Electric Guitars On eBay

Greco is one of the pioneers of the so-called “lawsuit guitar makers” that flourished in the 1970s. They have been making guitars since the early 1960’s at the Fiji-genGakki plant. However, note that some Fender copies were made in the infamous Matsumoku plant prior to 1967. During this period, Greco made their own series of guitars, but in the early 1970’s, they got into making replicas of original Fenders and Gibsons. In the beginning, their work on these replicas were mediocre due to lack of proper knowledge and materials. But by 1974 or so, their standard of making these copies escalated as they acquired correctly styled hardware. To top that, their craftsmanship were excellent.

In no time, Greco made more clone models of original Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, Gretsch, lbanez, (and other brands) than all other Japanese company combined. In terms of quality, skill and knowledge, they beat Tokai to the lawsuit race by at least 5 years.

Eventually, as demand for Greco’s popular replicas grew and the size of the production was getting too large, they relinquished their Stratocaster division to Fender Japan in late 1981. By 1982, Greco Stratocasters became Fender JV Stratocasters, then later MIJ and CIJ Stratocasters. These guitars were made by the same guys who made the Greco “Sparkle Sound,” “Spacey Sound,” “Sparkle Sound,” and “Super Real” Stratocasters from 1977-1981.

Greco still retained the business of selling great Gibson clones and other brand knockoffs of extraordinary high quality up until 1989. After that, the pressure to “cease and desist” production of copyright-infringing designs took its toll on Greco and they decided to change their headstocks and logos to avoid a confrontation with the American manufacturers. No longer will “lawsuit” models of exact Gibson and Fender clones be made by Greco.

Greco copies are becoming extremely rare and demand gets higher as time passes for these vintage collectibles. The best series of Greco by far are the “Super Real” (made in 1980 only) and “Mint Collection” (made from 1981-1990) models, which were made to amazing likeness to original Fenders and Gibson’s. Greco’s 1977-1979 clones are very nice, too, but many have hardware and specs that don’t match up with the Gibson and Fender classic designs.

Greco guitars are fairly easy to date. The letter that (may) begin the serial number corresponds with the month of production, and the next 2 digits tell the year. For example: E804235 would be a May, 1980 “Super Real” model, production number 4,235. Sometimes, Greco didn’t use letters and only numbers, and even separated the first digit from the rest on occasion. When the first digit is separated, it is likely a 1980’s model; the separated digit corresponding to the year of the 1980’s in which it was made.

Mosrite was an American guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the mid 1990s. Founded by Semie Moseley, Mosrite guitars were played by many rock and roll and country artists such as Kurt Cobain, Joe Maphis, Larry Collins, Buck Trent, The Ventures, the MC5, and The Ramones. Mosrite guitars were known for innovative design, beautiful engineering, very thin, low-fretted and narrow necks, and extremely hot (high output) pickups.

Moseley’s design for the Ventures, known as the “Ventures Model” (later known as the “Mark I”) was generally considered to be the flagship of the line, but all of his guitars bore his unmistakeable touch. Mosrite also produced an unusual double-necked guitar, which was the type favored by Collins and Maphis; this design was also used by Nick Nastos, lead guitar player for Bill Haley & His Comets, during 1968.

The company fell on hard times in the late 60s, but continued to produce Mosrite guitars until 1993 in North Carolina and Arkansas. Most of them were exported to Japan, where their popularity remained very strong. The quality of the instruments always remained very respectable.

Semie Moseley died in 1992. His wife Loretta continued to produce Mosrites a year or so after his death. There have been a few attempts at reviving the line, but with little success. Kurt Cobain’s Mosrite Gospel Guitar (one of only two ‘Mark IV gospels’) was recently featured in an online auction by Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas, TX, fetching $131,450.00

Many guitarists I talk to are confused, or often completely unaware, of how a guitar’s scale length affects string tension. I wanted to write a short article to clear up the confusion. It is a fairly simple concept and is so critical to understanding the tradeoffs between string gauge, tone and playability. So here goes…

A guitar’s scale length is the distance between the bone nut or zero fret and the bridge’s saddle. This measurement not only determines the placement of the frets for proper intonation, but has a profound effect on string tension, tone, and in some cases, tuning stability.

