No they're not. As good as a neck-thru Gibson Rev TB. Unless upper register sustain on slow notes is largely meaningless to you, but then you might just as well play a Fender P.
It balances better too and has an easy to adjust bridge, not that confounding three point.
You bring me a neck thru Greco (or Orville) and then we'll talk about "just as good" and such things.
I have to be dogmatic for once: A non-neck thru TBird is as much a real TBird as a non-neck thru Ric 4001/4003 is a real Ric. And the sixties non-revs for all their cult status here were just cheapskate loveless versions of a grand design, lacking the elegance or structural uniqueness of the original. Together with the Ric, the original TBird is the grandfather of all neck-thru basses, yet you guys seems to think that that key structural component is largely irrelevant just as long as it looks the part, has nickel/chrome hardware (btw: finish of hardware does not influence sound either) and sounds kind of similar if you play around the fifth fret. Bollocks I cry! Ray Dietrich would turn in his grave.
Rant over. I'll be nice again now.