Super Real or Mint Collection or ?

[fiftywatt]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Greco-EG59-or-EGF-LP-Standard-Flame-Top-LOOK-MIJ_W0QQitemZ200095190230QQcategoryZ38086QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Seems like this could be 1991 based on the 1 6129 serial #.
I've owned a few 89 Mint Collection models with 9 5xxx
serials, so you can see my logic here. Thoughts?

 

[MIJvintage]

all the vultures here (myself included) have picked it apart, already..........LOL.....................

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=45907&highlight=#45907

 

[fiftywatt]

Thanks MIJ, missed that!

 

[diland]

I have a 1990 MC just like that one except mine has the open "o" in Greco because it's a '90.The pickups look just like his and they sound awesome. I thought they could be Dry 1982's but then I did the nitro test on this guitar and it turned out to be poly so now I'm not so sure.The guitar sounds really good though-I like the sound of this one over the '58 reissue plaintop. I recently got from forum member Fiftywatt. I agree, they should have left the electronics original.

 

[MIJvintage]

I agree, they should have left the electronics original.

Yes, thank you very much 8)

 

[fiftywatt]

guitar sounds really good though-I like the sound of this one over the '58 reissue plaintop. I recently got from forum member Fiftywatt. I agree, they should have left the electronics original.

Ouch .. seriously those stock electronics aren't bad at all. I had an EG59-70 recently that had a broken 3 way toggle so I replaced it with a Switchcraft and went ahead and did the whole upgrade with RS CTS pots, Hovland caps, new Switchcraft jack, Mogami wiring and Dimarzio Virtual Vintage humbuckers.

Did it sound different than my other stock Grecos with factory pots, caps, pickups, etc? Yes. Better? Not entirely, but I think that had to do more with the body woods. I've dropped Dimarzios into several other Grecos and it was a definite sonic upgrade.

 

[diland]

Yeah,probably just the difference in the wood. And personal preference.LOL

 

[japanstrat]

From Japanese Greco sites any Greco with a open book headstock is 1990 or before.
Greco used the closed o logo all through the 1980's on some models as well as the open o for the mint collection.
So what the ebay seller is saying about it being from 1981 is right IMO.
Greco made other models besides the mint collection and super reals during the 1980's.

http://www.cosmikdebris.co.uk/grecopics.htm#logo

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=5509

If you come across 1991 Greco's at auctions they have a funny headstock more like an Ibanez headstock and some also have Ibanez like bodies.

Here's a Greco LP with the different headstock.

http://page14.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/s16485000

The Greco year confusion is for the LP's etc with the YXXXX serial format and not for the LP's etc with the M YYXXXX format which include the decade.

 

[villager]

interesting, but in my view inconclusive....

what other LP models were there, post 1982, without a logo on the headstock, with an closed O ....i never seen any....thats why i think its 91..

 

[japanstrat]

What do you make of this 70's Greco with no serial and no logo.

http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e65348680

Greco have had the GT series for a while which is the closest thing to a LP.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Greco-GT930S-QT-Mat-Dark-Brown_W0QQitemZ330055010301QQcategoryZ2384QQcmdZViewItem

I don't know what the deal is with the no logo.
Some Greco's don't have one like this 1987 mint collection bass.

http://page14.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/s52734429

or 1979 LP

http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m36239313


depends on the model.

 

[villager]

i mean only LP's and post 82......there aren't any...until 1991 when they sporadically used the closed O again...for some LP models...

the headstock shape change.... also I have seen 1991/2 and 93 greco LP's with the normal open book headstock...

as there were no mint collection in 1981, a 1 ser no greco with an closed O seems to me to indicate 1991....

ok there were a few very early 82 mint coll with the fret bound superreal necks ...but not in 81...

I had a solid flametop, open book, long tenon, closed O, ser no 1 6392 in the mint collection format.. there is no way it was a 1981 guitar..simply not possible..

 

[japanstrat]

At http://lngngo1013.ifdef.jp/photo/p08-09.jpg is a EG800 from the 1981 Greco catalogue with no logo.

And I don't where your seeing all these post 1990 open book headstocks.

According to Japanese guys like shake they don't exist.

 

[villager]

sorry but in my view 1981 is NOT post 1982 as I said above...
show me a closed O greco mint collection between 1982 and 1990....
there are none...
heres the 1991 open book headstock one i refer to above....

solid flametop open book mint collection long tenon closed O DRY 1982 PU (refretted)

1991..

 

[japanstrat]

I still think you are in the wrong decade.
I have never seen a Greco with an open book headstock with a M YYXXXX format that's post 1990.
From the Japanese Greco sites that I've read Greco did use the closed o through the 1980's on some models but not very many.
The Rock Spirits uses the closed o.
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=5509
If I come across other ones I'll post them.

Anyway the original poster had a Greco with a 1 XXXX serial that might be from the Super Real period with no logo and there are Grecos from the 1981 catalogue with no logo.
It seems to me that it's a transitional model in between the Super Reals and the Mint Collection from 1981/1982.

 

[20 century boy]

I don't know wich site you checked but if you know the greco journal site ( the most acurate site for Greco guitars with ultrashake's "sf.airnet" Greco site, it's like Tokaimad but for the Greco brand) there's a pretty complete review of the greco logo story. About the Greco "italic" closed O logo, they say " from 74 to nowadays".

and if you want some tokaiforum links, we talked about this a fiew years ago here:

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=5350&highlight=greco+catalogs

 

[villager]

ok I still think personally its a 91...the one i had had greco dry 1982 PU and a solid top...now it seems strange to me that they would make a PU specifically called DRY 1982, ...and they appear in a 1981 ser no guitar...of course it could be an older neck...but the tenon suggests mint collection not super Real....

but of course its possible its an 81 transition model...the truss rod cover suggests 1981, the tenon suggests 91, as do the PU, ....

thats what i love about greco's...

my point about the logo was that I have yet to see a Les Paul, without a logo, between 1982 and 1990 with the closed O...I have seen other logo'ed models like the rock spirit with the closed O in that period...
..but not a mint collection no logo...

 

[fiftywatt]

What do you make of this 70's Greco with no serial and no logo.

http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e65348680

Greco have had the GT series for a while which is the closest thing to a LP.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Greco-GT930S-QT-Mat-Dark-Brown_W0QQitemZ330055010301QQcategoryZ2384QQcmdZViewItem.

GT series is Korean made as far as I know. Late 90's and beyond perhaps. The 70s's Greco with no serial and no logo has a clear headstock break on the back. Strongly suspect its been refinished, not by a pro from the look of the photos.

 

[fiftywatt]

http://www.cosmikdebris.co.uk/grecopics.htm#logo.

Regarding the above URL and pics.
This is a 1990's model not 1980's

Same idea here, 1990 serial number, NOT 1980.

 

[japanstrat]

The Rock Spirits are part of the EG series with open book headstocks.
They have EG-XXX model numbers.
Take my Rock Spirits serials
5 1747 = 1985, 1 2061 = 1981

and MIJvintage's serial number 5 ****

and this one 10529 from http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/show/qanda?aID=u10889767
http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u10889767

The EG series finished with the mint collection in 1990.
So I can't see them being from 1991 and 1995 more like 1981 and 1985.

 

[villager]

or 1985 and 1991......

could be a transition model.....

heh..

if you think that the mint collection( which didn't officially start until 1982) could have a transition model in 1981, then surely its equally feasable that your open book rock spirits, is actually a very late series model from 1991, not 1981 ...would that not be possible?

the trouble is that the actual dates of beginning and end of a certain series are really speculative.....