Greco Tusk "V"

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've looked at a Greco Tusk with an Explorer/Star-shaped body before, and here's another from the Tusk series with Randy Rhodes-esque V-style body.

Ken Shima, who found this guitar on the Yahoo Japan auction site, comments "totally awesome tuners, how do they work?"

Well, I think it's effectively a headless system with the tuners on the bridge, while the three "tuners" on the headstock are actually just string clamps.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

60s Merlin/Greco 921

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This Merlin semi-hollow body beauty is a mystery - not a big one, but I'm afraid I cannot identify it! 

Well, I do identify it as a Greco 921 as it is in Greco's 1968 catalogue... But why it is here a Merlin guitar, I cannot tell - but we're not surprised by this typically 60s cross-branding! This is from before the time Greco started to clone American brands - but I told this story already before...

Anyway, it is a marvelous guitar with its pointy horns - always cool on a semi-hollow body guitar - contrasting with the round pickguard, the 3 vintage single coils, the unusual 3 switches on the lower horn and a superb tremolo.

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Here's one for all you 1980s hair metal throwbacks: the Greco Tusk

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Ken found this Greco Tusk for sale on Yahoo Japan. Greco, of course, are best known for their high quality replicas of guitars by the likes of Fender and Gibson, and whilst this does have a touch of the Explorer about it, it would appear to be an original design. Whilst it's not headless, the headstock is really only there for aesthetics - and perhaps balance too - with the tuners being down at the bridge.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Greco Les Paul Custom Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Back in August of last year we took a look at the Czech interpretation of a Les Paul bass with this Jolana Diamant.

Leave it to the Japanese to come up with the most convincingly Gibson-esque Les Paul style bass, the above-pictured Greco. Whilst Gibson have made several Les Paul basses over the years, I don't believe they have ever made one based on the Les Paul Custom, certainly nothing that looks as good as this.

Greco, along with Burny, are known for their quality Gibson replicas, with some guitarists even preferring them to the originals. It seems they also ventured into the realm of fantasy instruments, ones that Gibson could have built but didn't. The bass appears to be short-scale (judging by the bridge position) and has a set-neck as it would have done had Gibson built it. It is apparently a model built for the Japanese market only and few would have been seen outside of that country.

The only things that niggle me about it are that the top of the 24-fret fingerboard probably isn't accessible anyway, so why bother with 24 frets, and it also seems odd to have the same legend on the pickup selector disc as the guitar models, i.e. Rhythm / Treble. How about Bass / Bassier? (Or is that getting into the realm of Girl Brand guitars?)

Oh, and shame about the stickers.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Greco Firebird copy

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Another Firebird, and a vintage black one (!), but it's not a Gibson, it's a Greco... 

I don't have more info about this guitar, but it looks like a faithful copy, obviously from the lawsuit era... Greco were so good at copying other companies guitars that they ended up as Fender Japan - just had to change the logo on their teles!

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Watch this eBay listing get pulled...

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Rickenbacker are known to be particularly zealous when it comes to copyright infringements based on their brand name, designs and trademarks. They are known to trawl the eBay listings looking for cheaper copy guitars listed in conjunction with the Rickenbacker brand being mentioned. The best a seller of a Ricky rip-off can do is to display good clear photos so the buyer can see what they are getting, and avoid mentioning the R-word anywhere in the text. Even derivatives of the name, e.g. Ricky, aren't advised, as these will get pounced on too.

With a feedback score approaching 1000, you wouldn't have suspected the seller of this Greco of being that green in this respect, but he or she is really asking for it when listing this guitar thusly: "1984 Greco Rickenbacker Vintage and Rare COOL!"

They are only making matters worse for themselves when they say:

If you have been craving a Rickenbacker but don't have the funds then this might just be for you, it's a made in Japan 1984 Greco Ricky copy with 3 toaster pick ups and the all important blend knob which helps give it it's (sic) distinctive sound, it plays nice and looks the part, in fact you only need change the tail piece and truss cover to rickenbacker ones and nobody will know it's not the real thing.

Shooting yourself in the foot or what?

Anyone want to bet how long it is before this listing gets pulled?

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Anyone got a spare V-shaped pickup lying around?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another fantastic original design Japanese guitar to feast your eyes upon.

The seller of this vintage Greco Shrike in redburst from 1968 claims that his primary reason for listing it on eBay isn't to sell it (although he would be willing to do so if you wanted to shell out the readies) but to try to find a compatible pickup for the one that is so obviously missing, so allowing him to complete the resoration of this guitar.

However, I doubt that V-shaped pickups are too easy to come by. When did you last see one? (I expect that each pickup is composed of two coils. I can't imagine how the maker would be able to wind it otherwise). Possibly, the only way he's going to get a new pickup for this is to get one custom-made. But you never know...

If you can help, click through to the auction page and contact the seller.

G L Wilson

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1960s Greco Surf Guitar

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This 1960s Greco is in immaculate condition. It looks as if it could be new. I just love the probably impractical headstock design.

If asked I would have guessed that this was a European, possibly Italian guitar, but of course - being a Greco - it's Japanese.

Greco were better known for their later Fender and Gibson copies in the 1970s and which seriously worried those giants of guitar production.

The Greco brand were produced by Kanda Shokai and were of such high quality that Fender legitimised the production of Japanese replicas of Strats and Teles with the launch of Fender Japan and the Squier brand which were also produced by Kanda Shokai and Yamano Gakki and built in the FujiGen Gakki, Tōkai and Dyna Gakki factories.

G L Wilson

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!