my first Greco tele

[toybitz]

Three piece, pancake ash body.

Some work to be done like refretting, new saddles (barrel type this time), and bridge plate.

Is this a '74 Greco Tele? There's no serial number. And the body cavity common like this?

 

[Cali Girl]

Star tuners were from the mid to late 1970's.

 

[toybitz]

The routing of this is similar to a member's 77 greco tele..except his tuners weren't "star-ified".

 

[JVsearch]

Has to be one of the last Gneco Teles with small neck plate?

It has a one piece neck with the truss rod adjustment at the heel, whereas my Gneco Tele had the truss rod adjust at the headstock and 3 piece laminated neck. Unfortunately I never had a clue what year it was from, and neither did anyone else.

This Tele is right where they were transitioning into accurate clones which occurred by 77. Also the Gneco logo was gone in 76.

I personally doubt whether there were star tuners on Greco Fender clones after 76, so I reckon it could be 74 like you say, or maybe 75? I've seen a couple of earlier ones claimed to be 73, and they had a strange look to them in general with different looking pickups and tuners.

 

[toybitz]

this one's more of a brother than a clone.

you're right, its got a small neck plate.

then the top horn (which isn't really horn), has a higher end compared to the standard fender teles.

 

[marcusnieman]

then the top horn (which isn't really horn).

That woud be called a bout or shoulder

 

[toybitz]

thank you.

 

[toybitz]

just got it from my luthier...

refretted to jumbo

the original ash tray has been modified (drilled) to accommodate the 3 steel barrel saddles...I could always go back to original the strat saddles for a Keith Richards look...

will GAS for brass saddles.

 

[marcusnieman]

Nice looking Tele

 

[toybitz]

Nice looking Tele

thanks!

it is decent sounding, honestly, I didn't expect it to be because of its "era".

with the stock PUs, it got a really creamy but a bit tame tone. Will try to swap PUs to see if gets any better.

 

[JVsearch]

Nice looking Tele

thanks!

it is decent sounding, honestly, I didn't expect it to be because of its "era"...

Mine sounded good too; I would have kept it if it didn't need re-fretting.
It was actually very resonant in the body and neck in spite of the 2 layer body and laminated neck, which kind of goes against the prevailing views.

How is it with the new frets - good sustain?

 

[toybitz]

the sustain is great, I give a grade of 8/10. I didn't expect that.

maybe because my luthier had to add a millimeter or two (just approximating) of ash wood on the neck pocket because the neck just dug in to0 deep. Is yours similar? Because my friend also had a similar greco tele only it 2 years younger. His was 75 or 76 I think, and the same luthier operated on his tele's neck pocket too. I'm not sure...but is it called a shin?

I'm now scouting for a not so expensive bridge PU. The stock PUs lacked mids. I'm eye-ing on a set of fender vintage noiseless that same friend is selling at $70...or a dimarzio Area T.