The physics is fairly easy to grasp. If two guitars of different scale lengths (i.e. Fender, 25 1/2″ and Gibson, 24 3/4″) are strung with equal gauge strings and tuned to normal concert pitch, the shorter scale Gibson will have less tension, resulting in a “looser” feel. You can prove this to yourself by capoing any guitar at the first fret (effectively shorting the scale length) and then retuning down to concert pitch. The strings will now be under less tension, making them easier to bend and vibrato. You may also notice that the instrument now has more “buzzing” and “fret rattle” when played, because of the increased vibrating amplitude of the looser strings.

While some electric guitarists use a shorter scale instrument to achieve less string tension and easier playability, others see it as an opportunity to get a “thicker” tone utilizing heavier gauge strings. For instance, take two identical electric guitar bodies, one fitted with a 25 1/2″, and the other with a 24 3/4″ scale neck. If you find your technique requires using .009 - .042 gauge strings on the longscale, you’ll probably get the same feel utilizing a heavier .010 - .046 gauge on the short scale instrument, The heavier gauge strings will also have the side-effect of inducing more voltage in your pickups, resulting in a “thicker” fundamental note, and more output.

On my own guitars, I typically string my Ibanez AS200 (335-type hollowbody) and PRS CE22, both 24 3/4″ scales guitars, with .011s while stringing up my Strat and Tele, both a slightly longer scale of 25 1/2″, with .010s. For all intents and purposes, the tension is nearly identical between all these guitars since the slightly heavier strings on the 24 3/4″ scale guitars require less tension to bring them to concert pitch. Although the tension may be identical, the heavier strings absolutely sound thicker and punchier. I remember the first time I bumped up the string gauge on my Strat from .009s to .010 - it was like getting a new guitar. Sounded better, played better and definitely stayed in tune better.

One of the infamous stories about string gauges involved Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck. Playing at a festival together, Jimi took one look at Jeff’s guitar and said, “Man, you need to get those rubber bands off there and get some real strings.” Jeff was using .008s on Telecaster at the time and took Jimi’s advice and bumped up a few gauges - he has used heavier gauge strings ever since.

Another famous story involves the horrifically heavy strings used by Stevie Ray Vaughn on his tortured “Number One” Stratocaster. Early in his career, he used string gauges of .013, .015-.016, .019, .028, .038, and .056-.060. However, these gauges became somewhat smaller as time went on. By 1989, Stevie was down to using .011’s and .012’s for the most part. Although the strings he used were heavy, Stevie employed a little trick used by Jimi Hendrix to make them a little easier to play - he tuned down a half-step (Eb). I’ve heard for years that was only done to make singing easier, but I’m convinced it has more to do with reducing string tension than anything else. Tuning down a half-step is much like going from .011s to .010s in terms of playability, but retains the fat tone of the heavier string - it’s definitely worth a try.

While I personally love playing heavier strings, I often hear the complaint from other players that you can’t play as fast with heavier gauges. My response is, “You say it like it’s a bad thing…” The truth is, your tone will be so much better, you’ll want to hang each note out there as long as possible and just let’em sing.

Anyone who knows anything about Stevie Ray Vaughan knowns that his guitar of choice was a Fender Stratocaster. However, Stevie did not start his professional career by playing them. Stevie began his professional career with a band called Blackbird using two Gibson models, a 1954 Les Paul TV and a 1952 Les Paul Gold-Top. Another guitar which Stevie owned at this time, but rarely ever used, was a 1963 maple-neck Strat. It is interesting to note that this 1963 Strat was the guitar that Stevie traded-in in 1973 for the now-legendary Strat affectionately known as “Number One.”

