{"product_id":"greco-eg-800-owned-by-jeff-tweedy-of-wilco-solid-body-electric-guitar-1980-14356","title":"Greco EG-800 Owned by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco Solid Body Electric Guitar (1980)","description":"Greco EG-800 Owned by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1980), made in Japan, serial # C80006HN, gold lacquer top, dark mahogany back and sides finish, mahogany body with maple cap, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, molded plastic hard shell case. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn modern collector's terms there are \"lawsuit guitars\" and then there are guitars that, if you were Gibson at the time you would *definitely* have wanted to sue somebody over! This Greco-branded EG-800 \"Les Paul\" is the sort of instrument that gave the Norlin-era Gibson management nightmares, in some ways a more player-friendly (and certainly more affordable) guitar than their US-made originals. This Greco-branded EG-800 is in the top rank of Japanese-made guitars of this era, built just before pressure from the US builders and distributors forced most of the eastern makers to turn to evolve into more original designs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis Greco is a VERY close copy of a 1955-6-style goldtop Les Paul, with many detail differences but most average buyers in 1980 would have had to squint to tell the difference. It was built by Fujigen Gakki to largely the same specs as the original; a solid (two-piece laminate) mahogany body with a maple cap top, one-piece set mahogany neck with a bound rosewood fingerboard and the classic gold top-over-natural finish scheme. The headstock is a near exact copy of the classic Kalamazoo \"open book\" shape with a \"Greco\" logo styled to resemble \"Gibson\" but no \"Les Paul\" facsimile markings (unlike the Tokai branded \"Love Rock\" model, still our favorite goofy knockoff name!).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe hardware is all styled after the original Gibson parts, in most cases quite closely. The Kluson-style tuners even read \"Greco Deluxe\" on the back of the casings. The P-90 style pickups (almost certainly made by Maxxon) sound great and are very articulate; if not quite as hot as the typical older Gibson P-90 they still have plenty of punch. If not a paradigm of originality this represents the best of the \"Copy\" era of Japanese manufacture. The EG-800 designation appears to have been used for an entire line of highest-grade Les Paul variants; most of these are Humbucker equipped \"Bursts\" and even 3-pickuop Customs; this dual P-90 style seems to be a rarer variant. This is a very nice player's guitar, as good as Les Pauls from Japan got and a cool reminder of why the classic US guitar makers had to get their act back together in the 1980s!\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOverall length is 39 in. (99.1 cm.), 13 in. (33 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 in. (5.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3\/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11\/16 in. (43 mm.)., 8.88 lbs. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis 45 year old guitar remains all original showing some signs of play with mostly fairly minor wear overall, heavier scuffing, buckle marks and dings to the back and some finish worn away along the upper back edge of the body. The top is pretty clean overall but has one noticeable chip and scratch to the upper armwear area. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll the hardware appears original showing typical light wear; the knobs must have been made out of a plastic too brittle or prone to shrinking as all four of them appear to have been cracked and glued back together. The original frets show only light wear. The silver Greco EG-800 logo sticker on the back of the headstock has much of the black overprint rubbed away but is still just about legible. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis guitar is an excellent player with a sharper neck angle than many US-made Les Pauls, with a surprisingly comparable if somewhat less powerful sound. It resides in a molded plastic HSC with the Wilco Loft cataloging tape along the base; this appears in the reverse of the usual look with white letters on a black background and is worn enough we would assume the guitar to have been in the Tweedy collection for some time. Overall Excellent - Condition.","brand":"Greco","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63568776134796,"sku":"14356","price":2450.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0672\/8702\/3756\/files\/01_88beaa42-73fd-4819-8dd9-ebe1213fb77b.jpg?v=1793646789","url":"https:\/\/retrofret.com\/products\/greco-eg-800-owned-by-jeff-tweedy-of-wilco-solid-body-electric-guitar-1980-14356","provider":"RetroFret","version":"1.0","type":"link"}