Greco Full Hollowbody SA??? Rosewood Bridge. HELP!!!

[RoryGallagher]

Hi Guys,
Brand new member, and 2 Grecos deep into what is shaping up to be a full blown addiction
I have recently purchased a Greco SA (something close to a 500) full hollowbody. It has the "Gneco" logo, star machine heads and "Gneco" pickups. Also no S/N so im guessing its pre '75 ( ??? ).
The thing that confuses me the most is that it has a rosewood bridge that I cannot find anywhere else on any other Grecos.
I was hoping to find out some more about this guitar and hopefully pin down which factory it came from. Sorry, Im trying to post pics but here is a link to the ebay item.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=260967252913&si=z%252B0iu8TrWzu%252B%252BXTyUNCe6vOaL1g%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME%3AX%3ARTQ%3AUS%3A1123&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Please tell me that Ive purchased an amazing guitar!!!!
And even if its not worth the cash, im not too worried. Sill love the look of it.

Also, I love the forum and know if anyone can sort this out, it will be you guys. :wink:

 

[Juni41]

Pre 75 SA450.

Some 70' Greco have this rosewood bridge as you can see.

 

[RoryGallagher]

thanks juni41!
So, it's an SA450. Cool
Do you know if this indicated a higher / lower spec model? i read somewhere about the star tuners but cant remember if they were good / crap. Anyone have any experience with them?

And has anyone else seen an SA450 with this type of bridge setup?

 

[spikeymikey]

Blimey.....Rory - back from the dead??.......how long you stayin'?

 

[RoryGallagher]

ha ha, yep back for a while!! :wink:

So looking at the pic above, SA500 is physically larger than the SA450 but,
SA450 = hollow body
SA500 = semi hollow??

Im really getting confused because ive seen 500s advertised and they are the same size as the 450. Are the sellers as confused as I am?? And they both have that fancy tail piece. Or all of the 400's do have it and only some of the 500's have the decorative tailpiece.

I think the greco motto should have been;

Greco
There are more questions than answers

Maybe I should just enjoy my guitar ( it should arrive in a couple of days!!! ) and stop with the questions.

 

[bmarsh]

that sa450 every arrive? How does is play and sound? I've almost pulled the trigger on a few of those so I'm curious.

 

[RoryGallagher]

yep, turned up a fortnight ago now. took it into my guitar tech and he noticed that the frets had a v shaped notch, like it had been dropped on its face and the strings had bitten into the frets. Insert sad face here. He said that it would need a full fret dress and also most of the frets werent seated properly and loose. oh it had just been refretted before i bought it so it was not poor greco workmanship. anyway 300 funvouchers later, its now my fav guitar and from clean blues to big muff fuzz, it is super cool. and the seller refunded me back US110 for my troubles. he was very sorry. Prob have spent too much on this guitar now but its not an investment, i bought it to play and it does that VERY well.
hope this helps

 

[bmarsh]

yep, turned up a fortnight ago now. took it into my guitar tech and he noticed that the frets had a v shaped notch, like it had been dropped on its face and the strings had bitten into the frets. Insert sad face here. He said that it would need a full fret dress and also most of the frets werent seated properly and loose. oh it had just been refretted before i bought it so it was not poor greco workmanship. anyway 300 funvouchers later, its now my fav guitar and from clean blues to big muff fuzz, it is super cool. and the seller refunded me back US110 for my troubles. he was very sorry. Prob have spent too much on this guitar now but its not an investment, i bought it to play and it does that VERY well.
hope this helps

Bummer on the hassle...but all is well that ends well. Glad you scored! I might need to pick one up.