Another interesting guitar that Stevie acquired during the early part of his professional career was a Kay Barney Kessel. This guitar was purchased in 1972, but later stolen in 1975. Another guitar which Stevie bought during this period was a three-pickup 1948 Airline which was similiar to the Kay Barney Kessel, only smaller. Stevie also aquired a 1958 Gibson dot-neck ES-335 around this same time as well as a Rickenbacker prototype that was later stolen, recovered and then given to Hubert Sumlin as a gift. One of the last guitars that Stevie acquired during his early career was a 1928 National given to him by a roadie named Byron Barr.

Once Stevie’s career was established, the guitars he acquired were primarily Fenders, but were typically modified in a variety of ways. Although each instrument was comprised of stock Fender components, they were rarely the components the guitar shipped with originally. For example, the necks were changed on a regular basis, due to the beatings they recieved from Stevie’s extremely aggressive style of play. Other pieces which were typically changed were pickguards, vibrato bars, saddles, and nuts. Stevie had six main guitars, all of which were modified in at least one of the aforementioned ways. All but one of these guitars had its own unique name. There was “Number One,” “Lenny,” “Main,” “Charley,” “Scotch,” and the last guitar, although it was never given a nickname by Stevie, has been referred to by some as “Yellow,” due to it’s yellow finish.

“Number One” was a 1959 Strat body with a 1962 neck. Stevie received this guitar in 1973 after he traded in his 1963 Strat.

“Lenny” was a brownish 1963 or 1964 Strat that Stevie received in 1976 as a present from his first wife and friends.

“Main,” built by James Hamilton, was a custom Hamiltone Lurktamer. ZZ Top’sBilly Gibbons gave this guitar to Stevie in 1984.

“Charley,” a white customized Strat, was built out of spare parts by Charley Wirz of Charley’s Guitars in Dallas.

“Yellow,” a 1964 Strat with single-coil pickups, was a guitar that was originally owned by a Vanilla Fudge guitarist. This guitar was given to Stevie in 1981 as a gift from Charley Wirz.

“Scotch” was a cream-colored 1963 Strat given to Stevie by Rene Martinez.

The essence of Stevie’s “Number One” Stratocaster was captured by Fender in the release of the SRV Signature Stratocaster following his death in 1990.

At the weekly blues jam last Monday, one of the regulars showed up with a really nice guitar I had never heard of, a beautiful black model with a rosewood fingerboard called a Westbury. The guitar’s owner, Tom Veltri, owns quite a few nice guitars that he brings out to the local jams, but the Westbury had a unique tone that makes it perfect for blues. From the beginning of the first set, the sound of this guitar caught my attention - nice fat tone with a ballsy bottom end. Being a gear freak, I was really curious how a guitar that sounded this good could have completely escaped my notice all these years. The next day, I started Googling to come up to speed…

The story of Westbury goes back to the 1960s when a company called Unicord, originally manufacturing electronic transformers, bought Amplifier Corporation of America (ACA) in Westbury, NY and began marketing a line of tube amps under the name Univox. At this point in the story, things start getting a little confusing, so stay with me…

In 1967, Unicord was purchased by Gulf+Western (yeah, the oil company, go figure?) and also merged with a guitar import company named Merson, who were bringing over brands like Giannini and Hagstrom from Japan. After the merger with Merson, Unicord began manufacturing copies of Les Pauls and Dan Armstrong models under the name of Univox at their plant in Westbury, NY. This changed in 1975 when Merson and Unicord split and all production was shifted to Japan - affected Unicord employees were only given a single days notice.

From 1975, all guitars marketed by the Unicord company were primarily manufactured at the infamous Matsumoku factory in Matsumoto, Japan, known for it’s legendary quality and craftmanship. By this time, Unicord was now producing copies of Fender Strats and Rickenbackers too. They continued making copies until 1978 when marketing under the Univox name ceased and Unicord began selling an original line of guitars named after the home city of the Unicord company, Westbury. This line continued until 1982 when all guitar manufacturing and marketing stopped in favor of focusing on keyboard equipment imported from Korg of Japan. In 1985, due to financial strain of the US recession, Korg bought out Unicord and brought the story to an ultimate end.

