were made with leftovers from the woodpile. It sounds like an SE-600 or even SE-800 aside from the thin poly which feels pretty close to the nitro finishes they used back then anyway. I'll put it down to the Japanese work ethic at the time and some luck in whatever Kenji had on the woodpile at the time.

A number was stamped on bodies according to the model. Here the "5" stamp was used for this SE-500 If you think you have a partscaster Greco check the neck pocket for the stamp.

This must have been stored in a nice place with air conditioning as there is pretty much no tarnishing or oxidation at all. Really "Mint" condition aside from a small bump on the upper back side.

It is also a light guitar at 3.4 kg which is pretty much perfect for my tastes. It has great sustain and the Excel pickups are wonderful strat replicas no matter what anyone says. Here are a few more pictures:

Tokai Custom Edition - what year is this?

And what kind of pickups should it have?

Any ideas at all? 22 fret model with gold hardware and likely veneer-top.Serial number 12726

Deep in the Heart of Texas

PGM guitar are amazing. I've had some Navigators, Tokais and Grecos that had a lot going for them but so far the classiest Fender copies I've tried are PGM Van Zandts and Moon guitars.

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

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!**