Vintage Greco vs vintage Fender stratocaster
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- A comparison between a 1980 Greco SE-500 and a 1964 all original Fender Stratocaster. Greco sounds very vintage - but can it match the really good 1964 Fender?
Yes - I know that Greco has a maple fretboard and ash (?) body and the Fender has alder body and rosewood fretboard and that I should have used a clean valve amp, studio microphones bla bla bla :-) But this is only for fun. Fact is that the Greco is the most vintage sounding "cheap" guitar I have found so far....
OMG. I preferred the Greco. Came here because I just bought a Greco TE-500 Telecaster off Ebay. Single coil. So excited!!!
Congratulations. That guitar is usually very good! 👍
Both equally useable instruments. I would sell the Fender and buy a really nice tube amp.
Haha - great idea! :-)
A nice tube amp, a couple of pedals and a used car...
The Greco actually has slightly more sustain. Great sounding guitar!
John F Thank you! I think you are right. 😀
Great vid. Proof if needed that we listen with our eyes 👀
I chose 1 and figured it was the Fender. Greco wins in my ears.
I too thought #1 was Fender. Kudos to Greco. I have a ‘’79 SE500 Jeff Beck. It’s not goin’ anywhere. 😊
@@charlescozic3208 I have a 79 Greco JB SE 600 as well, but switched to a standard strat setup. I kept the original pickguard with the original Maxon still on it. The new setup also has period correct Maxon. Best playing sounding strat I've owned.
I love Vintage Japanese guitars you don't often see a Greco for sale I have a couple of Tokia's 78 and an 84 I love. A friend has a 70's Greco mahogany natural not keen on it, but I like yours
Yes. The japanese guitars from the 70s to the 90s are all sorts. Some models are truly great, some are quite poor. Best years are often around 1980 👍
To add some more information. I have three strats by greco. 73'77'-79... Your greco is emulating a 54 fender strat. Thats why the one ply pickguard and the brown burst paint not sunburst paint .and also maple neck. Both sounded great but the other fender was the sixties sound. Greco does have a 60s copy strat as well. So now people would be able to choose 50s or 60s style pickups. Or a new guitar in a 50s or 60s style. As thats how most companies still offer those choices. Great video.
Thank you! You´re right. But I doubt that there were different pickups in the 50s model and the Greco 60s model. But could be. The resistance of the pickups in the Greco here was almost the same as in the Fender 64. Greco around 6.0 and Fender around 5,9. I heard from a friend who is a Japan strat expert that Greco strat pickups could be quite hot so this one is in the lower range. Cheers!
Then which models of Greco emulate which year, give me more information pls😢
@@user-gu5xm5py6y I don’t think Greco emulates any year. They more have a 50s model and 60s with rosewood fingerboard. The pickups, often Maxon made, can be widely different in output. Some are really hot but this guitar is in the 6 K range. But few pickups in the 50s were that hot. The guitars are not perfect copys of any year.
@@MrBosseiand how do you know what model it is
@@user-gu5xm5py6y Theres so many models and I don´t know. SE-350, 500, 600, 700 etc. Some are more experts but I´m not. Greco Stratocasters were made until 1982 I think. Soooo many models. You have to Google I´m afraid.
I loved the greco wow sounds like the 59s I knew it all along both sound good though the strat is beautiful thanks rock on
Thank you 🙏
貴重な実験ありがとうございます。
私も76年製グレコスーパーサウンドを持っています。
音だけで判断すると、やっぱり№2の音がフェンダーだと思いました。
人それぞれ好みですが、私はフェンダーオールドモデルの方が好きな音です。
両者を比較すると、どちらも良い音ですが、やはりフェンダーの音の中には、丸い何とも表現出来ないフェンダー特有の音が入ってますね。グレコのピックアップがオリジナルなら、この音はグレコには出せないサウンドだと思いました。
Number 1 for me and i adore strats crazy but in a mix you would never ever tell the difference it would be total cork sniffing from then on
You are absolutely right! On high volume in a mix I can´t tell a difference between a 50 000 dollar strat and a Squier classic vibe. Maybe sounds a bit different - but mostly a matter of taste.
Great comparison! The Greco is very good for the price!
