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welcome to you. It is our pleasure to share these information. However,
because there are no official history on these companies, they are
written to the best of our knowledge and experience. We too are learning
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Background
of Greco
Greco is one of the pioneers of these lawsuit guitar makers. They have
been making guitars since the early 1960's at the Fiji-genGakki plant.
However, note that some Fender copies were made in the Matsumoku plant
prior to 1967.
During this period, Greco made their own series of guitars, but in the
early 1970's, they got into making replicas of original Fenders and
Gibsons. In the beginning, their work on these replicas were mediocre
due to lack of proper knowledge and materials. But by 1974 or so, their
standard of making these copies escalated as they acquired correctly
styled hardware. To top that, their craftsmanship were excellent.
In no time, Greco made more clone models of original Fender, Gibson,
Rickenbacker, Gretsch, Zemaiti, lbanez, (and other brands) than all
other Japanese company combined. In terms of quality, skill and
knowledge, they beat Tokai to the lawsuit race by at least 5 years.
The birth of Fender Japan
Eventually, as the company found that the demand for their popular
replicas grew and that the size of the production was getting too large,
they relinquished their Stratocaster division to Fender Japan in late
1981. By 1982, Greco Stratocasters became Fender JV Stratocasters, then
later MIJ and CIJ Stratocasters. These guitars were made by the same
guys who made the Greco "Sparkle Sound," "Spacey
Sound," "Sparkle Sound," and "Super Real"
Stratocasters from 1977-1981.
The death of Greco's copy
Greco still retained the business of selling great Gibson clones and
other brand knockoffs of extraordinary high quality up until 1989. After
that, the pressure to “cease and desist” production of
copyright-infringing designs took its toll on Greco and they decided to
change their headstocks and logos to avoid a confrontation with the
American manufacturers. No longer will “lawsuit” models of exact
Gibson and Fender clones be made by Greco.
The different series of Greco
Greco copies are becoming extremely rare and demand gets higher as time
passes for these vintage collectibles. The best series of Greco by far
are the “Super Real” (made in 1980 only) and “Mint Collection”
(made from 1981-1990) models, which were made to amazing likeness to
original Fenders and Gibson’s. Greco’s 1977-1979 clones are very
nice, too, but many have hardware and specs that don’t match up with
the Gibson and Fender classic designs.
Serialization
Greco guitars are fairly easy to date. The letter that (may) begin the
serial number corresponds with the month of production, and the next 2
digits tell the year. For example: E804235 would be a May, 1980 “Super
Real” model, production number 4,235. Sometimes, Greco didn’t use
letters and only numbers, and even separated the first digit from the
rest on occasion. When the first digit is separated, it is likely a
1980’s model; the separated digit corresponding to the year of the
1980’s in which it was made.
If there is no serial number stamped into the wood (not on a sticker),
then it was made in Korea.
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