1989 Greco TVB

This came and went in a blink but I thought I'd write a blog anyway as it was such a cool bass. I love short scale basses 'cause, well, I'm a pretty average guitarist with tiny hands and they just suit me. I'm also a HUGE fan of the simple and elegant Gibson LP DC Jr. So, this ticked quite a few boxes.

These were first made by Greco in the mid seventies with chrome covered humbuckers like Gibson used with the big "mudbucker" right up against the fretboard and the mini back near the bridge. They were available in Gibson style DC (TVB), SG (EB) and LP (LGB) versions in both bolt and set neck, like this one here.

The earlier set neck ones are getting REALLY hard (and expensive) to get, with good reason and these "middle period" ones are still really nice guitars. 

 

In the early eighties Greco switched to these plain black pickups that were used in several models and moved the location for a more focused tone. The earlier ones look the part whereas these look like a slightly updated version, which is exactly what they were. The eighties ones retained the Gibson "open book" headstock which makes these great looking.

 

By the late eighties Greco were making these with a more stylised two a side headstock that I personally don't think suits the shape as well as these actual Gibson headstocks. They also introduced some very ... nontraditional colours for such a traditional shape, like metallic purple sunburst, pure white and a blue sunburst, among others. 

Strangely enough, they never offered this model in a TV yellow, instead opting for the other classic, the see through cherry red like this one. I must say, I'm a huge fan of TV yellow DC's but this cherry one looks amazing. The finish is a perfect shade of cherry. 

These utilise the Gibson short 30" scale the same as the Fender Mustang bass and all Mosrite basses. I love this scale for a bass and these pickups do a great job of driving that slightly plonky short scale tone into a great thumping tone. The original mudbuckers were famous for making these sound huge and these pickups have a great response even with everything moved more to the middle rather than each end like the originals. The two interactive volume controls are great for balancing out tones and the tone control rolls back to a big muddy thump.

 

I only got to sit down with this for a short period while I did a set up but I loved playing this. The neck profile is great and I love the way it looks. If I played bass live in a band I would absolutely use this bass. I have a Fender Mustang bass (with two Mosrite humbuckers) that I love but this set neck, all mahogany DC is pretty much the perfect bass for me. 

 

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