Peavey Cropper Classic

Mine was made in 1999, but I bought it new (NOS?) from a local music store. Tele-style mahogany body with a solid, flamed maple cap. Color is 'rhythm blue' which is no longer offered. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but the price was right and beggars can't be choosers. ;)

Maple neck with rosewood fretboard. I like the neck...it has a satin finish, not the sticky, thick polyester finish on so many other maple-neck guitars. 22 frets, definitely not jumbo...I'd call them medium as they're smaller than the frets on my Predator (1992, made in USA) and my Ovation Elite (1989, also made in USA). The narrow frets don't seem to pose any problems, though, and they're uniformly finished...no sharp edges, all crowned the same, level, etc. Has the 'Maxcess' aluminum neck joint.

One volume, one tone, one 3-way that gives you neck, bridge or both, one mini-toggle for splitting the bridge pickups to single-coil. Pickups are passive, rail-type humbuckers, single-size in the neck, humbucker size (double single-size) in the bridge. I think they're made by Peavey, but who knows.

Bridge is a fixed, tele-style plate that extends past and is cutout for the bridge pickup. All hardware is gold, and the non-locking tuners are die-cast.

Came with a nice OHSC, a CoA singed by Steve Cropper, a slim user's manual and a slew of hex wrenches.

I play mostly fingerstyle, in a wide variety of genres. This guitar is used mostly for jazz and blues/rock, although I have played Moonshadow on it with great success. ;) Depending on my mood, I either play it acoustically (unplugged), through a GuitarPort 2.0, Peavey Bandit 112 TT or Crate GT80XL. The pickups are incredibly quiet, especially compared to the single coils on my Predator, but I suppose that's not surprising. The tone knob is very effective, although there isn't much middle ground between having the treble rolled off, or having it rolled up. Overall, the guitar sounds warm, in the neck position particularly...good for jazz. On the bridge or with both pickups combined and the splitter engaged, and with some gain on the amp, it gets pretty dirty, but I haven't heard it get muddy at all. The tone knob actually does a pretty good job of controlling the 'grit' when the volume is up to 10. So, good jazz, great blues/rock sounds are definitely possible.

My only complaint is that I wish there were a bigger sonic difference between having the bridge in humbucker mode and having the coils split...it's a very subtle change.

Guitar was NOS, five years old. I specifically did *not* have the music store touch it, preferring to do my own setup. Believe it or not, it has the original strings (9's, ick) from Peavey and they're not dead at all. Weird. Anyway, the action is just about where I like it, if not a tad low. No buzzing anywhere, no dead notes that I've found.

Because the store didn't touch it, this section is a direct reflection on the factory setup. The neck pickup was set so high that the springs were pushing it 'over' so that it pointed slightly to the aft (towards the bridge). I screwed it down a bit and it's fine now. The low E string notch in the nut is a bit narrow for the string, so I'm probably going to have to file it out when I put fatter strings on it, but...such is life.

All of the frets are nicely rounded at the edges, no fret wear, neck is solid, action is good. Proper relief in the neck. Flame is properly bookmatched and centered on the body. I've actually seen flamed tops on more expensive guitars (and many less expensive ones) that *weren't* centered on the body. Crazy. But, I digress. There is one 'crease' in the finish on the left, lower bout on the back of the body, but I believe that may have happened just hanging in the store for five years. Also, the bridge is pretty well gummed up...just needs a cleaning, though, not a reflection on factory work. None of the controls are noisy at all (another big surprise for me).

It's heavy, it's solid. I don't play out, so I'm not terribly concerned about it surviving a bar brawl. Hardware is solid, good quality. I know eventually the gold plating will wear, but hey, they all do. The finish on the body is flawless (except as noted above) and looks like it'll take some abuse. I wouldn't gig without a backup no matter what the guitar.

All things considered, I think it'll prove to be a reliabe instrument. My old Predator has certainly seen it's share of abuse and it's still kicking around. Based on my experience with USA-made Peavey kit, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Awesome support from Peavey. I have an old Peavey Mark III Centurion bass head (*way* too much amp when coupled with a 17" E-V in a custom enclosure) that I needed a user manual for. They're out of print, but Peavey printed off a copy of the PDF they have and sent it to me, free. Nice. Have had good luck getting information from their support forum (online), too...it's staffed by a Peavey employee.

