Greco Les Paul Custom Super Power

outlawtorn88 · Jan 1, 2025

Hi

I'm new here and I have big question. Can you help me define what model is my Greco and what are pickups, please? It's from 1980. Serial number K804594. On pickups number is 200109. Tkanks in advance for any help.

Voidoid56 · Sunday at 5:24 AM

Hi and welcome!

It's an EG500CB, but there are some mixed messages here. The K80 serial says November 1980, but the pickups are dated January 9 1980, and you very seldom, if ever, see that big a difference between the serial and the dates on original pickups. They are from the correct manufacturer (Maxon), though, that date stamp style is unique to them. The visible pot date code looks like 06, which would be June 1980, which is less of a problem though, pot dates can be a few months off sometimes.

The thing with Nov-Dec guitars is that they normally have the following years catalog specs, or sometimes a mix of the two year's features, which seems to be the case here. It has the 1980 Gibson-correct headstock diamond, not the revised style that came into use in 1981. Also, the tuners are according to the '81, catalog, the 1980 edition shows the EG500C with Grover-style bean grip tuners.

Exactly what type the pickups are, I can't say, I haven't studied Greco humbuckers that much. Specs in both catalogs say UDs, but they could be some other model as well, I suppose. Also, it looks like it doesn't have fret edge binding? It should have, but it could of course have been refretted.

AlbertaLoveRock · Sunday at 10:47 AM

I just got this one a few weeks ago and the serial number is very close to the OP's. If its built as well as the one I have you are going to enjoy it immensely. Mine is 8.5 pounds, has been refretted but there are residual fret nibs as you can see. Someone replaced the neck pickup with a 1978 PU-0 and I'm pretty sure the stock UD still resides at the neck position. This guitar has quickly gone on the "never sell" list for me, and a big part of that is the "balance" of the guitar. It feels lighter than 8.5 pounds because the weight seems to be distributed perfectly - a joy to have in your hands. Sounds great too....

Voidoid56 · Monday at 3:50 AM

That's an October date on the bridge pickups, right? 8010 something? That's much more what you'd expect in a November guitar. Looks like June'80 pot codes in this one as well (06)?

There is some debate as to at which point in the production process the pickups date codes were actually applied. They're often really, really close to the serial date. Strats have no markings on the pickups themselves, instead, they have identical date stamps on the backl of the pickguard, between the bridge and middle pickup openings. If the dates were applied by Maxon in another plant you'd expect there to be some delivery time, but I've had a March 1980-serial 1980 SE500T with the pickguard stamped March 29. Also, I've yet to see a factory-installed pair of humbuckers with anything else but the exact same date on both. To me, that suggests that the stamps could actually have been applied during the guitar assembly stage, not by the pickup supplier. Probably unknowable at this stage, though. And yeah, it makes no practical difference whatsoever,

I've never had a EG500C, but a couple of 1980 EG500 LP Standard copies have passed through here, and they were amazing guitars, In fact, to my mind it's hard to imagine how the higher models could offer that much more as players? You get more bling, bragging rights and better pickups (though the U-1000s are certainly excellent in their own right), but beyond that..? The same holds true for SE low-enders from the same time, 1980 SE500s are among my favourite Strats of any kind, tbh, partly because of the pickups. The first generation of PU-S5s were overwound to about 7,5k and strikes a perfect balance between P90 power and Strat tone. Superb guitars.

AlbertaLoveRock · Monday at 11:47 AM

Agree with everything you mentioned Voidoid56 - pity you're on the other side of the world as you would be welcome to come and take a look at the 65 plus MIJ guitars I have ( no Gibsons anymore and only 1 American Fender plus a Duesenberg ). Regarding all those MIJ guitars, some follow convention and some do not ( all part of the fun ). At some point my wife and I will be downsizing so I will have to sell at least half of them but which to sell is going to be less than painless. Every time I decide I could sell one in particular I play it and then think " how could possibly sell this one ? " I did manage to sell one to a young guy the other day I thought was a keeper - 1992 LS???F lemon drop flame with veneer - and he's rather happy. But I took solace in that this is a young guy who loves heavy blues rock ( Zeppelin etc ) so that made it easier. Sold a Kasuga made early 80's Burny RLG50 with one of those birdseye tops to a local blues player and he loves it - again it was easier because he was a local player. Also have had a few flippers that came through and claimed they loved the guitars I sold them and then saw the guitars on Facebook Marketplace the next day for double what they paid me - didn't like that too much.

outlawtorn88 · 2025-01-08T03:30:27-0600

Voidoid56 said:
Hi and welcome!

It's an EG500CB, but there are some mixed messages here. The K80 serial says November 1980, but the pickups are dated January 9 1980, and you very seldom, if ever, see that big a difference between the serial and the dates on original pickups. They are from the correct manufacturer (Maxon), though, that date stamp style is unique to them. The visible pot date code looks like 06, which would be June 1980, which is less of a problem though, pot dates can be a few months off sometimes.

The thing with Nov-Dec guitars is that they normally have the following years catalog specs, or sometimes a mix of the two year's features, which seems to be the case here. It has the 1980 Gibson-correct headstock diamond, not the revised style that came into use in 1981. Also, the tuners are according to the '81, catalog, the 1980 edition shows the EG500C with Grover-style bean grip tuners.

Exactly what type the pickups are, I can't say, I haven't studied Greco humbuckers that much. Specs in both catalogs say UDs, but they could be some other model as well, I suppose. Also, it looks like it doesn't have fret edge binding? It should have, but it could of course have been refretted.

Thank you so much Voidoid56 for priceless info. I love this guitar. It looks and sounds amazing.