Greco Sg

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aroomstudios

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I have a bunch of old Tokai's new FGN's and Burny's. I just got a mid 80's or early 90 Burny SG. It has a poly finish and has 2 piece body. I re-did all the electronics and put new PAF style boutique PUs in it. It is an amazing guitar. I paid $200 for the SG when I got is a few months ago. I would say this guitar is better than my Gibson USA standard SG I had in the late 90's that was a late 90 (99 or so) guitar. I want to get another SG and put p90's in it. Soapbar ones would be cool but I am okay with humbucker sized p90's also, Question is I see so many Greco SG for cheep. How that they compare to the Burny's? I am more of a Les Paul, Tele guy so I do not want to spend a fortune on a guitar that will not get used much. Like a old Tokai or similar priced guitar.

The thing I see about Grecos is all the SGs from them look the same. No SN or really anyways for me to tell if it is good or bad.
 
I have a greco SG. It has a serial number. The late 70's ones, super real series and most of the mint collection series would have all had serial numbers on them. I'm not sure if Tokai did any SG's for them in the late eighties when the mint collection was winding down or if they all were Cort made in Korea models. They both have no serials. There are several ways to tell them apart but often the pictures in the ads leave lots to the imagination.
 
Yeah they do have SNs on them. I do not know why I wrote they do not. I think I was thinking about Burny's or something which a lot do not have SN and wrote that by mistake. I also think the SG I was looking at online then did not have a pic of the back of the headstock. How do your tell the Greco's apart from each other? Like if it is a cheep or high end model. Or a mint collection, I know the super reals (Les Pauls do) say Super Real on the head stock.

Now here is a Super Real SG

http://www.everythingsg.com/threads/ngd-1980-greco-super-real-sg.28958/

Besides the tail piece it looks the same as the other Greco SG's I see around. What are good signs to know you are looking at a good one? Most of this stuff I buy is from YJ and people there generally do not have a lot of pics. A lot of the ones on there are not high quality pics so it is hard to tell what you are actually getting. You can get a really good deal there. The burny SG I got was labeled as junk because the bridge vol did not work. I put all new electronics in anyways so this made no difference to me.

Are the Grecos comparable to the quality of the Burnys?
 
Well I guess you look for the features, what pickups does it have usually is a good sign, catalogs sometimes help, I found out after i got my Greco SG that it was a signature model for a Japanese girl band guitarist hahaha i thought it was just a sg studio.

Sorry i can't give you a comparison because i've never had a Burny in my hands.
 
Thanks for the info. i see a lot of their catalogs and I am finding the model numbers that way for most of the ones I am looking at. Question though. I have been told be a few different collectors. That Japan started making really good copys of American guitars (Gibson, Fender etc) from 77 on. I know the Japan 60's guitars are well, just junk like the Russian guitars. Maybe cool to look at but not cool to play. All of my Tokai's are 1980+ (I have a bunch of 1980 and a bunch of 1981). So, I have never actually had a MIJ guitar before a 77 (or even before a 80 for that matter). I see Greco started making the copies in 70 or so. Do you know if the 70-76 or so models are of less quality than the 77+ models? Or do people just say 77+ are the good ones because Tokai started making the copies in 77.
 
I Have a '78 Greco strat and an 81 Greco strat. They are different animals as they are copying different era's of what they were cloning. You'll find that a lot of the 70's Greco LP's mimic the Gibson's of the period where there was pancake bodies, and maple necks and those details. Then in the late 70's they shifted into basically making their versions of Reissues and trying to be more precise in their offerings. I also think that the factories had some profit by the later 70's to invest in themselves more and with learning from their mistakes and sometimes arguably improving on designs they were able to step up and make some incredible instruments. Most would say there is a golden age of Japanese guitar makings depending on the factory its '78-'84 give or take a year +/- . To say exactly why it all came together around those years would be something for people with far more knowledge than I.
 
Thanks for the info. I narrowed it foes to a 79 and a 76. The 79 is actually cheaper than the 76. The look to be the same models just different years. If I wind up getting that one for under $200 I will just go with that one. If not I will just wait for another one to pop up. Thanks again for the info. Found a good catalog source for Grecos:

http://brochures.yokochou.com/en_index.html#GRECO

If am sure most of you guys already know of that place. But if you are reading this and new to Greco's that might be helpful.
 
I'm betting the '79 SG would be Fujigen and the '76 to be Mats made. I'd go Fujigen any day and Mats make fine guitars.
 
Funny you say Fujigen. I own several newer FGN Les Pauls from Fujigen. They are some of the best guitars I own. I was looking around on Buyee the other day and ran across History guitars. I have heard of them before but knew nothing about them. Since I have the FGN I noticed the CFS stamp on the back of the History headstock and though this must be made by Fujigen. Looked it up and sure enough they are made by Fujigen. From what I read online they are almost identical to FGN guitars but have different models and colors available from FGN. The History line uses reclaimed wood from some lake in Japan that is 70-250 years old from what I have read. I have heard the high end FGN guitars use this also. Not sure which ones though. I have a few high end Les Pauls from them not really sure if these use regular wood or reclaimed. Either way they are great guitars. The FGN's I have all have long tenons real mother of pearl inlays cts pots braided wire from the 3 way switch switchcraft jacks. Everything is just top quality.

Anyways, I got the History SG (2013) yesterday for not much more than the 79 Greco. Comes with a really nice History OHSC also. Here is a link to History and FGN guitars:

https://www.shimamura.co.jp/originalbrand/history/electric/products/index.html

http://mi.fujigen.co.jp/#

This seems to be what happens every time I look into getting a Greco. I think oh this is a pretty good deal then stumble on another company and get that instead.
 
Probably the best deal i've ever gotten on a guitar was on my History HJS-98. It's an oldie when they just screwed a metal place into the headstock that said History. Full Jazzbox. Such a good guitar.
 

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