1973 Fujigen Greco EG420

A fine example of a very rare1973 Greco EG-420 is now available at Matsumoku. The 420 retains the dimensions and playing character of the 360, but these 420 models have the benefit of the involvement of Narumo san, who knew a thing or two about the real things. The Maxon pick-ups are controlled through the original pots (250!) and have none of the scratchiness of many 50 year old examples. Have a listen to them on the video with Vox AC30 and Lazy J amps, and then a bit of GT-100 effects to see how they perform. These 420s were produced in the Fujigen factory and there are plenty of folk who have the opinion that the quality control operatives overseeing these guitars were more diligent than those working at Gibson at the time.

These are not pure faithful Les Paul copies - those didn't appear until 1975, but these earlier ones are still lovely to play and have character of their own. E to E on the saddles is 50mm, the nut is 41mm instead of the 43mm you may expect. The 12" radius will seem familiar, the bolt on neck may not.

The original saddles and tail piece have succumbed to the effects of time, and are no longer shiny and new. We can replace these with equivalent Gotoh units if this is an issue. Just contact us via the website to discuss any modifications you might like. The original tuners function very well and the guitar generally has that run-in vintage feel, but other than the bridge finish, no significant signs of being 50 years old. I bet a ECL/CMI '72 out of Kalamazoo would be well over 3k now.

We have given it a thorough service, careful nut and bolt rebuild, and a fresh set of strings and now it's ready for anther 50 years. The neck pick-up is now the original 'GNECO' stamped unit which we were repairing the lead connections at the time of the first set of photographs. While we were there, we converted the unit to a 4 conductor state and replaced the neck volume potentiometer with a big body Alpha push pull which when pulled up provides this neck humbucker in parallel mode. Push it back down for the full fat series humbucker tone. It is very useful for cleaner tones. It has has a new set of pick-up surround screws - the original ones weren't quite gripping enough.

It has has a new set of pick-up surround screws - the original ones weren't quite gripping enough.

You don't have one of these instead of a Gibson, you have one on the way up to one, or next to one in the rack.