Greco SE-600SB Order Made

1974 saw a run of SE-600s from a particularly dense batch of sen ash – we have had a few of them through here and if you can cope with the 1970s heft, the reward is it will outlast you and several generations beyond. This one is extra special as it has come through the Order Made system and features a rather delicious rosewood fretboard with a much more substantial fret – this option would have added nearly a quarter to the original price. Luxury indeed. An identical looking guitar featured in the 1974/5 Kanda catalogue with the price tag of ¥78,000 – this pre-dated the SE-800 by a few months, so this must have been the most expensive Greco Strat at the time.

The pick-ups are PU-100 units, so another optional upgrade in 1974 as these only became generally available in the SE-800 in 1976. Behind these geeky details is a guitar purchased by a discerning customer with a substantial budget, and as this guitar came to us via the family of the original and only former owner, the condition is ideal: a few parking knocks and cable dings to prove it has been used, but always cleaned afterwards, always serviced properly, always reliable.

Maxon pick-ups are always characterful - the really early ones impeccably misbehave in front of high gain amps, the later ones give the same wildness but in a more controllable fashion, and then the PU-100 and 119 came along to embarrass Fender with their clarity and chime. The PU-100 units feature here, and are very good tributes to the 1950s tones, and beg for a warm valve amp to really give their all. This one has had the really useful conversion to alter the function of the lower tone control to a mid-blend which forgoes the middle pick-up on its own and gives you the neck and bridge in the middle position, and the lower tone knob dials in the middle pick-up into all 3 positions. All the Knopfler and Hendrix possibilities, and a visually unchanged guitar. As with many of these old conversions, the original components and wires are used - just reconfigured. 

Big headstock, rosewood neck, 70s heft, genuinely old 3-colour sunburst Strat, a huge tone palette - this should tick some boxes. This or a new Player II? Well, they were built to much higher standards in Japan, and from that era when building guitars was about the guitars, the halcyon days of when the accountants just counted money and didn’t get involved in lowering costs.