1960s Greco P20: The Japanese Semi-Hollow Almost Nobody Knows

BLAST FROM THE PAST. A guitar that came through our shop at 316 E 84th St, sold, and moved on. This instrument is no longer available.

Before the Japanese guitar industry got famous for copying Gibson and Fender, it spent a decade making things that looked like nothing else on earth.

This is one of those. A 1960s Greco P20, from the years when Japanese builders were still working out what an electric guitar was supposed to be, and arriving at answers nobody in Kalamazoo or Fullerton would have thought of.

What it was

A 1960s Greco P20 semi-hollow electric guitar, listed at $795.

Who Greco actually were

Greco is the house brand of Kanda Shokai, a Japanese distributor. Like Silvertone in America, Greco did not own a factory. The instruments were built for them by others, most significantly FujiGen, which is one of the most important guitar factories nobody outside the industry has heard of.

FujiGen went on to build for Ibanez, for Fender Japan, and for a long list of names that got the credit while FujiGen did the work. When people say seventies Japanese guitars punch above their weight, FujiGen is a large part of the reason why.

Greco is best known for the seventies era, when their Gibson and Fender copies got close enough to make the originals nervous. The sixties instruments are a different animal. They are original designs, often strange, made in far smaller numbers, and far less understood.

Why these are worth your attention

Sixties Japanese semi-hollows have a voice that comes from thin plywood bodies, small hot pickups and short scales. It is jangly, a bit compressed, slightly unruly, and it sits in a mix in a way a fat American humbucker never will.

Under eight hundred dollars for a sixty year old, genuinely unusual instrument is also simply good value in a vintage market where nothing is cheap any more.

Common questions about Greco guitars

What did this Greco P20 sell for?
It was listed at $795 at Bros Guitar Shop in New York City. For a figure on your own, ask us for an appraisal.

Who made Greco guitars?
Greco is the brand of Kanda Shokai, a Japanese distributor. The guitars were built by contract factories, most famously FujiGen, which also built for Ibanez and Fender Japan.

Are Greco guitars good?
Yes, and the reputation is well earned. Seventies Greco copies of Gibsons and Fenders are collected seriously in Japan and increasingly elsewhere. Sixties originals like this one are rarer and more of a curiosity, which is part of the appeal.

Is a Greco worth buying as a player?
Very much so. Vintage Japanese guitars remain one of the last places you can buy real age, real character and real build quality without spending five figures.

How do you date a vintage Greco?
It is harder than dating an American guitar. Serial number schemes changed with the factory and the era, and records are incomplete. Model designation, hardware and construction details usually get you closer than the serial does.

Does Bros Guitar Shop buy vintage Japanese guitars?
Yes. Greco, Ibanez, Teisco, Tokai, Yamaha and the rest. We buy outright, take trades, and take consignments. Details below.

Where it went

Sold.

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Come see us at Bros Guitar Shop

We are a family owned guitar shop on the Upper East Side, and we do more than sell instruments:

• Buying, trades and consignment on used and vintage gear
• Repairs and setups at our bench
• Appraisals. Bring it in or send photos and we will tell you what you have
• Guitar lessons in the studio downstairs
• Pickup and delivery available for a fee. Give us a call and we will sort it out

Bros Guitar Shop
316 E 84th St, New York, NY 10028
646-559-8771 and brosguitarshop@gmail.com
Mon to Fri 12 to 8, Sat 10 to 8, closed Sunday

Got something in a case under the bed? That is usually how the good ones turn up.