Hello from the Republic of Ireland. Ever since my introduction to Greco guitars, I have fast become addicted to everything related to Japanese guitar. My home is now besieged by and ever increasing amount of guitars from Burny, Greco, Orville, Fernandes et al.! My intention is to use this blog as a window into my growing collection, as well as showcasing some guitars for sale.
The Fernandes revival series strats are great guitars. The stock pickups (and this is true of any guitar), may not be to every ones taste. With this in mind, and add in that I have been hearing great things about tonerider pickups, I decided to give them a try in my 1982 Fernandes revival strat.
I will expand on this post in the near future, but for now her is the bridge single coil bashing out some AC/DC in splendid fashion. In short, I was highly impressed !
A video of me playing some Jimi Hendrix on my Greco AP 850 / AP 1000. Pictures and information below.
Greco AP-1000 Acrylic Guitar (Click to enlarge)
This is my Greco AP-1000 / AP-850. I use both AP-1000 and 850 designations as based on my current understanding 1000 and 850 relate to the price the guitar cost in Japanese Yen at the time the guitar was produced. So in 1990 if you paid 100,000 yen you bought yourself an AP-1000 and in 1992 the list price was 850000 yen, you were the proud owner of an AP-850; I'm pulling these years and prices out of the clear blue sky just to illustrate an example.
The AP-1000 as it appeared in the Greco 1994 instrument catalog
Well, you don't have to be much of a guitar expert to know where Greco has taken its lead from with this guitar as it is a dead ringer for the guitar designed by Dan Armstrong and subsequently made famous by Keith Richards. The photo below shows a certain James Marshall Hendrix examining Keith Richards original Armstrong acrylic guitar.
However there are some differences:The original Armstrong designed guitar featured a slot so that it was possible to use interchangeable pickups. Also, the bridges on the Armstrong were of a different design and did not feature individually adjustable saddles. The pickups were also visually different.
The Greco AP-1000 features five individually adjustable saddles
Bridge on an original Dan Armstrong acrylic guitar
Atlas / Rinton Guitars in a Japanese Guitar Blog???
Ok, ok, ok ! This is not a Japanese guitar, I'll grant you that ! But I'll also beg your indulgence to let me explain why it's appearing in a Japanese guitar blog. Well the rational is that anyone who can appreciate the delights of Greco, Tokai, Burny etc. will be interested and appreciate the beauty of this guitar. Not convinced? read on and be converted !
What????? Thailand produce masterfully built guitars?????? -
The guitar you are looking at is an Atlas / Rinton Star Sapphire guitar. It was made by Rinton musical products, who are based in Bangkok Thailand? Now, some of you may be tempted to discount this guitar maker as they are not at all well known. Well, do so at your own peril; there are excellently and meticulously built hand crafted guitars. That's right - hand crafted, with no C.N.C machines.
Whats more, Rinton will build you a one of a kind, bespoke guitar. Want an ebony board - no problem, book matched maple top - you got it ! Your choice of pickups and hardware- not a problem, your own design mother of pearl / abalone inlays - just say when ! And sure, there are no shortage of custom builders who will do the same, but not at what you will pay Rinton. You'll probably pay more for the raw unfinished wood from a custom builder than you will Rinton guitars. And, if your happy with off the shelf guitars, that is available too, and they are non the less hand crafted with great attention to detail.
My off the shelf guitar
I got this back in about 2007 whilst visiting Bangkok, Thailand. I had not heard of this guitar manufacturer but once I took it down off the shelf and played it, I knew I had something special in my hands; beautiful ebony fret board, thick maple cap, one piece mahogany body, and a very elegantly carved top. Trem system by Wilkerson with a push in bar.
And the stock pickups.....? Absolutely awesome! Vintage voiced, and just perfect for my style of music - early blues breakers - woman tone all day long! Also great for classic rock and back off the gain and you can comp those Jazz cords with a big grin on your face ! Action was low, and so effortless to play. No sharp fret edges and man, this thing was built to last and be rocked hard !