Although Westbury guitars were only made from 1978 to 1982, the quality put into these guitars is clearly evident. Unfortunately, the only way you’re probably going to see one is on eBay unless you’re lucky enough to catch Tom tearin’ it up on his own Westbury playing with the “Not Dead Yet” Blues band here in Greensboro, NC. If you’re a tone freak like me, it may be worth the trip…

In his first band, The Roosters, Eric played a double cutaway Kay through a Selmer Futurama III Amplifier. During his tenure with the Yardbirds, Eric played a Fender Telecaster through a Vox AC-30 amplifier.

While in John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, Eric played a 1960 model Les Paul Standard through a 45-watt model 1962 Marshall 2×12 combo (JTM 45). The amp was stock except that the output tubes were replaced with KT66s which have a more refined mid-range and clearer top end than either EL34s or 6L6s. The amp was usually turned up full volume, even in the studio. When the engineer complained that his amp was too loud, legend has it that Eric replied “That’s the way I play, duh!”

In Cream, Eric switched to 100-watt Marshall heads and 4×12 cabinets using two full stacks. He also used a Vox wah-wah pedal and occasionally a fuzz effect pedal. For a while, he used Les Paul guitars exclusively. Sometime in 1967, he started playing a 1964 Gibson Les Paul SG. He had it painted by The Fool and it is as famous for it’s paint job as for its association with Clapton. The Fool Guitar is not a 1961 model as commonly believed as it has six screws on the scratch plate. This number of screws came into use in 1964. During the Spring of 1968, he switched Gibson Firebird with a single pick-up. He then alternated between the Firebird and his now-famous Cherry Red Gibson ES-335 guitar for the US tour through Cream’s farewell concert.

In Blind Faith, Eric used a Gibson Firebird through either Fender Dual Showman or Marshall amps. But, at the band’s debut performance in London’s Hyde Park, he played a Fender Telecaster with a Stratocaster neck.

In part I of this review, I told you the story of how I zeroed in on the Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster model. In this follow-up, I’ll fill you in on the numerous features that make it stand out from the other models available.

Beyond the gloriously thick, 50s style neck on this model, the next thing that jumps out at you is the highly resonant sound. The sweet tone created by the heavier neck and the alder body provides a fat, punchy tone in the lower and midrange frequencies as well as fantastic sustain rivaling any Les Paul. Even though alder is a lighter wood compared to maple or mahogany, the Jeff Beck Stratocaster is not the lightest guitar I’ve ever played, but the beefy tone makes it worth the extra weight.

Probably the biggest question I had about this guitar before I ordered it was the Lace Sensor pickups - I had never played them before and didn’t think anything could compete with a traditional pickup - even with a little hum. Well, long story short, I love the Lace Sensors and I wouldn’t take them out for anything - even Fralins. Consequently, my Jeff Beck Strat is a ‘98 model and since 2001 Fender has since started putting their own Noiseless pickups in the JB Models. To be fair, I had a set of the Noiseless pickups in an American Deluxe Stratocaster with no complaints, but you definitely get a little more “quack and chime” out of the Gold Lace Sensors - and those things are just dead quiet in any room I’ve ever played. Try’em both and see what you like - hard to go wrong with either one.

I’ve covered the neck of the guitar pretty well, but haven’t mentioned much about the fingerboard. I’ve picked up a lot of Strats over the years with those skinny little frets that look like tinsel on a Christmas tree - well, Jeff was having none of that. This model has 22 medium jumbo frets laid into a sweet, 9.5″ radius rosewood fingerboard that plays fast and furious when duty calls. Equally important, the back of the JB neck has a satin finish that won’t slow you down like a sticky lacquer finish common on most other Stratocasters.

