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Penco

rodv66

rodv66

Jul 4, 2016
1,951
3,463
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NJ
#1
Scored a Penco Ripper off of reverb. Guy installed Seymour Duncan custom shop ripper pickup in the bridge position. Thing sounds like a monster and took it to jam with some friends and ran it though a sansamp. Just shredded and had a deep growl to it that sounded awesome. Now, this is one of the heaviest basses I ever had and has some neck dive, but just loved playing this thing.

Have no idea what it's made out of. Wish it had a maple fret board, but that's not major.

I think these were sold as Greco's in Japan, Ibanez on the west coast and Penco on rhe east. I'm assuming that it was made in the late 70's.
20180822_000333.jpg
 
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#2
Very choice! You can do anything with those good bones.

Instead of wearing it on your chest or belly try wearing it a little lower and tilt the axis of weight to your right hip. Should put it in a nicely balanced position with a familiar left hand feel.
 
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#4
Sid the Kid said:
Very choice! You can do anything with those good bones.

Instead of wearing it on your chest or belly try wearing it a little lower and tilt the axis of weight to your right hip. Should put it in a nicely balanced position with a familiar left hand feel.
Click to expand...
The weight actually doesn't bother me, just awate of it. Will try lower it and see how it feels.
 
#6
rodv66 said:
Scored a Penco Ripper off of reverb. Guy installed Seymour Duncan custom shop ripper pickup in the bridge position. Thing sounds like a monster and took it to jam with some friends and ran it though a sansamp. Just shredded and had a deep growl to it that sounded awesome. Now, this is one of the heaviest basses I ever had and has some neck dive, but just loved playing this thing.

Have no idea what it's made out of. Wish it had a maple fret board, but that's not major.

I think these were sold as Greco's in Japan, Ibanez on the west coast and Penco on rhe east. I'm assuming that it was made in the late 70's. View attachment 3124551
Click to expand...

Congrats...nice find!

Penco Guitars - Wikipedia

I own an old PENCO 12 string acoustic guitar from the early 70's that is very well made. They were very popular in the Philly area due to that area being the base of distributorship.
 
#8
rodv66 said:
Scored a Penco Ripper off of reverb. Guy installed Seymour Duncan custom shop ripper pickup in the bridge position. Thing sounds like a monster and took it to jam with some friends and ran it though a sansamp. Just shredded and had a deep growl to it that sounded awesome. Now, this is one of the heaviest basses I ever had and has some neck dive, but just loved playing this thing.

Have no idea what it's made out of. Wish it had a maple fret board, but that's not major.

I think these were sold as Greco's in Japan, Ibanez on the west coast and Penco on rhe east. I'm assuming that it was made in the late 70's. View attachment 3124551
Click to expand...

These were very well made guitars. I collect Penco Guitars and basses and just picked up one of these not too long ago. My Penco Ripper is all original and the tone is KILLER! The only thing I'm going to change is the bridge
to a more adjustable gibson/wilkonson replacement.

It's interesting that yours is heavy. Can you tell me how much it weighs? Mine is actually light/average weight and looks to be made of basswood (a kind of lighter mahogany-like wood. But like my Penco Les Pauls, they used different woods and the weight can vary from one to another. I have a couple of light ones and one that feels like it is made from bricks. Two strats of differing weight too.

Earlier models are more close to the originals than later. Can you tell me the serial number on the neck plate?
 

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