My Gretsch G5420T and G5435TG really compliment the amp, and my Rickenbacker 660/12 gives me that Beatles/Byrds/Tom Petty sound to a tee. I am pleasantly surprised at the Wharfedale speakers. They certainly weren't made to last, like my '63 AC30 was.that thing is built like a tank!!! Surprisingly, the Chinese made AC30 stacks up fairly well against the original.not quite there, but pretty close. I had spares here, so after I replaced the defective components, the amp powered up great, and now sings with all of the chime that you would expect from an AC30. When I got the amp, the GZ34 rectifier and 2 EL84 power tubes were blown. Replaced the bad rectifier socket (they used a PCB mount socket in a chassis mount hole) with the correct solder lug socket, and re-flowed all Pre-Amp sockets. The amp, in general, was in really good shape, and for $200 CDN, it was a no-brainer. I just dismantled a Chinese built VOX AC30CC2, which I picked up dirt cheap, and found a problem with the rectifier socket and preamp socket solder joints. (Aka Mark Knopfler with his foot pedal - or Rory Gallagher on his Strat master volume knob.Very true. There is now the all-important master volume control that I can reach with my little finger for the 'violining' trick I often use in laid back lead breaks. The 'up' position maintains the Greco as a standard Les Paul. There's now an addition mini-toggle-switch that engages the single-pole pick-up or in the mid position brings on all 3 pick-ups. John gouged out a recess for the Strat pick-up and mounted some left-over scratch-plate in between the Dimazio and Seymour Duncan humbuckers. However to increase its tonal range I asked my sound man and part-time luthier – John Forrester – if he could add a Strat type pick-up in the same vein as Alvin Lee had on his treasured Cherry 335. However I have to say with an increased range of expensive guitars people like to see at the blues rock gigs, it now only sees action on Sunday morning in Church. It's action is lightning fast so it's useful for heavy rock. It saw extensive action across two ninth month tours of the USA - in use sometimes 3 times a day !! For this reason it plays virtually like a fretless guitar through wear. Tim (January 2015): "The Greco stays with me purely for sentimental value as my first 'real' guitar. The Greco’s last time out – 50 th Anniversary Concert – Newhampton Inn October 2012 My DNA is entrenched in it and it's probably worth very little anyway other than purely sentimental value." I will never sell it – it's probably going to be a family heirloom. It is mostly confined to special occasions where I want to recreate the sounds of my past – but unfortunately is now chiefly in reserve behind my Gibson 335 dot and Rory Gallagher Cherry Telecaster. It now has a Dimazio humbucker in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan at the bridge – but although the Seymour Duncan could be - the coils are not tapped. It did have a Bigsby tailpiece for a while but I discovered you couldn't reach the controls very easily so I restored a fixed tailpiece. The original frets are almost flush with the fingerboard making it the fastest action guitar I possess.
It's also had two different tailpieces which rotted along with a variety new bridge saddles. Years of Florida and Southern States sweat landing directly in the uncovered pickups saw it go through three sets of various humbuckers whilst touring. It was then stained a sort of beechwood for a while but I soon reduced to it back to its natural wood finish. Mine stayed sunburst throughout the 'Aaron' years but in recent times I reduced it to its natural wood finish and a coat of varnish.
Greco have since appeared back on the scene in recent years as producers of very fine – but still copies – of standard design guitars. It was originally a sunburst copy made in Japan as a sample copy for Summerfield Brothers, the distributors of CSL guitars in the 1970's. I spent the princely sum of £80 on this unique 'axe' in 1971 as I entered into teacher training college. "A lot of history oozes out of this guitar.
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