Greco!

All things guitar, Les Pauls, Strats, Teles, Tokai, Ibanez etc. etc. etc.

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The Scarecrow
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Greco!

Post by The Scarecrow »

Who's had any of their lawsuit style copies? Worth the bucks? (They seem to range around $700-1k and appear to be great value). Been looking into an SG copy from the late 80's which according to my savvy internet research probably came out of the Tokai factory.
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Re: Greco!

Post by quyet »

They are good value but the necks are usually quite small and thin. I'd recommend hitting up randombob/Vern for a yarn if you want to get the real details about factories and lawsuits.

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Re: Greco!

Post by Capt. Black »

I’ve had a great Greco LP custom copy dated about ‘77 from memory.
Also two Toaki LP copies from ‘81. Both lovely guitars. One I’ve kept is a never gonna sell it level guitar.
Not the same factories.
On the pecking order of Japanese copies it’s broadly considered Greco at the top followed closely by Toakai and late 70s Ibanez. Then Burny.

Greco LP copies had a shallower angle on the headstock up til ‘78-ish then changed to the proper 17 degree angle headstocks. So you could say they were a more accurate copy from then on.

Apart from all that, higher grade Greco and Tokai stuff from that late 70s and on are just great instruments in their own right.

I agree the Greco necks can be quite thin but even with my fat fingers, mine was good to play.

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Re: Greco!

Post by MikeC »

I've got a 1972 Greco J-Bass. It has a dead flat neck (i.e. no radius) and it's great! The early Greco's have a head-stock decal that looks like "Gneco".
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Re: Greco!

Post by The Scarecrow »

Capt. Black wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:14 am I’ve had a great Greco LP custom copy dated about ‘77 from memory.
Also two Toaki LP copies from ‘81. Both lovely guitars. One I’ve kept is a never gonna sell it level guitar.
Not the same factories.
On the pecking order of Japanese copies it’s broadly considered Greco at the top followed closely by Toakai and late 70s Ibanez. Then Burny.

Greco LP copies had a shallower angle on the headstock up til ‘78-ish then changed to the proper 17 degree angle headstocks. So you could say they were a more accurate copy from then on.

Apart from all that, higher grade Greco and Tokai stuff from that late 70s and on are just great instruments in their own right.

I agree the Greco necks can be quite thin but even with my fat fingers, mine was good to play.
Thin is good for me and my conservative palm spread/ET digits combo :D :D
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Re: Greco!

Post by Olderama »

:mental:

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Re: Greco!

Post by IMOCD »

Olderama wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:58 pm They are rather nice 👌

https://www.nzguitars.com/forum/viewtop ... ilit=Greco
Damn! Missed that ngd post. That's gorgeous. Big Greco fan here.

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Re: Greco!

Post by smallface »

I've had a couple over the years. Here's one I do regret getting rid of. I did have the original nameplate too which I put back on when I sold it.
DSCF9047.JPG
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DSCF9044.JPG
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Re: Greco!

Post by berg »

I've briefly played a couple of the Greco LP Customs from the late 70s - early 80s made by Fujigen and their contemporaries. I'm not a big LP player but the build quality looked good and they felt nice to play. I've read that some people like to swap out the factory pick ups for higher quality and/or more modern equipment

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Re: Greco!

Post by vinylguy »

Am I missing something ? Why is there a picture of a Rickenbacker in this thread ?

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Re: Greco!

Post by Bg »

yes you're missing something... its a greco, with a rickenbacker faceplate.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Greco!

Post by de_079 »

I've vaguely promised myself that the pandemic is truly over when I can take a family holiday in Japan and come back from it with a nice Greco LP custom. This will be my psychological bookend to the era.

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Re: Greco!

Post by H671 »

My first bass was a Greco
Greco Bass and Bag.jpg
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Re: Greco!

Post by jimi »

looks like an Ibanez Soundgear. Good to see you can get Japanese knockoffs of Japanese designs.

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Re: Greco!

Post by MikeC »

I wonder if it's like DNA, reproductions introduce errors etc etc. A copy of a copy - maybe they exhibit natural relicing from brand new?
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