The quality of tone woods used is exceptional (Click To Enlarge)
I rarely buy a guitar on impulse, but needless to say I left the store that day a very happy man indeed ! Please check out the video at the bottom of this page where I talk about and showcase this guitar (if your connection can handle it set to HD 720). Also under that video is another video showing me playing this very guitar through a clean amp. I will update this post with some over driven sounds also.
The importance of testing your guitar unplugged as well as amplified
Well there a lot of videos online featuring the Fernandes revival. However, I have not been able to find any demonstrating the unplugged tone. This may not seem very important but it is. A guitar that has good acoustic properties such as a natural ringing sustain, is a guitar you'll want to get your hands on. Why? Well if a guitar sounds good unplugged, then those qualities will carry on over into the amplified sound.
So, the next time you are trying out a guitar make sure you spend some time playing it unplugged, and pay attention to its natural acoustic properties. Sure, you can add all the gain you want onto an acoustically dead instrument, however this will not sound or respond like an instrument which has these qualities in its unplugged condition.
With that in mind here is a video I just shot showing the acoustic properties of my Fernandes revival strat. When you get into the habit of doing this, you might be amazed at the difference between different strats, even those of the same model and year.
Back in the early 1980's Fernandes had what was then a very novel idea:- recreate the vintage characteristics of the early strats, and boy, did they go out of their way to accomplish that ----
I could go on with such images but in short - they were very thorough !
So the guys and girls at Fernandes meant business, and I am so happy they did because their efforts back at a time when I was only 3 and not yet old enough to appreciate the merits of a fine vintage speck strat, produced such gems and the one pictured below - one of my first ever Fernandes the revival strats and a left handed version at that, which trilled me no end !
This '64 version just oozes class !
This happens to be a very early version of a Fernandes revival. And how do we know that?? -- The early versions of this guitar had no lacquer sprayed over the top of the decal on the headstock. The result of this that many of these early versions are missing their decals, and sadly I have seen many, many examples of this. Thankfully though, this revival has managed to survive for the last 34 years with its unprotected decals intact.
Notice the wear around "original custom body" and other parts of the decal
Compare the above unprotected headstock above with the protected one below (lacquered version came in around '84) which is taken from one of my right handed revivals:
Later version of the revival series strats had lacquered decals
There are some other ways to get an approximate date on your revival. The first is to examine the neck plate of the guitar. Now, this is not a hard and fast rule, but a 'stone logo' neck plate generally indicates an earlier Revival. These 'stone logo' neck plates were left over from Fernandes strats of the 70's, and unused ones found their way onto the new Revival line of guitars. The first picture below shows the stone logo on my lefty and an 'L series' neck plate from the mid 80's, again from one of my right handed revivals:
Fernandes 'Stone Logo' neck plate
Fernandes Revival 'L' series neck plate
Another way to gauge the age of your guitar is to look at the number that's stamped on the heel of the neck- the first digit of which indicates the year of manufacture. However, while not everyone may agree with this method, I use it until more weightier evidence is put forward. The picture below shows the neck heel stamp from this left handed version. Although somewhat blurry, the first digit is a 2, signaling that this guitar is from 1982.
A 2 at the beginning of this neck code indicates a 1982 year of manufacture
As mentioned in a previous revival review on this blog, I have compared these guitars to an original '64 strat and Fernandes does a highly commendable job, and realistically, there is little between the two at least as far as this blogger is concerned !
Below are two videos demonstrating the sound of this guitar. It's worth noting that the amp in question has a valve preamp and a solid state output section, and an all valve unit improves sound by multiple factors. I will update these videos when I acquire a low wattage all valve amp, but for now these examples provide a hit of whats to come.
