Greco's Cream of Japan Replica's

[lp59aholicDon]

From all the Japan Replica's I have played, tried , owned For me I think Greco got closest to original Gibson spec and has the best over all vintage vibe. after all they were the hardest hit ( Fuji Gen Gekko) in the 70s suit, and who made Orvilles later I wish I still had this one

http://www.mylespaul.com/gallery/sho...t&limit=recent

[tonepot]

yep ... i think greco did it with EGF1200 models (1980-1981) dressed with 2x Dry Z pickups ...

though tokai reborns LS80, LS120 and upwards were/are very good replicas too (from the same factory - Fuji-Gen Gakki)

EGF1200 is one of the closest things of real 59er what comes to the sound ... fat necks ... and 100% pure nitro finish ...

1981 ...



and 1980 ...






'Z' stamp on pickups mean Dry Z ...

[lp59aholicDon]

Drop dead gorgeous axes man, I wasnt aware Fuji had made guitars for Tokai, learn somethin new all the time .
My Red one was an 85, I didnt look at the pickups under when I took em off I just wanted to check the long tenon neck to see how close it was to my Gibson Re issue . I changed the pickups in my one remaining Orville Les Paul, to a 57 Classic and Burstbucker 3, I like the tone even better now . the first Orville Les Paul I got from one of the Ebay Japanese dealers , was a limited run factory Page wiring with Seymour 59's and factory Gold Grovers ( all hardware was gold) it was a 96 , the seller i doubt was aware, I wasnt till I accidently had one of the tone pots pop up on me

Originally Posted by tonepot

yep ... i think greco did it with EGF1200 models (1980-1981) dressed with 2x Dry Z pickups ...

though tokai reborns LS80, LS120 and upwards were/are very good replicas too (from the same factory - Fuji-Gen Gakki)

EGF1200 is one of the closest things of real 59er what comes to the sound ... fat necks ... and 100% pure nitro finish ...

1981 ...



and 1980 ...






... Dry Z stamp on pickups

[tonepot]

Originally Posted by lp59aholicDon

Drop dead gorgeous axes man, I wasnt aware Fuji had made guitars for Tokai, learn somethin new all the time .
My Red one was an 85, I didnt look at the pickups under when I took em off I just wanted to check the long tenon neck to see how close it was to my Gibson Re issue . I changed the pickups in my one remaining Orville Les Paul, to a 57 Classic and Burstbucker 3, I like the tone even better now . the first Orville Les Paul I got from one of the Ebay Japanese dealers , was a limited run factory Page wiring with Seymour 59's and factory Gold Grovers ( all hardware was gold) it was a 96 , the seller i doubt was aware, I wasnt till I accidently had one of the tone pots pop up on me

thanks Don .. yes the good ol' fuji-gen was a hell of a geetar maker ... greco ... tokai ... fernandes/burny

sure you can always change stock pickups for better quality pickups or even boutique ones to improve your geetars sound that's what i do in most of the cases ...
my Orville by Gibson models have Gibson USA pickups as in stock ... classic57 and TM490 (USA)

did you mean that your JP orville has those push/pull potis and JP wirings too?
if it's not a mod made by previous owner then i say you got rare piece of orville there
it's possible that orville made those "JP" models in '96 ... i've seen one or two before/on the web ... some pics would be great ... thanks

[lp59aholicDon]

Originally Posted by tonepot

thanks Don .. yes the good ol' fuji-gen was a hell of a geetar maker ... greco ... tokai ... fernandes/burny


did you mean that your JP orville has those push/pull potis and JP wirings too?
if it's not a mod made by previous owner then i say you got rare piece of orville there
it's possible that orville made those "JP" models in '96 ... i've seen one or two before/on the web ... some pics would be great ... thanks

Yep It came stock like that, Hisashi sold me the guitar, I saw one other like it listed on Ebay after I found the wiring , It was indeed factory , I sold the axe and the guy who bought it pulled one of the Seymours for some freakin metal pickup that didnt have a coil split, basically he undid the factory wiring , only the front pickup is still split , Cant use the out of phase with the front pickup , caused a near total mute
Let me get the pic off Myspace to post, its still there

[lp59aholicDon]

Here it is, The top was photo flamed but with no middle seam totallly different top than you see on most Orvilles that had photoflame

[tonepot]

wow nice top ... that's exactly the same model/color ... definitely JP model ... and it's sold already ... dare i ask why?

edit; this was greco topic and all we talk about is orville ... hehe

[lp59aholicDon]

Originally Posted by tonepot

wow nice top ... that's exactly the same model/color ... definitely JP model ... and it's sold already ... dare i ask why?

edit; this was greco topic and all we talk about is orville ... hehe

Ah As to why, Budget constraint, LOL Greco, Orville, since they are both Fuji Gen Guitars not a WHOLE lotta difference, is there?? Kinda miss it, yes, but still love Miss Roses, My red Orville better

[MIDNIGHT]

Originally Posted by lp59aholicDon

Drop dead gorgeous axes man, I wasnt aware Fuji had made guitars for Tokai, learn somethin new all the time .
My Red one was an 85, I didnt look at the pickups under when I took em off I just wanted to check the long tenon neck to see how close it was to my Gibson Re issue . I changed the pickups in my one remaining Orville Les Paul, to a 57 Classic and Burstbucker 3, I like the tone even better now . the first Orville Les Paul I got from one of the Ebay Japanese dealers , was a limited run factory Page wiring with Seymour 59's and factory Gold Grovers ( all hardware was gold) it was a 96 , the seller i doubt was aware, I wasnt till I accidently had one of the tone pots pop up on me

now that's close! if i hadn't seen the headstock and you posted the pics of just the body in another thread, i probably wouldn't have been able to tell..

[BCRGreg]

The top carves are too rounded, and the Nashville is a giveaway, but those are some damn fine looking guitars.

[lp59aholicDon]

Originally Posted by BCRGreg

The top carves are too rounded, and the Nashville is a giveaway, but those are some damn fine looking guitars.

I kinda got lucky on Ebay with all the Orvilles and the first Greco I got off there Unfortunatly at present just down to the one Orville on my avatar , but tone and playability wise the cream of the crop

[Gigan]

Boy that thing is Super Real!! Nice Looking! thanx for the pics.

[Skybone]

FWIW: Greco only made SOME of the Tokai Les Paul Old/Reborn & early Love Rock's, most of them were made by the Tokai factory.

The Greco built Tokai models are the easily recognisable as they have ink stamped serial no.'s rather than the Tokai standard of stamping the serial no. into the wood of the headstock.

[nwobhm]

Originally Posted by BCRGreg

The top carves are too rounded, and the Nashville is a giveaway, but those are some damn fine looking guitars.

Yeah,that's on the 80'-81' super reals, That's why I like the later mint collections, top carve is right. Now, if I could find one in nitro