1978 Greco SA-800 in exceptional, near mint condition and in perfect working order. Produced just prior to with the very first "Super Real" Greco instruments, this SA-800 faithfully reproduces the high quality craftsmanship and tonal nuances of your favorite ES-345, with two PAF style humbuckers. The bridge pickup is clear and open, with plenty of chime, while the neck produces warm, round jazz tonalities with enough clarity and cut to satisfy blues players when pushing a tube amp into overdrive. This set-neck semihollowbody guitar boasts flame maple top, back, and sides, with gold hardware and a six position Varitone control that works just like the Gibson variety, producing a unique range of focused, distinctly voiced, and thinned out tones that add great versatility to the instrument. Wired for mono operation and weighing 8lbs 4oz, the guitar has a powerful and direct acoustic voice that translates well through the humbuckers for a range of classic tones that feel at home in virtually any genre. Professionally setup, this Greco SA-800 is strung with fresh 10-46 strings, and low, comfortable action.

Produced in Japan's famed Fujigen factory (the same factory best known for the Ibanez Artist semi-hollow instruments of the same era), this guitar is very faithful to the early 1960s Gibson ES-345 in most respects. 

The three-piece maple neck has a slender C profile that has slight shoulders and gets only a hair slightly deeper as you move into the higher registers of the fretboard. The nut width is a full 1 11/16" with a rosewood fretboard that boasts split parallelogram pearloid inlays and original medium jumbo fretwire. The binding goes over the fret ends just like a Gibson, and the frets are in truly fantastic shape, showing virtually no wear, with well rounded crowns and their full, original height. The headstock has a small volute and Greco's high quality version of the famed Kluson "Seal Fast" tuning machines. These gears are extremely reliable, and turn smoothly with original metal tulip buttons. The headstock shape has the classic "open book" look with inlaid Greco logo and small crown central to the headstock.

All of the electronics work as they should, with original humbuckers that read 7.8k ohms in the bridge position and 7.7k at the neck. Both pickups have their correct Greco date stamps on the bottom, and both those stamps and the serial number conclusively date this guitar to 1978. Perhaps what's most surprising about this guitar is how faithfully implemented the Varitone was replicated from the Gibson design. There's a small transformer beneath the bridge pickup in keeping with the circuit design, and each position on the six way switch (bypassed at 6, with distinct tones available from settings 1-5) has a useable and infinitely cool sound, without any loss to the sweetness and dynamic character of the pickups. All of the original hardware is intact, including the gold bridge and tailpiece (both stamped "Greco" on the bottom), witch hat knobs, gold varitone plate, and stock pickguard.

Cosmetically, this is an extremely well cared for instrument, with some moderate patina on the gold plating (especially on the tailpiece), and only a few tiny nicks and light finish scratches on the back and in the pick path. The finish toes the line between a deep Cherry and Wine Red, highlighting the prominent and consistent curly flame figuring on both the top and back.

The original hardshell case with gold interior is included.