This beauty is my early to mid 80's Fernandes 'the revival' strat. I say early to mid 80's as Fernandes guitars are notoriously difficult to date (no not candles and flowers! although this is such a looker, you'd be forgiven!!!). Neck plate codes have so far proven to be indecipherable, and the numbers themselves can not even be chronologically interpreted. For instance, I have seen examples with modified headstocks (when came later) having numbers lower that the ones on my strats. However, there is an L suffix at the beginning, ans so this is what is referred to in the M.I.J community as an 'L series guitar' -- of that we can be sure, which is a good thing !
Typical vintage design but the revival has a five way pickup selector (Click to enlarge)
This is also a custom color which doesn't appear in the Fernandes catalog. It's also a bit of a chameleon sometimes appearing as a light red in some lighting conditions. The above picture was taken in natural daylight to give a true rendering of this six stringed beauty :)
Neck plate denotes an L series guitar
The impetus behind these guitars seems to have been to recreate those classic guitars of yesteryear, and Fernandes have done a masterly job. I can say this with a fair degree of certainty as I have had the chance to compare this to an 1964 candy apply red strat, and to my hands differences were negligible. And how is this possible you may well ask- well take a look at the picture below:
Fernandes literally delves into the nuts and bolts of strat type guitars !
As I have said, establishing a date of manufacture for these guitars can be quite tricky. However, finding which particular model your guitar is based of of is a much simpler task (if you have a Philips screwdriver!), as unscrewing the neck and having a peek at the neck heel stamp indicating model type. Foe example a '57 neck heel stamp means your guitar is modeled after a 1957 strat and a '64 indicates the 1964 version. The image below is taken directly from my own guitar, and indicates that it is a 1964 model.
The stamp indicates a '64 model
But all this is of course redundant rhetoric if the guitar doesn't play well and feel right. Well, I mentioned it compared quite favorably to the original 64', but what does this mean in practice. For starters, if your moving from something along the lines of a modern neck profile, well then give yourself time to become accustomed to the neck. I had played vintage strat in the past, but this was my first vintage guitar to sit down with and attempt a lexicon of licks and runs with in quite a while. Sometimes, I would fret notes incorrectly as my fingers acclimatized to the new environment - and this is not a flaw on the part of Fernandes, but rather something you can expect when making a change from any modern board to vintage.
However, it wasn't long before the neck fit as well as my winter gloves and cords were a pleasure to play, even the more finger stretching and bar variety (purple rain is a standout knuckle buster). There also an air of quality about the fit and finish and this is a serious guitar that's bolted together as well as any!So if you chance to find one of these or indeed any guitar with a vintage strat neck profile, give it some time in your hands and you'll be rewarded.
The guitar sounds great, just like a vintage strat should and that's through a Trace Elliot hybrid amp (valve preamp section coupled with a solid state output section). I'm in the process of getting a low powered all valve amp so I can showcase the tru sounds of the guitars I post here. For now I'll include this video of how it sounds through that Trace hybrid amp - but an all valve amp makes this really shine as this hybrid amp sounds harsh and jagged around the "edges" of the notes.
Notice how the color changes depending on the light - the rear of the body appearing pink the lower horn has a red hue.
Introducing a guitar that has most certainly paid its dues. This Matsumoku made Greco telecaster custom started life in Japan and was most likely battered and abused in every bar and outhouse in Tokyo before ending up in Rural Thailand and finally Bangkok where I chanced upon it. It now sits on its stand in the Republic of Ireland where it happily puts out blistering Albert Collins licks all day long.
The neck pickup is (and believe me when I say this) the most beautiful clean sound of any pickup I have ever heard. You really owe it to yourself to try it if you get the opportunity. Notes have an almost 3 dimensional woody depth, with individually picked notes tailing behind each other in the most pleasing way. Add reverb and delay and you encounter pure tonal bliss.....
However, for this author at least, the distorted tones are not as pleasing, and, dare I say - disappointing in comparison to the pickups clean prowess. Things are improved no end in the middle position, and with only the bridge single coil engaged you will quickly forget the aforementioned disappointment, as winding up the wick on your amp brings forth a cutting blues tone to die for !
