Matsumoku DB-DG

Price

£1,695

A lovely 1974 Greco SE-550 arrived at our studio from Japan earlier this year and like most of the guitars from this era, it felt perfect. The SE-550 was a short-lived model for the period where the 600 and 800 were being finalized. Like the other 550 models we have had, this had the full C neck - an engineered construction so assured to outlast us all. It is not a baseball bat by any means, but has the 1970s heft and shoulder. A set of Jescar 55090 was applied and now it is fast, slick, comfortable and supremely premium. The early iterations of PU-100 pick-up are sweet and soulful, but this guitar needs to keep up with modern traffic so Tony has wound another set of Gilmour spec single coils, and provided a tap on the bridge unit so the S-1 toggles between vintage tones and Comfortbly Numb output. The lower tone control governs the presence of the neck pick-up when the bridge unit is in the circuit, and the bridge pick-up when the neck unit is in the circuit. This enables a huge variety of in-between tones to ctaer for every occasion, and offers the neck and bridge tones to get through a Pink Floyd set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN4dRWTYp_s

As well as electrics upgrades, this guitar also features a brand new Gotoh NS510-TS tremolo at one end and SDS-510 tuners at the other. The stainless block gives this guitar a ringing sustain missing from any Fender equivalent. The guitar body has pletny of signs of life from its 52 years, but limited to scratches and little dings down to the timber on the lower edge - it all adds to the character of this guitar. This is the 1970s so it tips the scales at 4kg (8lbs 15oz) - not the heaviest Greco from 1974 by any means, but no featherweight. So, a versatile, powerful Gilmour tribute model at a fraction of the price of a Fender Custom Shop, and we would argue a much better spec. If performance matters more than the branding, this guitar is ideal and you haven't paid a load of money for someone to make a new guitar look old - this has done that all by itself.

Details

The Look

Roadworn but scrubs up well - the top end hardware is all new and shiny. Old and new where it matters most.

Headstock

Big headstock style retaining its original Gneco decal perfectly presented with new Gotoh trees and SDS510 tuners.

Neck

Big C 5-piece maple neck and board with new 43mm nut - more Harayama magic. Deluxe Closet Classic grade with new Jescar 55090 frets for the 'new guitar feel'

Pick-ups

3 x in-house A5 custom wound for us, and based on the Gilmour output, and a tapped bridge coil for 2 distinct tones

Bridge

Luxurious quality and totally appropriate for these guitars - the Gotoh NS510TS with a Stainless block. You'll enjoy playing this acoustically as much as plugged in.

Controls

CRL 5-way selector and 2 x CTS 250k pots plus S-1 Master Volume. Master Tone with neck/bridge blender on the lower tone knob. Sozo PIO capacitor for smooth taming.