I was perusing the Guitar Center used site a few weeks ago and stumbled across a bass I'd never even heard of: an 80s/90s Greco Phoenix PXB-80.
Waaay back in college, I had an older hollowbody Greco bass - so I knew that Greco was a Japanese brand building high quality stuff.
This bass definitely looked quality - ash body, ebony fretboard, bridge bolted through the body...just a lot of custom hardware, indicating that thought and skill went into creating this bass.
The picture on Guitar Center's site wasn't great - but I was able to find other pics of this model & finish, and this particular bass was at Guitar Center in Nashville, so I thought they might be a little more professional than the run-of-the-mill GC; I went ahead and ordered.
The bass showed up last week, in a correctly-sized box.
There was no case or gig bag, so the bass was MUMMIFIED in bubble wrap.
Once I got all the bubble wrap off, I found the bass was already in tune - with a fresh set of strings on it.
A quick inspection and play-through at the store told me it was worth taking home for a longer trial.
Since the bass is active, I figured it would need a new battery - but my meter showed 9.5v.
Guitar Center shipped this bass in tune, with new strings and a fresh battery - go Nashville!
For the past week, I've been working on setup and getting comfortable with the bass - it strikes me a mix between a higher-end Ibanez Soundgear and a Spector, but also its own unique thing.
It's got bumps and bruises as befits a 30+ year old bass; I have bumps and bruises as befits a 50+ year old bassist.
I'd call these basses "sleepers" - but I don't think enough of them ever made it to the US (this was a Japan-only model) to become even vaguely known.
But if you find one, they're definitely worth checking out - I'd have paid more for this bass; just glad I didn't need to!
Waaay back in college, I had an older hollowbody Greco bass - so I knew that Greco was a Japanese brand building high quality stuff.
This bass definitely looked quality - ash body, ebony fretboard, bridge bolted through the body...just a lot of custom hardware, indicating that thought and skill went into creating this bass.
The picture on Guitar Center's site wasn't great - but I was able to find other pics of this model & finish, and this particular bass was at Guitar Center in Nashville, so I thought they might be a little more professional than the run-of-the-mill GC; I went ahead and ordered.
The bass showed up last week, in a correctly-sized box.
There was no case or gig bag, so the bass was MUMMIFIED in bubble wrap.
Once I got all the bubble wrap off, I found the bass was already in tune - with a fresh set of strings on it.
A quick inspection and play-through at the store told me it was worth taking home for a longer trial.
Since the bass is active, I figured it would need a new battery - but my meter showed 9.5v.
Guitar Center shipped this bass in tune, with new strings and a fresh battery - go Nashville!
For the past week, I've been working on setup and getting comfortable with the bass - it strikes me a mix between a higher-end Ibanez Soundgear and a Spector, but also its own unique thing.
It's got bumps and bruises as befits a 30+ year old bass; I have bumps and bruises as befits a 50+ year old bassist.
I'd call these basses "sleepers" - but I don't think enough of them ever made it to the US (this was a Japan-only model) to become even vaguely known.
But if you find one, they're definitely worth checking out - I'd have paid more for this bass; just glad I didn't need to!
