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:

Thin Lizzy - Cowboy Song - Live & Dangerous

Top ten guitar solos? Sure, you have your Hotel California and Stairway to Heaven that come to mind with some Freebird, Eruption, Crossroads, Comfortably Numb in there somewhere. For me the Brian Robertson/Scott Gorham solos and harmony work on this Thin Lizzy number rank up there near the top with this song about being a cowboy.

Sonix Guitars - from the biggest music store in Hamamatsu and Deviser!

There are a few of these "Sonix" guitars out there. The background is that they are a store brand "produced" by Sonix store in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture in Japan. Hamamatsu also happens to be the home of Yamaha musical instruments and Tokai Gakki. As far as I can tell the Sonix guitars were made by Deviser and more or less matched the Momose line of guitars for specs. Sonix seems to have been one of the big dealers of Bacchus, Rivdrhead, and Momose guitars from the late 90's and you can see some examples of that series (one, two,  three, four) courtesy of the Internet Wayback Machine.

The Sonix brand seems to show up in 2006 with a Regular Spec line and a High Spec line. This link from 2009 has some beautiful LP-style guitars for sale.

I have seen a few Sonix guitars for sale over the last few years and managed to get the 62-style strat and SG two at reasonable prices. The specs seem to vary between the runs they did. The strat is basically a Momose-spec with a 2-pice body and nitro finish. It came with a nice set of Lindy Fralin Blues Specials but I think the last owner put those in along with the reproduction .1 mfd cap.
The SG has the same "Custom Craft" logo as Momoses and has a 1-piece mahogany body and nitro finish. There were models with Brazilian boards but this one seems to be Madagascar to me.

That is all I have on the Sonix story so far...

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.

The Who - The Seeker

The Seeker. One of the best Who singles."I won't get to get what I am after...'till the day I die!" - a good lyric for collectors of guitars or anything else.

Crews KTR Limited K&T NFS Bridge Pickup Demo

I forgot about this short recording I made a couple of years ago of the K&T (link to website here)NFS bridge pickup of this Crews KTR Limited. Not a great recording or terribly good playing, but I think the pickup character comes through regardless.