1977 Greco SE-600

By 1977, Grecos were being produced at Fujigen and by this time Fender had made up their minds not to beat them, but join them. Norikatsu Harayama had spent a few years at Fujigen developing their craftsmen to produce guitars to standards that would impress the Americans sufficiently to allow them to cater for the very hungry local market without the crippling import duties at the time. Early and mid-70s Greco Strats have their own individual character - by the late 1970s they were proper rivals for the USA products - a few years later these guitars had the famous decal on the headstock.

This guitar was produced in the days when Japanese culture and discipline ruled the production lines - no interference or input from USA at all. This is why they are still so playable, and so capable of being excellent instruments for another 45 years.

SE-600s changed in style from year to year - this one is a true 1970's character. Big headstock, pretty heavy, and very faithful sounds from the PU-100 pick-ups, and rosewood being a costly option over the standard maple. This is a nice thick slab too.

The 600 had a 3-way switch (nice DM30 units - will last forever) and the parallel positions can be found with a bit of practice. The MH-80 tuners are great quality and continue to provide excellent service, as does the vintage style tremolo; which comes with its original arm.

The white finish has faded gracefully to a creamy shade, and there are a few marks that remind you it is 47 years old.

A no-nonsense vintage guitar that is easily as good to play as it looks. When an equivalent Fender is reaching £5,000, this makes a great deal of sense. Whilst obviously a very subjective matter, there are plenty of folk out there who would say there is every chance that a 1977 Fujigen product would be a superior instrument to the real thing. Controversial, but the late 70s saw the very best of the Japanese production quality, we can't say the same for USA.