What model is this GRECO SE? Please Help

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vgalo7

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Hi,

A couple of weeks ago I bought this guitar that was advertised as a Greco SE600 from 1980.

Well, the neck plate in fact has the serial A80XXXX, the headstock had the SUPER SOUND logo that I knew was for at least a SE600 depending of the year and for $500 It was a good price I thought.

So today I had the time to examine the guitar. It played well and sounded really good, not as good as my Fender AVRI but good. After that I started to look in deep and this is what I found:

- The tuners are 6 sided type. Those are not the ones of a SE600.
- Then opened the pickguard and found It is not shielded
- The pickups are S3. SE600 should have S8
- The route in the body is one side wire instead center wire
- No stamp on the neck pocket. But the neck heel has a pink/red 6.
- Tested the finish in both body and neck with acetone and no reaction so I asume its poly instead of nitro as should be for a ?80s SE600, but I don?t know if japan nitro formula reacts to acetone as Fenders.
- Looking at the headstock It has the "Hand Crafted" logo instead of the "Custom Body finish" that should be... again for a ?80 SE600

What the hell is it?
Looks more like a SE380 with Super Sound logo.

Here are the pictures:










Any help would be appreciated.
 
I Have a '78 SE 500 and a '81 SE 600 but i'm afraid i'm not enough of an expert to tell you exactly what you have. The routing is more similar to my SE 500 but not identical. Your pups don't look like the excels usually used in greco's either. I don't think those tuners (if they are the originals) were used on anything but lower models. Is it a 3 bolt or a 4 bolt neck plate ?

Again i'm no expert, sorry. Hope this helps.

Here's my "81 for comparison

rrv1nk.jpg

imm51x.jpg


And my '78

207tamg.jpg

2cerbrb.jpg
 
Probably an early 1980's lower end model that was before the Super Real specs. Too bad to get it advertised as an SE-600.
 
Very interesting guitar.
That?s SE-380 specs all the way.

If you look at a few 380s from 1980-1982 they all have that routing (because of the S3 pickup cables which attach to the side of the bobbins and not to the middle) as well as those pickups, tuners and unstamped saddles.
(1980-82 SE-500 and up had Greco Guitar stamped on the saddles).

Serial number & date code on the pickguard fit together. I think it?s original like that.
Those tuners were only used on SE-380s afaik and fit together with the electronics and unstamped tremolo saddles used. I don?t think it?s a parts guitar.

Looks like you have one of the last ones that used the "Handcrafted" logo but used specs of the new Super Real era strat line-up already.

I have seen two of these so far, one of them being sold on ebay two years ago with SE-380 sticker still in place & handcrafted logo and A80 serial, pretty similar to yours. Have logged some pics from that auction. Pm me if you need to see them.
 
Thanks for your replies guys.

What is really blowing my head is that "SUPER SOUND" logo in the headstock.

It was supposed that for pre Super Real era strats that "SUPER SOUND" was used for SE600 to SE800, and in the catalog for 1980, the only guitar with that logo is the SE600. So I was misguided here.

I am opening a case in eBay to return the guitar because the seller doesn?t answer my emails.

You know the guitar sounds and feel really good. I have a Fender American Standard with CS69 pickups and I prefer the sound and feel of this Greco and Its almost as good as my Fender AVRI that is my number one and favorite guitar.

But is this bad feeling that makes me want to return the guitar. If this Greco is the lowest model I just can?t imagine how good is the real SE600 or even a SUPER REAL SE1200. Right now I feel robbed.
 
It was supposed that for pre Super Real era strats that "SUPER SOUND" was used for SE600 to SE800, and in the catalog for 1980, the only guitar with that logo is the SE600. So I was misguided here.
The small headstock strats for the pre Super Real era all have the Super Sound / handcrafted logo. It looks like Greco kept the headstock the same when they built the first batch of small-headstock SE-380s in late 1979 or early 1980. I have also logged a stickered SE-500 with H79 serial and Super Sound/handcrafted logo. So for me it looks like they just kept using that logo for all guitars of the new linup for a while before putting different logos on SE-380/ SE-500 / SE-600 / SE-800.

The 1980 catalog was probably published after your strat was built.
There are other Greco guitars that are not in the catalogs. Your strat is not the oddest one around.

I found the ebay auction for your guitar. It is advertised as a SE-600 indeed. But in the description the seller does not refer to any catalog or specs like nitro at all and the pictures showed the tuners, handcrafted logo and flat-pole pickups clearly. However as it says SE-600 you may be able to return it.

But is this bad feeling that makes me want to return the guitar. If this Greco is the lowest model I just can?t imagine how good is the real SE600 or even a SUPER REAL SE1200. Right now I feel robbed.
Higher model number doesn?t mean it will necessarily sound better. SE-380s can have great acoustic tone and be better sounding than higher spec guitars. However the pickups are not top-notch and are a bit more difficult to change than on other guitars because of the routing.
If you like the sound and feel and play it everyday, why not keep it? But if you feel bad about the purchase try to return it. Good luck!
 
The small headstock strats for the pre Super Real era all have the Super Sound / handcrafted logo. It looks like Greco kept the headstock the same when they built the first batch of small-headstock SE-380s in late 1979 or early 1980. I have also logged a stickered SE-500 with H79 serial and Super Sound/handcrafted logo. So for me it looks like they just kept using that logo for all guitars of the new linup for a while before putting different logos on SE-380/ SE-500 / SE-600 / SE-800.

Len, I guess you are right. I am new at Greco Strats. I have a nice Red Special copy but that?s all.

For this buy I made some research in the web looking for real pictures of guitars and the Greco catalog from ?79 and ?80.

Looking in the catalog from ?79 there are not "small headstock strats SE380-450" with the same Super Sound logo. The only one with that Super Sound logo is SE600. For the ?80 catalog although there are SE380 small headstock the only guitar with Super Sound logo is the SE600. So when I bought the guitar just supposed that a previous owner changed the tuners. About the finish I read somewhere that the nitro used by Greco is hard and doesn?t age same as oldest American Guitars and lots of people made acetone or blacklight test to find what finish It is so again I supposed It was nitro... Ahh and never minded about the "hand crafted logo", I just learned It by old post from you about it.

Maybe its just as you said, some transitional model.
 
you know which japanese strats also have smaller than normal headstocks? the first year strats fujigen built for fender in 1982. I'm thinking those strats were just greco's that they put the fender logo on.
 
You are responding to a thread from 2015.

vgalo7 has not been on this forum since 2016.

Just giving you a heads up in case you are expecting a reply.
 
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