1974? Greco SA-500

Pickups: Tone Emporium TE-20 set (replaced by previous owner)

Fretboard: Ebony

Neck: 3-piece Maple

Body: Laminated Sycamore

Nut: Bone

Bridge: Stock Trapeze Tailpiece with Tune-o-matic bridge

Country of Origin: Japan

Weight: ?kg

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I first saw this model many years prior to actually purchasing this example - hanging on the wall of a second hand music store. I was enamoured with it, particularly with the trapeze tailpiece design and the fact that it was hollow with no F-holes. I went back to do my research , and found out that there was a small run of non-F-hole SA-500s from the 1973/74/75 period. At the time I did not purchase it off the wall of this second hand guitar store because I did not think it was worth what they were asking for it. 

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It never really left my mind I guess...the seed had been planted, because when I saw this come up for sale for MUCH lower, I promptly purchased it. 

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When it arrived, it had clearly been neglected for years. there were issues with the finish (quite normal for a vintage guitar) and the tune-o-matic bridge had been set all the way back, I was worried that I had no more room for adjustment if I needed it after putting new strings on. Neck was slightly back-bowed with no strings on but there was plenty of adjustment left on the truss rod nut. 

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Well I spent a couple of weeks fixing the finish issues and polishing it up. It came up GREAT....but I was still holding my breath when it came time to put the strings on. 

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There were a few quirks that I think showed the QC was lacking in certain areas with Greco in that period: namely the tuners were not spaced equally and the jack plate was not set squarely. These are easy fixes and I went about fixing all of those myself. 

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Went through a full set up and luckily it came out perfect. The intonation was just right, but with no more room for adjustment on the bridge. The truss rod needed to be turned a quarter-turn after the strings were on but that means that there's plenty of room left. I also reshaped and recut the slots on the nut because they were a little high for my liking. 

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Frets were in good condition with no pits or dents and no high frets, so I just shined them up. 

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One other quirk to mention: this guitar has a very narrow nut, measuring in at 41mm. The strings are rather crowded at the nut end and overall I think it feels like a very thin neck - there's not much fretboard width. It's not enough to affect play unless you have really large hands, I think. 

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I was not game enough to swap out the electronics but I may try that at some point. I really do want to get some time under my belt with this instrument before spending money on it - however the things I have in mind to change are the bridge (more adjustment just in case) and pickups. However it is playing really nicely at the moment so any changes would be for the sake of change rather than necessity. 

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Jobs/Upgrades to be done:

None

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Upgrades done:

Reshaped bone nut

Repaired finish issues

Minor repositioning of components: tuners, jack plate