Look, Japanese saved fender at that time, look at the outstanding quality of that strat and such incredible value
I am really fascinated by this. I like the neck pickup of the fender but middle and Bridge i preferred the Greco. In general the fender has a wider frequency response but for the bridge and middle I preferred the Greco because the pups have a more specific tone, very recognizable. In other words they have a more defined personality, which doesn't mean it is better in general, but it would definitely find its place in my studio.
Anyway, I'll take three of both guitars😁
Haha! Thank you :-) Well. Personally I like the middle and the bridge a bit better on the Fender actually. So we´re deviating there. But I like the neck better on the Greco. I should have used a better amp and recording device. It´s with a Katana and filmed with a mobile phone. Overall the Greco definitely has a brighter, twangier sound and the Fender a growlier and "deeper" sound.
@@MrBossei totally agree with the description. If I had to choose only one guitar, I would go with the fender. But i would prefer to have both!
It was the neck type that gave it away for me. I could hear almost straight away which one was which.
I thought that number 1 was the L serie Fender. The sounds are closed but the details of number 1 are best for me.
So bravo to Greco. And when we know the prices.....😃
Great topic anyway ! Thank you for this.
Thank you! Yes, you pay a lot for mojo and marginally different sound 😊
@@MrBossei I think that what Fender call Custom Shop is very commercial. But people seem ready to buy over priced guitars. The sellers have understood 😉
@@christophegolfier9687 Yes. The Fender Custom shop are often great guitars but I think you can find as good guitars much cheaper, at least with some small upgrades. The 1964 here is original though and even more expensive than the custom shops :-)
@@MrBossei oh yes I imagine the high price. It is a L serie. Prices fly high !
Some signature models are quite good for the price : Eric Johnson, Mark Knopfler for example.
Some JV series are good guitars too. But prices have been increasing for 15 years
So,these old Greco from the last Seventies are probably a good choice.
I’ve already sold my custom shops for a Greco strat and jazz bass.
🥳👍
Greco's are great! Nice comparison!
Thank You! ✌️
@@MrBossei My pleasure!
Great video friend 👊👊👊(ZIO FENDER) 🙅
Thanks very much, very interesting to get a direct comparison like that. Hearing the SE500 pass with flying colours is no surprise to me, though. :-)
I'm an MIJ guitar collector with Greco SE's as my personal obsession, and I find 1980 SE500s to be among the best of the bunch, especially in terms of bang-for-the-buck. I'm as hot for a Super Real SE800 as a next guy, of course, but I honestly don't expect to get much more in terms of tone and playability than from these lowly 500s, they're simply excellent vintage-style Strats.
What month in 1980 is the guitar (i e what's the first letter of the serial)? I've had two SE500T '54-'56 copies and had a look at a third from March 1980 (C80), all with fat soft-v necks and original pickups wound to about 7,5 kOhms. I was wondering if yours could be from the same batch? I've had an August '80 SE500W '62 copy as well, quite a different guitar with a U neck and 6,5k pickups, so it seems the specs varied a lot even within the same production year.
Hello Hans! 801533 is the serial number so I guess it´s from January 1980. Yes, the neck is really great, as you write, a fat soft-v neck. Not entirely sure but the resistance of these pickups was reading around 6 what I remember. I think the sound is a bit scooped with lots of treble and deep bass. Very lively guitar with fast attack. I tried a SE-700 from the same year but I liked this better. The SE-700 had an even fatter neck and nitro finish. / Cheers from Göteborg! 😊
@@MrBossei Aha, interesting. Like I said, they vary, and it's all complicated by the fact that Greco ran a custom shop-type operation from 1972, where both end-users and store chains could order guitars or small batches of guitars to their own specs. Many of the store run guitars were quite far removed from standard (I have a 1978 SE in metallic red with matching headstock and a bound neck, for instance) but I'm beginning to suspect that some just featured some minor tweaks, possibly something like overwound pickups. They seem to come in batches made over a few weeks.
I have a 1981 SE700 on the way home from Japan right now. At that point, they had Schecter F500-style pickups with fat magnets and no covers and were 1976ish copies with bullet truss nut and black plastic otherwise. I'm hoping it's nitro as well, it's the lowest Strat in the high-end "Super Real" series , so it should have. Fun, slightly mysterious and generally great guitars.
