Greco no serials

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Hmmm, this one is very interesting, it has had fret binding but been refretted, you can still see whats left of the fret ends.{binding} and it doesn't have the Tokai route it is a square route like the fujigen route but.....it has unshielded wiring and black shielding paint...Any ideas???
i'll post pics later

Mick
 
can anybody help with this greco, please ??

http://slil.ru/25786064
http://slil.ru/25786070
http://slil.ru/25786075
http://slil.ru/25786086
 
ok, then how it explains this:
no Cort-Tek pots, no shielding paint in pickup and control cavities, different neck, head and logo

here 3 guitars on photos, first two are 100% korean, and third - the one i asked about

http://slil.ru/25791236 - heads
http://slil.ru/25791243 - logos, pu and control

necks:
http://slil.ru/25791247 - first one 100% korean
http://slil.ru/25791255
http://slil.ru/25791258

first two are the same in everything, and the third is different
why, if they all korean ??
 
I know what you mean. I've seen 3 different types of no serial Grecos. There are the Tokai ones that are easy to ID and then there are the Cort ones that are easy to ID with Cor-Tek pots and usually have shielding paint and then there is another type that has things in common with the Cort Grecos like the rectangular long tenon and the brick nut but also has some differences. I think that these are made by Cort but I'm not 100% certain. They do have the rectangular long tenon and same sort of control routing as the Cort Grecos. I think Cort changed the way they made some Grecos and did not stick to making them one way. All of the no serial Grecos are very different to the stamped Fujigen made Grecos. There are still a lot of things about the Grecos that's not understood properly. Grecos went through a lot of changes over the years. Kanda Shokai who own the Greco name are the distributors for Cort in Japan.
 
Hi Japanstrat, So what do you think of this one..??
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300213375554&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:AU:1123
sorry about the huge link.

Here is a shot of the tenon
IMG_8546.jpg



Mick
 
That one is very similar to guitar.sib's one above. Rectangular tenon like the Cort Grecos but the pickup routing is a bit different, I'll guess Cort.
 
It's a bit confusing but the Tokai no serial Grecos have the exact routing and tenon features of 80s Tokai's. Also the no serial Tokai Grecos are higher priced Greco models and the Cort Grecos are lower priced models (which is why they were made by Cort). I have never seen a Tokai with that rectangular tenon but I have seen Cort Grecos with that type of tenon. The brick nut's were used by Korean factories in the 80s. The first thing I would do if I bought a Cort Greco would be to replace the brick nut with a sloper. Those brick nuts don't look too good IMO.
The no serial Grecos that have some Cort Greco (the ones with Cor-Tek pots) features but have some different features could be because the Cort factory got new cnc routers or whatever. I think Cort were expanding pretty fast in the 80s. The Cort Grecos are pretty well made and have Volutes and a lot have shielding paint, it seems that maybe Cort were trying to impress Kanda Shokai, maybe trying to keep the contract. Cort didn't really need to put shielding paint on the Grecos IMO. Kanda Shokai and Cort still work together with Kanda Shokai distributing Cort in Japan.

The Greco above has different shaped pickup cavity routing to what FujiGen and Tokai made guitars have and I have seen that pickup cavity shape above on Cort made Grecos (the ones with Cor-Tek pots).

http://forum.japanaxe.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=825

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4993&start=225

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4993&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=210
 
ok, so is there any chances that Cort made heads and logo script similar to Japan Mint Collection ??
because the top of the head and logo script on the third guitar looks really the same with Japan Mint Collection from, let's say, 84 - 89 (in particular letters G,r,e), witch differs alot from well known korean guitars(like the first two)
 
The headstocks vary. At http://www.cosmikdebris.co.uk/grecopics.htm#logo the guitar on the right is not a FujiGen or a Tokai and it has different features to all the Japanese guitars so I would say it's a Cort Greco even if the headstocks don't exactly match some other Cort Grecos. Depends on where Cort were getting the logos from and Corts cnc machines and how the cnc machines were programmed.
 
At http://www.cosmikdebris.co.uk/grecopics.htm#logo the guitar on the right has exactly the same script as any other Cort Greco that i has met personally or on the net, but that third guitar on my photos has totally different script

that's confusing, and what confusing more, that i personally see couple FujiGen Grecos(not Tokai, and not Cort) with no serial(for the truth they were with chambered body, but still)

you see, whole picture for me looks like this: there is a bunch of a Cort Grecos, they all the same(head, neck, script, cavities, neck tennon, wiring), and this the only one(that i saw) that differs in all this specs, and in some(for example neck, logo, script) similar to japanise, but still has plastic wires and no serial. so it's totaly unclear, what the hell is that
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290203616377&indexURL=8#ebayphotohosting
this guitar is similar in some ways (but has a serial)
 
The differences I see between the 1988 Fujigen Greco above and the no serial Greco your talking about are, the Fujigen pickup routing has curves and your Greco is straight-ish, the Fujigen Greco has a rounded tenon end and your Greco has a squarish end, the Fujigen Greco has a sloped nut and your Greco has a brick nut, the Fujigen Greco has large pots and your Greco has small pots, the headstock shape is similar but doesn't match, the Greco Mint Collection logos match, the Fujigen control cavity wiring hole is in a different position to your Greco.
 
this is just an example, i didn't said that they match exactly, but also have some common features
 
Thanks again for your tuition japstrat,it?s a joy reading your posts.
 
Hi... To be honest it is news to me that Tokai made guitars for Greco. Though I'm not surprised. The whole Greco history thing is VERY confusing to say the least.

Anyway, my query is... Do ALL/ANY Tokai manufactured Greco guitars have full sized 24mm pots? Also what sort of shielded cable do they use?

I've always assumed Korean Greco had "skinny" plastic coated wiring and 16mm pots.

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

As an aside.... The Greco on my web site... (Yes that's me)... that I've listed as Korean is made (probably) of Basswood ( I stripped the finish). It's certainly not mahogany and neither does it have a maple cap, or any kind of cap for that matter.
 
From the Tokai made Grecos I've seen, they have large 24mm pots.
From the Cor-Tek Cort Korean made Grecos I've seen, they have both large 24mm and small 16mm pots and some pots are stamped "COR-TEK".

There are other things that can be used for a Tokai made Greco ID. The Tokais have 2 square shaped holes at the bottom of the pickup cavity and most/all other factories have 2 rectangular shaped holes at the bottom of the pickup cavity. So if it's a no serial Greco and it doesn't have the 2 square shaped holes at the bottom of the pickup cavity then it's a Cor-Tek Cort made no serial Greco. If it's a no serial Greco and it does have the 2 square shaped holes at the bottom of the pickup cavity then it's a Tokai made no serial Greco.

And there are still more things that can be used to ID the no serial Tokai made Grecos from the no serial Cor-Tek Cort made Grecos.

Basically, Kanda Shokai hired other guitar factories to produce Grecos in the late 80s because Fujigen was too busy with Fender Japan and Ibanez etc to make all of the Grecos in the late 80s.
 
One of the most acurate way to tell if a Greco is Korean or Japanese is the finish: urethane= japanese, polyester= Korean. Unfortunately I don't know any accurate test to make the difference. Except the feeling of it. :lol:

After 93, most Les Paul models seems Korean, Only some SG, flying V and Firebird are japanese. Rick copies are still japanese.
 

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