On either end of the neck are some cool features too. The Jeff Beck Signature Model features Fender/Schaller Locking Tuners, an LSR Roller Nut and a 2-point synchronized Tremelo with individual string saddles. First off, one of my favorite features are the locking tuners. These modern marvels hold the string like a vice-grip and easily cut the time to change a set of strings in half. But what about the tremolo? Will it stay in tune after some serious dive bomber whammy action? In all honesty, for a non-Floyd Rose system, it’s work pretty well, but it ain’t a Floyd Rose. Most of my vibrato action is pretty tame, but I’ve never had a problem with tuning. Even after sitting in the case for a week, this guitar holds it’s tuning extremely well.

So that covers all the features, but how does it sound? Well, this is my main guitar for the local Monday and Wednesday night blues jam around town and anything can happen - blues, jazz or rock. I typically use a Fender Deluxe Reverb provided by the club and take along a Voodoo Sparkle Drive for a little added dirt around the edge. To date, I’ve never played a set where someone didn’t come up to me and compliment the tone of this guitar - and I still get a rush everytime I plug it in myself.

For blues, the rhythm, rhythm-middle in-between and middle pickup are just about the closest thing to tone nirvana I’ve found. I string this guitar with GHS Boomer .011s, so it’s got a lot of volume and punch to spare. And the Lace Sensors hold their chime even when you turn down the volume on the guitar - I just love that!

For the rock stuff, I typically split the Dual Lace Sensor in the bridge for rhythm work and then just go full humbucker for the solos. I usually don’t go for a heavily saturated distorted tone, so I run the Voodoo Sparkle Drive about 60% up on the gain and mix in 25% of the original signal with the “Clean” knob. This settings gets a real funky lead tone with a ton of a punch and balls deluxe - I think Mr. Beck would be proud of the tone he inspired. Long live the King…

To wrap up, the Jeff Beck Stratocaster is hands-down the favorite guitar in my arsenal. In fact, I’ve been crusing eBay for another JB Signature Strat in the ‘93 to ‘98 model years with an Olympic White or Aged Yellow finish. Although I’ve played the newer models, I find the older JBs have a little fatter neck and I really prefer the Lace Sensors pickups that used to come stock. Another major change in the newer models is the switch from a dual coil to a single coil pickup in the bridge. Moreover, the ability to split the bridge pickup just provides another set of tones I’ve come to rely on - strictly personal preference. Old or new, go find one of these pups to try out and see what you’ve been missing!

I was a humbucker guy the first 25 years I played guitar starting off on a used Les Paul Pro that I bought working down at the local grocery store. It wasn’t until I picked up a copy of Jeff Beck’s “Guitar Shop” in 1997 that the “Strat sound” really got stuck in my head. Around this same time, I also started listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Buddy Guy almost non-stop. After listening to the magical, glisening tones that Stevie, Buddy and Jeff were creating with this legendary guitar, I knew a Fender Stratocaster was in my future.

I started going out and playing some Strats around town, but even though I was getting the sound I wanted, there was a major problem - the modern, skinny Strat necks. After years of playing fatter, thicker necks on my vintage Ibanez AS200 hollowbody and PRS CE 22, the thin, modern Strat necks were really tough for me to play. To establish a baseline, I measured the width of my Ibanez AS200 from the back of the neck to the the top of the fingerboard - about 7/8″.

A little discouraged, I started checking some online forums to get more information on vintage Stratocaster necks - I had heard they were substantially larger than their modern counterparts. After hitting the forums, it seemed I had heard right - the vintage necks were substantially larger, but so were the prices for the vintage guitars they were attached to. As I continued my research, I came across a thread one night concerning the “baseball bat” necks on the Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster - the poster thought Fender was insane for building guitar with a neck nobody could play. “Hey!”, I thought, “This looks promising…” I immediately started researching the Jeff Beck Strat and found that the neck on this model was very similar to the early 50s neck that Beck adored. It sounded exactly what I was looking for.