I bought my first guitar about 14 years ago, and am primarily self-taught. If someone stole it, I'd definitely look for another one. I like the tele vibe and it has just the right feel (weight, balance, etc.) and gets some awesome sounds (from twangy to dark) that I couldn't get out of the various other Tele's and tele-copies I test drove. I compared it with some USA Fender Teles, some Mexi-teles (even the Aero), a used Hamer TLE (which was also awesome, but it was showing it's age). I went with the Cropper for value...new guitar, with OHSC, quality parts/build for $550...can't beat it.

I only wish the difference in single-coil mode was more pronounced. Oh, and that I had enough money to buy that TLE, too. :)

This one was made in 2000,made in U.S.A. 22 frets,mahogany body (3 peices) with a figured flame-maple top,maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard.Master volume,master tone,3-way selector switch,dual-mode humbucker mini switch for the bridge pickup.One dual blade type hum-cancelling single-coil for the neck and one quad blade type humbucker for the bridge.Passive electronics,polyurethane finish.Tele body,hard-tail fully adjustable string through body bridge system.Precision diecast tuners (no-name).25.5" scale length.Hardshell case included.Bolt on neck with aluminum neck joint for easy access to the upper frets (heel-less construction). COOL.

I play rock 'n' roll.Major influences being Angus Young and Steve Gaines.I fell in love with two guitars in my life,Gibson SG standard and this one.I'm currently using a Peavey Classic 50 head and a Classic 412 straight cab.The tone and the feel of the Cropper Classic is beautiful.No dead notes like another guy complained,just a full rich bluesy rock sound.Oh yeah,the neck... The feel of the neck and fingerboard is simply outstanding.Stock pickups are very good and that's why I won't change them.Both pickups are very clean sounding except if you use the bridge pickup in full quad mode (gets too hot and distorts,good for a solid state amp).The tone of this guitar is SG meets Telecaster.Clean,warm and gutsy.I love playing this guitar,from the sound to the feel to the looks.It always stays in tune and the only thing that's not to my taste is the full humbucker mode.

No flaws,strong well built instrument.It's a gigging guitar,it can take the road.The guitar was set-up and tuned properly.I just lowered the action a fraction to my taste.The flame-top is bookmatched correctly and the tiger-eye finish against the gold-plated hardware looks awesome.

As I said before this guitar can take the road.When I'm gigging I use it more than the SG.

I like their forum and I've used some of their gear through the years. Haven't dealt with them directly so no rating here.

Been playing for twenty years,almost.I play Marshall and Peavey valve amps and Gibson & Peavey guitars.When I held this instrument in my hands for the first time I knew it was for me.When I played it through my amp it blew my mind.The price was good so I took her home.For the price/value of the Cropper Classic I'm giving it a 9 cause nothing's perfect.

Late '90s model, mahogany body w/ flame ample cap (amber/ cherry finish), maple neck w/ rosewood board, satin finish, strings thru body construction, hardtail. 4 Peavy double blade p.u.'s (1 @ naeck, 3 @ bridge, gold hardware, no name tuners, 2 knobs & 2 switches. Molded case.
Frets where small, round, medium height - better for rhythm than for lead. Should have had jumbo frets. Neck should have been wider @ nut to really suit me.
Guitar had been hanging in this shop for years, tagged @ $999. I figured it would move if I made an offer. It played very well in the shop, but I made the mistake of just jamming with the CDs they were playing, so I didn't really work it out in several different keys (see below).

Great bluesy tone, except in the "full on" bridge p.u. (all 3 coils in series) which was so fat as to be mushy, like a P90 with the tone completely rolled off, only louder. Excellent P.U.'s, should have been designed more like a basic Tele - 2 double blades would have been best - like a Danny Gatton Tele.
Used with Fender silverface Vibrolux & Seymour Duncan 84-50.

Guitar played well, looked great, but had a hidden flaw that may have been design-based rather than due to a construction error. Guitar has an unusual neck/body joint: a metal "sleeve" between the neck heel and the body rout. This I suspect was the cause of the terminal flaw in the guitar: dead notes, especially the G @ 8th fret B string & 12 th fret (fretted) G string. D-E-A-D, rubber band stupid, plunky, useless.
The G @ 3rd fret E string (same pitch) was fine, no problem. Very weird. Repair guy @ ESP went over it and said he thought there were other, less extreme, dead notes as well.

Never used on stage, returned to store, then to factory after a few weeks of misery.