(Och Göteborg här med, men vi har ju internationell publik. :-) )
@@hansanderson4921 Really interesting Hans! You should write a book or launch a site about these oldies. I find it extremely hard to find facts on the web. Simon at Musikborsen asked me if I knew anyone with knowledge about old japanese guitars and you would be the man to ask. He already knew about Aron but according to Aron you are the real expert on old japanese stratocasters. I have a friend here in Göteborg, Olof, who is also into JV. He buys a lot from Japan.
Two days ago I sold my Greco to the great guitarist ”Pilen” here in Göteborg. He plays with Marino Valle and others. Very happy that the guitar is in good hands.
@@MrBossei Hah! Pilen is one of my favourite guitarists ever, tbh. Seriously, I could watch him play rhythm for for 90 minutes and be fully entertained the whole time. :-) It warms the heart of this old MIJ geek that he's playing a Greco SE500 these days. :-)
Anyway, to get out of the public eye and back to our mother tongue, I've sent you a friend request on Facebook, I'd be happy to keep talking in Messenger.
I got it wrong lol. I was sure number 1 was the 1964 strat ha. There's a 1978 Greco for sale I'm looking at with a maple fretboard. Too far away to play, though. Cheers for the comparison!
Thank you 🙏 Yes, Greco are often great but not always. Top year according to nerdy friends is 1980-81. After that they started making Fender Japan guitars.
I heard the exact same thing with the richer and rounder pickups. Not sure how you recorded though as I thought i heard raw string sounds (doesn't matter the difference was noticeable). Anyway the Greco sounded great and frankly rolling off the tone might have gotten a closer sound to the 64.
Yes. It was only recorded with my mobile phone so not so scientific. But you’re probably right 👍
Number 2 is Fender hands down the winner but it’s maple vs rosewood apples to oranges
Yep - just a not so scientific test as I say in the video. But the effect of fingerboard material is neglible. 👍
@@MrBosseiMIJ is thin but that’s a 500 I’d like to hear a nitro Super Real 800 they sound.much larger I’d say on par with Tokai ST 80
@@MrBossei this is what a Strat should sound like 1959
ua-cam.com/video/Zb0zEsLOODo/v-deo.html
I preferred number one slightly
Thank you!
omg i like No.1
No.1 i like this sound
No 1. sounds best to me! Don't know yet which is which
Number one is the cheap Greco.
@@MrBossei that is so interesting! I wonder what will happen when John Mayer says Greco is great. Probably people will start loving these haha
@@VadArDealen Haha! I bet 😄
For sure the Fender sounded muddled in comparison.
Greco cleaner/brighter.
I think you are right.
Very very few Strats are to my liking,mostly '54s. İn that respect I thought No 2 was better, but I didnt like any of them I think price shouldnt be a issue when choosing a guitar when even the worst cars on the markets cost many more times than 'good' guitars etc etc
Greco SE-500 series has alder or, sometimies, sen body. Sen is not ash, it's a very "special" wood).
Thank you for info. Often its called ”japanese ash”, but I suppose thats wrong then 👍
Асtually, se500 and se600 super sounds are the same guitars, the name of the models differents depending of the year of manufacturing. One thing I can determine: in se600 sometimes is used maxon pu119 pickups and in se 500 is used pu100 pickups. But I think both models of pickups are great and interesting.
I have Greco SE500, 1977. Middle maxon pickup was lost and I use Seymour Duncan alnico II pro pickup. But varity of pickups that can be used in this model so much as peoples minds)
@@eylerband My SE-500 is from 1980. I have a copy of the 1981 catalogue and at least in 81 SE-500 and SE-600 is two different models. The SE-500 has a big headstock and SE-600 a small. And I guess the pickups are slightly different, at least what I have read. Maybe you have the engraved Maxon Excel pickups in your guitar?
No, pu100 and pu119(excel) pickups have different shape.
Greco … is my pick … and I can save the money .. over price fender is what it’s is ! The difference is insignificant… for a 15k guitar I passed.