I knew intuitively this was probably the perfect Stratocaster for me, but finding one to play around Philadelphia was tough. The best I could do was a little shop in New Jersey that had several Strat Ultras - same basic neck and body specifications, but completely different electronics. I headed over one Saturday afternoon, played the Ultras and was thrilled with the feel of the necks. Feeling confident, I decided to do something I promised myself I would never do…buy a guitar I hadn’t actually played…

When the guitar came in, I couldn’t have been more thrilled. It was the retro Surf Green finish (my friends call it Milk-of-Magnesia green, but they’re just jealous!) with a white pickguard and rosewood fingerboard. Looks aside, the first thing I did was snatch it out of the case and checked out the most important part - the neck. To my delight, it was actually a little thicker than the Ultras I had played and didn’t have laquer on the back to slow me down. To my great relief, this guitar was everything I wanted.

In my next entry, I go over all the features of the guitar and give you my impressions after playing this guitar for several years.

I was poking around Wikipedia this afternoon and came across the entry for the famed Gibson Explorer. It made it’s debut way back in 1958 when it was originally dubbed the “Futura”. It offered a radical, “futuristic” body design, much like its sibling, the Flying V. Its initial run was unsuccessful and it was discontinued in 1959. In 1975, Gibson began reissuing the Explorer after other guitar companies had success selling similar designs.

Although this design was a little ahead of it’s time in 1958, it has gone on to become one of the most recognizable designs for electric guitars. In addition, it’s been popular with major artists including Eric Clapton, Paul Stanley (Kiss), Allen Collins (Lynyrd Skynyrd), The Edge (U2) and Bob Mould.

Beyond Gibson original model, redubbed the X-plorer in 2002, several other companies have jumped in with their own version of this legendary style. One of the first models to copy the Explorer style was Hamer’s Z Standard model, unveiled in 1974. When the Jackson company offered up their version, called the Jackson Kelly, it resulted in a lawsuit with Gibson. Similar models were also offered by Ibanez (Destroyer), ESP(EX Series) and Gibson own subsidary, Epiphone (Explorer).

One of the most famous pictures of an Explorer-style guitar is on the cover of Van Halen’s “Women And Children First” which features an Ibanez Destroyer made from Korina wood and has no tremelo. Eddie loved the sound of this guitar and used it on several non-tremelo tracks from the first three albums including “You Really Got Me” and “Jamie’s Cryin’”.

Your first electric guitar is a bit like your first kiss - you’ll never forget it and it becomes a benchmark for all that follow.

When I was 15, I saved enough cash working at the neighborhood department store to purchase a brand new Gibson Les Paul Pro from Brook-Mays in Dallas. I picked it up on a late fall day in 1978 and my life seemed to change forever as I walked out of the store with the case in hand.

Surprisingly, the Les Paul Pro model was only available for a couple of years in the late 70s even though it had some really unique features. The Pro had an ebony fingerboard like a Custom, the chrome hardware of a Standard and P90 “soapbar” pickups like the early goldtops from the 50s. To top it all off, it also had ivory bindings on both the body and fingerboard. As far as finishes go, I’ve been told that the this model was available in several colors, but I’ve only seen the black and tobacco sunburst in the last 25 years.

My Les Paul Pro had a beautiful black finish with chrome hardware and black speed knobs. Unable to leave well enough alone, I had the bridge pickup position routed out for a full-sized Dimarzio Super Distortion with a coil-tap switch. Purists may roll their eyes, but that guitar looked and sounded amazing after the “surgery”.

Sadly, in the fall of 1980, my Pro developed a nasty twist in the neck that was impossible to correct - a stark reality of Gibson quality in the 70s. I sold it for cheap a few months later and put a Ibanez hollowbody on layaway to replace it.

Although I’ve owned some great guitars since then, my Les Paul Pro has a special place in my heart, right along side, uh, what’s her name…