Greco TE-600 1974

Our love for Matsumoku built TE-280s and 350s is well known - we rave about them all the time, and for good reason. Fujigen were quite keen to get in on the act too, and from the mid-70s onwards, produced some incredibly good quality Teles and Strats, culminating in a partnership with the big boys themselves to form Fender Japan. Matsumoku were always keen to impart their own personality onto Fender ideas - it is what makes them so special, and relevant alongside the attempted facsimiles, that are now often and genuinely considered to be as good, or better than USA made originals from these years. That's controversial, obviously.

This particular guitar is a Greco TE-600 model - the top of the range Tele from Kanda Shokai's range. The idea here was to make an absolute identical copy of a Fender - this is an early 74 build and came with the familiar Maxon tele pick-ups of the time. In the past, a previous owner has replaced the neck unit with a 2-conductor Seymour Duncan Vintage Rails - a very nice low output unit that retains the single coil sound with a little more clarity. The bridge unit puts a smile on your face with its snarly aggressiveness - back the volume down to smooth it out a little.

The woods (ironically sourced from the Matsumoku conditioning plant) are top drawer - you can see the gorgeous grain under the blonde finish. The top-drawer star-tuners remain, and are a reminder that this was the top of the range model.

A previous owner had grand plans for this Tele - behind that little white string retainer plate on the reverse, are a few further modifications that were either given up on, or mind was changed half way through. Just a few holes drilled for a reason we can't fathom. You can't see it, feel it, hear it - it is simply a bit of the guitar's history - we can forgive it, hope you can to.