The pickup below is from the neck position. They are actually larger than a normal humbucker pickup made to look like a wide range humbucker. However, the are similar in terms of appearance only- they do not feature the CuNiFe threaded magnets which are associated with wide range type pickups.
For this blogger at least, there are few objects from within the realm of Japanese guitar brands which raise the pulse quite like this all mahogany Greco Strat type Japanese guitar; I'll burn in hell for this - but I even prefer this to my Mosrite or teisco guitars.
I say all mahogany, although this is not strictly true as this guitar also sports an ebony fret board. Make no mistake, this is one of the rarest Greco guitars, and so exceedingly so, that I have not encountered another despite an exhaustive search of the world wide web.
A front view reveals some typical strat fare:- five way switch, 3 single coils and volume and tone controls.
As mentioned above, I have not been able to locate another
Greco guitar quite like this, but have been able to source the following from a
Japanese guitar dealer:-
'...Greco, I knew this guitar. It should be 78-80 time
guitar.
They made strat and Tele for this, but not listed on the
catalog.
Something like dealer’s order. Maybe 60 units for TL and ST.
When I was working at the music shop, like 79-81 times, I
sold this model. Fujigen model...' (cf. Personal e-mail 2016)
This dealer is correct when he states that this guitar dates
from circa 78-80; the neck plate dates it to November 1979. And so, there are
approximately another 59 of these strats out there, if that many have even
survived...
Since my teenage years in the 1990's I have always wanted (read as fantasied!) about owning a white 3 pickup SG custom since seeing pictures of Jimi Hendrix play one on stage in Stockholm and on the Dick Cavett show.
Fast forward to 2016, and to one of my latest acquisitions - behold this proud beauty a Burny SG , which now resides with me in the the Republic of Ireland. Its correct model designation is the RSG-70, and I originally bought it under the impression that its was a 1987 model. However, after some researching of the catalogs ( http://www.fernandes.co.jp/catalog/ ) and some input from knowledgeable friends, I can confirm that these Burny SG did not appear in the Fernandes (Fernandes / Burny are the same company) until 1989 and was only produced for between 3-4 years, making them relatively rare compared to some of their Stablemates.
As it appears in the Burny / Fernandes guitar catalog.
The head-stock features a bolt inlay as opposed to the split diamond type which was present on earlier offerings. The split diamond is present in the catalogs up until circa. 1988.
Typical SG tone and volume controls featuring nice pointers.
I will post a video review demonstrating the tones which this bad boy delivers, but for now here is a link to my channel showcasing some more pictures. This channel is set for a revamp in the very near future; featuring everything Japanese guitar, including lots of Greco guitars, Tokai, Orville and of course more Burny / Fernandes offerings!
The folks at Greco guitar produced something special back in 1978, and its sitting in my guitar case ! Behold this beautiful Greco 'Early Sixties' strat type guitar. Yes, early sixties is a slightly strange moniker to put on a large head stock strat type but the decal is totally legit as demonstrated by a cursory browse through the catalogs [ click here to view catalogs on another site ].
The sen ash used on the body of this guitar is simply amazing, and the guitar plays great even with an insanely low action. It also comes with three 'excel' pickups which can deliver clean bell like tones all day long and yet sound great with a overdrive pedal or pushing an over driven amp, and yet never sound harsh.
Lovely Sen Ash !
As mentioned, the action is low and consequently this guitar just begs to be played - and weather your into lashing out the blues licks, punky rip roaring cords or delicate finger picked country lines - this guitar is happy to oblige - and when your fingers are so sore you couldn't possibly form one more bar chord, you can sit back and admire how it looks in its case. :)
Here's a video of me playing this guitar. Note that this is trough an old trace Elliot super tramp amp, a hybrid design with a tube pre-amp and solid state output. It sounds great through an all valve (and I'll upload this shortly) but I think you'll agree even through this amp it sounds great.
