O-hisashiburi

It has been a long Corona year, and there really is no good reason to stop posting guitar photos and occasional thoughts about all things related to Japanese instruments. Today I'm just going to add a few photos of some amazing Grecos. 

A rare pair of EGF-1800 Super Real Grecos

EG57-60 from 1982

52 Blackguard-style TL-800

The one that should have stayed: 1981 Greco SS-800

Case candy and an early ST-60 Tokai

"This is the exact replica of the good old strat"

With rare tag

I had to go have a look on some of the Tokai and MIJ guitar forums to see exactly what this one is about. It is an early 1978 Tokai ST-60 in the sub-600 serial range. These early Springy Sounds had a slightly narrower neck plate and also pre-date the use of the "E" stamped grey bobbin pickups.

I was able to confirm that indeed that the pickups were original; the solder is virgin and I had never seen the particular brass grounding plate that Tokai used on these guitars. 

It is a typical ST-60 with a centre-matched SEN body and one-piece maple neck with a nice thin poly finish. These really look to me like fresh nitro with the thin layer or poly letting the grain of the SEN come through.

It came with a rare "Springy Sound ST Series" hangtag that is actually a sticker. Nice to see one of these, I don't recall seeing them before so perhaps it was something from the early days.

Currently available in my Reverb store (click link below). Direct messages welcome as well!

Original "Type A" pickups

Stamped "ST-60" and a reverse ink transfer of the S/N stamped on the neck

Tokai assembly with pickup grounds soldered to the baseplate

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. 

Grecomania strikes again

Aoyama Oyaji has been busy lately with what else but some new Greco golden age guitars. 

Not much to report in detail, just some new pictures of old guitars.

1980 Super Real Custom. It came with DRY-Z but in a moment of stupidity they were sold.

1981 Super Real EGF-1800? It came with a Super Real case but no pickups.

EGF-850 Super Sound. No, really! PU-2, veneer flame, MOP inlays, and "Super Sound" on the headstock.

Good old 1980 EGF-850 "Super Real". Double white PU-2 pickups.

1983 Mint Collection EC57-60. Oddly light at 4.0 kg.

1986 EG60-180 equivalent. It has "Custom Order" in the pickup cavity, solid flametop, 1 piece back, and real nitro with finish checking.

1990 solid flametop with nitro finish. 2-piece back and neck heel make it an odd high-end model.

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

Why do those Dry Zs sound so good? - About those Super Real Pots

Greco Super Real Custom 1980 with split block inlays

I admit it. I did something bad with my 1980 Greco Custom. I sold the Dry-Z pickups and replaced them with some PU-2 pickups. DRY-Zs are the bees knees but PU-2s are dear to my heart as well and I guess needed the money that the sale brought in.

So out came the Z's and in went the PU-2s. Sounded great, if lacking the upper mid bite of the Zs. Then I got to thinking why not replace the stock Greco volume and tone pots with 500k pots and wire it 50's style. You are probably thinking "why?" at this point since of course the Super Real guitars had 500k pots like the old Gibsons.  But did they?

Bye bye Zs, hello PU-2

For some reason Kanda Shokai went with the odd combo of 300k volume and 100k tone pots for the Super Real series. As far as I have seen this was the way it was until late 1981.

The catalog says the 300k volume pots "have a smooth volume change" while preserving the highs and the 100k tone pots "give a sharp tone change." My experience is that they definitely do give a sharp change from having a nice balanced high end at 10 to pretty much no hi-end at 8.

For all the mystique of DRY-Zs and how they sound so good, please remember that if you are listening to them through 300k volume and 100k tone pots on "10" it is more or less equivalent to a 500k volume pot at 8.5 and a tone control on 6.5. That is a sweet spot for some nice tones on an LP and the DRY-Z works well in that zone. Change the pots to 500k all around and it opens up some nice tonal areas for the neck and bridge and also gives a bit more output on the volume.

From 1980 Catalog

Just in case you came this far and still need some more proof, here are some pot-shots for you with meter readings....

Tone measuring in at 90.3K fully open

Volume measuring in at 331K fully open

Tone pot: Here the leading "1" means 100K

Volume pot: Here the leading "3" means 300K

New catalog added: The Mint Collection 1982

Just click right here to get to it.

Strats...I've had a few

MIJ strats. 

Here are a few of the ones I have had over the past couple of years. Some great Grecos, Tokas and Bacchus guitars along with a Fernandes and a very cool Aria Pro II Jeff Beck Model. 

Tokai ST-80 1980

 

Tokai ST-50 1980

Aria Pro ST-600 Jeff Beck Model

SE-500 Spacey Sound. One of the best Grecos I have ever played.

The "lowly" SE-450 Spacey Sound with case and original paperwork.

1979 SE-500 Super Sounds, just before the Super Real line came out.

1980 SE-600 Super Sounds.

Late 1981 SE-500J Jeff Beck Model. Mint condition but with a thin neck :-(

A refin project for a 1979 SE-600J Jeff Beck model

Greco's version of "The Strat". Super Sounds SE-600 perhaps?

Tokai Goldstar ST-50. 

A well-played 1979 SE-800J Jeff Beck model coming in at 10 lbs

Very nice Bacchus Strat. It has the Vintage-style decal but a modified headstock with the truss rod adjustable from the headstock. All-nitro finish. 

Lower-model "Limited Edition" Fernandes.

Minty SE-450 with changed knobs and pickup covers.

Tokai Custom Edition with flame maple veneer and gold hardware.

Tokai ST-70 version of Fender's "The Strat"