Peavey Briarwood DR-SER

The passive rather than active electronics keep this one from topping out at a 10. Although i rarely play plugged in so it doesn't really effect me. The first thing you notice about this guitar is its looks. Mine has a beautiful grain and the cedar and rosewood compliment each other very well. For the money: a 10+! Alongside other guitars in the same price range, there is no comparison.

I'd put my little briarwood up against any middle of the road acoustic, and most high end acoustics for that matter. It is a bit bright for those who like a dark, rich sound. It sounds ok, plugged in, but i've just got a cheap amp so a better amp would probably fix that.

The moment i strummed this guitar it fit me like a glove. I also own a washburn OE30 electric which came from the factory needing electronic/string/truss rod adjustments, but this peavey sounded great straight off the wall! As far as i know, my acoustic has no real flaws. The grain of the ceder has some imperfections aesthetically, but those actually carry sound great. Gorgeous resonation, great fretboard... smooth as silk!

I play at home and church. My guitar doesn't see abuse. Period. I really couldn't tell you about the durability of it since it has been treated like a baby. After 2 years however, everything is still solid and in great shape.

Never dealt with peavey... not having to says a lot about customer support though i guess.

The only thing is I had to have a strap buttons added, and i don't like where the guitar shop put it. If my briarwood was lost, stolen, or spontaneously blew up... I'd head straight for another. The difference in sound/quality/functionality is undenyable against the competition, then throw the price in and you've got a surefire winner.

-Solid Top
-Pick-up
-enclosed tuners (very nice)
-Nice finish (I had to return my first one as it has a flaw on one of the frets, but loved the finish)

-Very rich sound for a $200 guitar. Have so issues on #6 and #4, but that is just me for the most part.

Action is very nice. Fit is fine. There was one flaw, (returned the guitar to the local store where bought and they immediately exchanged for a new one... NICE).
This is a very nice looking guitar for backup or travel. You would not be unhappy.

Very well built.
EXCELLENT Warranty and local support.
Harware is quality. (May like different strings, but included are great.)
I definitely could depend on it.

I am a beginner/intermediate player and shopped long and hard to find a quality guitar that I could grow with and still be happy with over time. I shopped the Yamahas, Ibanezs, Fenders, etc. But found the Peavey Briarwood at my local guitar shop. They did not force it on me, but showed me the tone differnece, the added pick-up, and construction differences from the compeition. Then I had them play the guitar for me with the competition... what a difference I could here. OF COURSE, I tried them all out and the Briarwood won.

this is a brand new 2003 model acoustic guiar. It has a one piece ceder top and a rosewood body. It has an internal pickup but no tone and volume controls. It has white binding on the neck and around the sound hole. the tuners are enclosed and very good.

I would give this catagory a 10 rating if the pickup had an EQ and volume control.

I was shopping for a cheap acoustic and everytime i played a cheap one I would grab this talor off the wall that i really liked and compare the tone....that REALLY made the cheap ones sound cheap. When I tried out this briarwood it blew me away, it sounded as good as every Taylot I compared it to exept one that was priced at 4 grand. I can't say enough about how good this briarwood acoustic sounds. Its very balanced with deep bass responce and a very smooth treble string response...not muddy...there is plenty of high end to the tone...its just right. I have never heard a cheap acoustic sound this good. I honestly say that there is nothing i dislike about the tone.

When compared to the high end Taylors i was also playing it didn't play quite as good. But, you can't expect a $240 guitar to play as good as a $3000 guitar. It plays better that any Ibanez acoustic I have played. It dosen't play bad by any stretch of the imagination. The craftmanship on putting it together is way above average and the woods are high quality. I mean really, where can you get a solid ceder top and rosewood body guitar for 200 bucks? I can find no flaws in this guitar

Everything seems very solid on this guitar...but I've only had it for 3 months

Briarwood is made by Peavey, thier customer service is legendary. I have dealt with them many time (they will fix older used equipment for the cost of the parts...no labor charge)

I have been Playing for over 25 years. I have a '66 fender stratocaster, a Gibson S.G., a Pevey bass, and have owned numerous guitars through the years. What I love about this guitar is the tone first of all....i just can't put it down. Also I love the way the guitar looks The ceder and rosewood go together well and the neck and sound hole binding set it off...its a very pretty guitar. I really don't have to ask anything after i've played a guitar for a couple of hours except "how much?". If it was stolen or lost I would buy the exact same guitar again...no doubt about it. Like I said before the only other feature i wish it had was a volume and tone control for the pickup...but I can get that in a petal so, there ya go. It doesn't play as well as a $3000 Taylor but I know a luthier that can make it play that good for about $250 (then it would be a dream guitar for less than $500). Considering the price, I will have to give it the highest overall rating because I've never seen anything in the "less that $1000" range that will touch it.