Peavey took this guitar back and claimed to try to fix it. They claimed to have put on a new neck. I got it back after 5-6 weeks. they had gouged the finish on the back where the neck mounts with a screwdriver. Guitar still had the same problem,so it was sent to factory again, requesting a new guitar. They hemmed & mawed for months and eventually gave me a full credit thru the store I bought it at. THEY CHOKED. All they had to do was find a good one and send it to me. They couldn't find the will to do that. W-E-A-K.

Peavey makes me queasy. I wouldn't use their gear to stop a parked car with no brakes from rolling away on a steep hill.

mahogany with green flame maple top, rosewood neck, gold hardware, bought in '99. has a 4rail humbucker in the bridge,2 rail in the neck, 3-way switch and a splitter for the bridge.

varied tones available, especially liked the fact that the bridge pickup can be split and there isn't significant volume loss.

pretty good. had a high fret problem and the dealer sent it back to peavey and the tech put a new neck on it and did a great set-up.

only problem is the bridge pickup kept breaking inside. replaced it once with peavey pickup and it worked another couple months.the pickups have a homemade look to them but they sound great. problem is there isn't anything that sounds like them so i bought a new tele style bridge and pickup and put a strat pickup in the neck because the original was so much louder.

great service on the neck. they also threw in 3 packs of strings.

i really like my cropper but i think they should spend a couple more dollars on the electronics. i've also replaced the pots and switches.

Contour Tele style Mahogony body,with a real nice flame maple top.They make solid colors as well.
Awesome 12" radius neck w/rosewood board and satin finish.

Sounds real good for rail pickups.
Has sweet switch as well

Most Comfortable and versitile Guitar around.
Fantastic finish on Flame maple tops.

Very Durable,Have played many Gigs with the Cropper Classic with no problems what so ever.

Peavey offers great customer support.And great Guitar Forum on there web site.

I would have to say that the Cropper Classic is the best value on the market today.I am so happy with this guitar I bought two of them and use them both all the time for rehesal and giging.If you like Tele's you will love this Guitar.It is the Tele for the new millenium.By far the most Versitile & comfortable Guitar around at a more than fair price.

Made in USA. Tele-style (ash?) body with very slightly flamed maple top. Maple neck, rosewood board, 22 frets, gold hardware, string through body bridge, single coil (neck) and humbucker (neck) with coil tap. Actually the coil tap is more of a "coil-add" as this pickup is more like two true single coils in parallel. 3-way pickup selector, 1 volume, 1 tone control, and a coil tap switch.
I imagine this guitar was Steve Cropper's fantasy Tele where all the ergonomic bummers were removed. The back of the body is cutout ala a Strat so it doesn't dig into one's ribs, and the volume, tone, and pickup switch are easily reached. The access to the upper frets is better than on a Tele but it's still a little tough up after the 18th fret. The knobs have rubber bands around them that makes them a snap to grip and they rotate very easily.

Hmmm. I'm not sure what to say. You can get the fat Tele-like neck pickup sound, and a P90 twang from the bridge. You can't get the sexy Nashville Tele twang so if that's what you're looking for then go elseweher. I think it sounds quite bland at low volume but there is a marked improvement as you turn up. Still, the sound doesn't have a lot of personality. So it depends on what you're after -- if you are playing in a cover band and need to sound like a lot of different guitars than this will fit the bill. If you are looking for something that will let you define "your" sound, well, maybe, maybe not. I found that I use the neck position almost exclusively but I do like that there isn't a noticeable difference in output from the bridge pickup when the coil tap is. I find that the sound is quite articulate. What does that mean? It's easy to discern each string when chording and no one string dominates the others. Obviously it's hard to describe sound. The best thing I can say is that I didn't have the dazzled feeling one gets when hearing a dynamite guitar.
This is a very quiet guitar. No buzz or hum out of the pickups, even in single coil mode.

Everything is put together well. Actually I played a new one at a music store in Florida while on vacation last year and it was the best playing new guitar I've ever played. If you've ever gone guitar shopping you know how the factory set-ups usually are: crappy. This one is beautiful. It plays like "buttah". I find though that my hand gets tired easily because of the almost-flat fretboard but I am getting used to it. No fret buzz.
The finish is a dark blue with very slight flame, very non-descript, though I've seen others that are knockouts.
I bought this used so take this with a grain of salt but there's a problem with the pickup selector/coil tap and I haven't isolated which one yet. When I go to the bridge pickup, sometimes I get sound, some times I don't. And the coil tap seems to work randomly. This may be a problem with all of them as I also noticed on the new one I played the same problem with the coil tap . The finish on the back of the neck is very nice, never sticky.