I think I agree. But you pay for the mojo and the history. And its super comfortable to play those old guitars. The neck is far superior to a reliced custom shop neck.
@@MrBossei yes , I used to go crazy over mojo vintage vibe and had 15 guitars 60’s strats, Gretsch gentleman, tele , mustang etc until I had financial problems then everything was sold … hence my comment on picking the Greco. If I had plenty of spare cash, I would definitely hunt for maybe one or two of my favourite vintage and I will probably be satisfied not like before 😅… but yeh I do agree mojo is the fun part about vintage guitars but many do sucks even though they are vintage. Gotta try them as no two are alike.
@@jerrymoney1479 Yes. You’re right. But now I have a new favourite. A builder here in Gothenburg makes great strats with parts from Monster relic, Gotoh and Slick pickups. It may be the best strat I’ve owned and that is 22.
Hi! Great video! The Greco is Spacey Sound model?? Incredible... The Sound is very very most vintage
Yes. It’s a Spacey Sound, all original. ✌️
@@MrBossei okk Many Thanks for your video an ld you answer!! 🙌🏼
@@elteo_music Thank you Teo!
greco best ever!
Absolutly the same.
Greco sounds better to me
How are the necks? Same profile, one of them is bigger?
The Greco has a quite chunky neck, like a Fender 1957. Slight V profile. The 64 has a medium fat 60s U shape. 😊
@@MrBossei Thank you... I'm from Brazil, and I'm looking for a more affordable 70s "reissue" strat. I found that Tokai has a model which reproduces pretty well a 70s three-bolt strat, but don't know if the neck is as chunky as, e.g., an AVRI 70s strat. I also like the aesthetics of the "bullet" truss rod tip.
@@semiografo Aha. Maybe it´s the Silver star. I think they are good and not as expensive as the Tokai Springy sound series that has really high prices now. I have a 1984 Tokai Goldstar and it´s superb. It´s a Fender 1964 copy.
Hard to go wrong with guitars from Greco and Tokai. But of course all guitars have to be tested but those brands generally were of good quality. Don´t know about the necks on Tokai Silver Stars though but it should be quite easy to picture-google :-)
@@MrBossei Thank you for the answers. I also have a deal for a Fernandes ST62, I guess it's from the early 80s, Fender small headstock, sunburst. I think that would be a great "John Mayer signature-like strat". I can order big dippers-like electronics.
@@semiografo Fernandes could be a great option. They are "sleepers" and cheaper than Tokai and Greco but in the same quality range.
Greco got more balls !
You have a 64 strat and you run it through a Boss amp? What is wrong with you?
Well. Currently I have five amps and two are valve amps. Any amp is ok for a comparison and a Fender 64 works fine through a Katana as well, believe me.
First big mistake, who ruins this comparison, is, the frettboard!!!!!! Use for a meaningful comparison of two different guitars the same wood-combinations, only in this way you can compare the sound and the quality!
This is not a scientific comparison as you can read in the description. It’s for fun. The Greco and the Fender are equally good. All Stratocasters differ but of course body wood and fretboard material contributes to the tone. So does the electronics. And that’s how it is.
日本那时做了那么多不错的琴 还不是被老美无情蛮横打扒 这是老美一贯的作风 看不得别的国家好
Greco sounded better
sorry, both guitars don`t sound good... maybe it is a bad Amp ? Or bad guitars ? both sound very flat, no own colour in this sounds.. Yes, i tried with earphones and HIFI Boxes...
Well. The amp and the guitarist is not so good but these Strats are. Both now sold to two top guitarists here in Sweden. ✌️
Try a vintage fender amp and thank me later
Well. I’ve tried many vintage Fenders. Have you? I live in an apartment. Vintage Fenders are great. But not for low volume playing.
@@MrBossei obviously, why else would I suggest you put your awesome guitar through a much better amp than a boss katana.... you need hand-wired and an alnico speaker to get THE TONE
@@d179654582248 I have tube amps and a great alnico speaker. Thank you for input.
Одинаково
Сам это подметил , немножко высокие чуть ярче на фендере , но, за цену в 20 раз больше , я считаю разумно , что лучше взять японца.
Stop talking and play
😂😂😂😂