Greco Guitars

Greco Guitars : All Mahogany Strat

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...

Burny SG

Burny SG custom RSG-70.

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!

Greco Guitars : Spotlight on a natural beauty

A beautiful natural Greco strat

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.