Greco FA vs Archtop Tribute AT

[jzucker]

in terms of Gibson, the older guitars sound better to me. Comparing an older greco to a new AT is apples and oranges. The greco was not made at the same price point and with equivalent materials to the higher end gibsons so it's unfair to compare it directly.

Having owned a 63 Gibson Archtop (barney kessel), I can conclusively say that -- for my taste -- the '60s archtops sound superior. I've also owned 60s, 70's, '80s, '90s, '00s gibson 175s, L5s, etc.

My current 175 is a 2005 175. Sounds great. Subjectively better than the 2013 I had but not as good as the '88/'89 I had previously.

However, there are diminishing returns with older guitars. I tried jumping back into the 175 camp with an '80s 175 and went through several that all had serious issues. Truss rods, loose bracing, body cracks, tail rises, etc. Hence I opted for the 2005. No issues, plays perfectly, not quite as good as the '80s but also less headaches...

[Archie]

Yes, I've bought around ten guitars from Japan on E-Bay in the last decade, and all except one (seller 'Product-Value') were well packed and arrived undamaged.

And you can strike it lucky with a nice old Greco - twice over, in my case - first in 2018 with a non-varitone ES-345 copy (mid-seventies Greco SA-700) and last year with an all-acoustic ES-175 copy (1992 Greco FA-95) - which I've now had electrified with a Kent Armstrong floater.

Attachment 122052

Attachment 122053Attachment 122054



The original 1992 frets were still very playable, and the guitar has a spookily clean finish all over despite its 33 years, with great tone, getting more plummy the deeper down you go. Beautifully made, no obvious issues other than requiring an initial slight adjustment to the truss rod - and the advertised internal piezo pickup didn't actually exist ! (hence the excruciating howl through my amp when I first tried to plug the guitar into the end-pin jack socket ........)

Best of all was the price, which over about 6 weeks dropped lower and lower on E-Bay, as nobody seemed to want a non-electric ES-175 !

I eventually paid £680-00 UK pounds, with shipping from Japan and UK customs charges bringing it up to £1,003-00 overall, for which I now have a real gem of a guitar for less than a quarter of what I would have paid in the UK for a G*bs*n ES-175 (around 3K - if you're lucky) and upwards).

Yes, the Greco will need re-fretting at some point in the future, but the tuners are still fine, there's truss rod room left, the neck is nicely straight and playable - and because I paid such a low price, I've replaced the (non-original) pickguard, bracket, two-piece wooden bridge and tailpiece with all-new WD components - which do the job nicely.

Haven't been able to try out an Archtop Tribute model in the UK, but I've proven - twice over - that you can still find a great playing and sounding old Greco for sensible money, if the fates are smiling on you............

Those Greco FA 95 models are excellent. Slightly smaller body than the ES175. I loved mine and still miss it. I had the twin pickup version.
If you ever come to sell yours, let me know. I may be broke but who knows
Funnily enough, the former used to press the arched shape on those guitars, is the exact former used to press the Ibanez FG-100 and JP-20’s. The former is what they carve, to then press the laminated veneers on during gluing.
Different brands shared the same formers. It made construction easier and cheaper.