I have no reason whatsoever to doubt the instrument's durability or reliability.

My only experience was Emailing Peavey through their website and they never responded. Oh well, business must be pretty good.

I've been playing for 30+ years and have over a dozen guitars of all styles and brands. This one plays great but the sound, well, it doesn't sweep me off my feet like a good Tele or Strat does. But then again, there are a lot of Teles and Strats that don't either. My advice would be if you like the sound you'll LOVE the guitar because it is very playable. If it were lost or stolen I honestly wouldn't miss it.

Made in 1999 I assume. I ordered the Memphis Sun finish, KILLER! Handcrafted in the Good Ol USA!!!!!!!! Very important to me. The back of the guitar is actually 3 pieces of mohogany butt joined. 2 piece figured maple top, BEAUTIFUL!! One tone, one volume, 3 way switch and coil tap switches. One dual blade single coil in the neck, quiet as a mouse! One quad blade humbucker in the bridge, also quiet when split. Tone is great, especially with the neck picupk, killer clean sounds with the humbucker split with both pickups on. Classic Tele-style string through body bridge, a bit twangy for my style of playing but very usable. Great sustain. This is the best neck I've ever played. Not the thinnest, not the fastest, but just the most comfortable I've ever played. I wasn't going to buy the case with it, $75 extra! untill I saw the guitar sitting in it, perfect fit, the guitar doesn't move at all in the case. I don't like the exterior of the case, plastic. But the interior is great, could use a storage compartment though. To my surprise the guitar also came with a singed by Steve Cropper COA.

I play many differenet styles from blues to metal to country. This guitar covers them all well. I play thru a Laney AOR Pro Tube 50 watt head and a Peavey 4x12 cab. I use a Crybaby, and Zoom 508 delay, and Ibanez chorus. Great tonal variety with the cropper, amp is not very flexible tho. QUIET, QUIET, QUIET!

Guitar came set up perfectly, intonation was great and even in tune. I only found a couple of very small flaws in the finish. The Memphis Sun finish is breathtaking! Gold hardware matches well. Action is a bit high for me, thinking of going to .008's. The unique neck heel joint is a work of art. I've been playing neck through guitars for a few years now, because I play above the 20th fret very often. But this guitar is awesome here, I get the tone of a bolt on but almost the same upper fret access as a neck through. I love it, it is probly the guitar's best feature.

I've only had it a month or so. Feels very solid, nice fit and finish, holds tune well. Pots and switches all solid and quiet. Just like a Peavey should be.

1 year warranty.

I've been playing for about 13 years, and have owned countless guitars and amps and effects, but I think my search for the perfect guitar is over, unless I decide to fork out $1800 for a custom Warmoth, which I had been considering before playing the "Killer Cropper". Undoubtedly the best guitar I've ever played or owned. I love it. I went through all the 80's guitars, Kramer, ESP, Jackson, etc. Owned a few Fenders and Gibsons and most recently a Parker Fly Deluxe. They were all lacking usually in more than one area. I have 4 electric guitars currently and this is always the 1st one I pick up. I play mainly the Cropper and an Alvarez Trevor Rabin neck through body which has a Floyd Rose Trem. I have actually considered buying another Cropper and routing it for a Floyd, but I don't need a trem THAT much, just occasionally. BUY THE CROPPER CLASSIC!

The Peavey Cropper Classic is a top of the line guitar. It has a 22 fret rose wood finger board, and a satin back maple neck. It has three pickups with a three position selector switch and single tone and volume knobs. it also has a two position coil-map switch,humbucking pickups.The guitar is in the classic tele setup. A thin but very sturdy neck and single cutback

the guitar has a full range of sound with an especialy good high range. For those used to playing a tele. The peavey will need some tone reduction to get the Fender sound. It's fourtey is the clean sound.

I got mine and restrung it with a set of Elixir 10's. The setup was way off to my style. It only took a little while to get it "just right". We all know how it goes in this area. The pickups were very close and the guiter has a perfect finish.

After the setup to the strings I have never had a single bit of trouble out of the Cropper classic. This thing is as rock solid as any thing I have ever played.

Peavey has an online help service that covers almost anything. The guitar comes with a one year warrenty. I'll bet they could have given it a five and nobody would have collected on it.

I have owned a couple of Ovations a Les Paul and many other guitars the Cropper and my 1866 12string Ovation are the best playing and sounding guitars I have ever owned at any price.