Peavey EVH Wolfgang

I have the arch top standard made in USA blue flametop guitar with Floyd Rose and D-tuna. Basswood back, maple top. It isn't loaded with features (like some other guitars with piezo saddles, midi output, coil taps, sustainers, etc.). The Floyd wih D tuna is kind of cool. The neck and overall feel of the guitar is great. Very comfortable.

This guitar is made for rocking. Great overdriven sound. Great sustain. I play into a Boogie Calibre .50, and have played the guitar through other amps (Marshall JMP-1, Line 6 Spider, Boogie MK IV), it sounds great through any of them. The guitar is super quiet, no hum. (My other guitar is a Tele and the hum is annoying, especially when hard disk recording). If you are going to be playing a lot of clean guitar you are better off with something else, but if you are going to play down and dirty, classic rock, hard rock, etc, this is your baby!
The pickups have a real high output. I find that when playing 5 and six note chords, the heavier guage strings tend to cut through more than the thinner strings. I probably need to adjust the pickups a bit.

I bought the guitar used, but in mint condition. The look and feel of the guitar is awesome. The guy had a very thin guage of strings on it (probably .008's), and the trem was just about floating. When I put .009's on it, the trem was full on floating, making the D-tuna useless. So I adjusted the springs in back and fine tuned the d-tuna per the instruction manual and it works great. There are no visible flaws to this guitar. At least not to my eye.

Durability will not be a problem. I wouldn't gig without a backup because string changing with the Floyd Rose takes too long. A little nit picky thing I noticed is that the headstock is so small that when changing strings, after threading the string through the locking nut it is sometimes hard to get my hand in there to grab the little end of the string. I wouldn't want to be trying a string change under the gun...it can take a while.

Never dealt with them. Cool website though. The EVH Custom shop is a rip off. I could have bought two of these guitars for what they want for the same guitar.

I was looking for a good rock guitar with two quiet humbucker pickups to compliment my Strat and Tele. I play rack and blues. I'll stick with the other two guitars for the blues...and clean stuff. Distorted guitar and leads? Wolfie all the way. I've been playing for 20 years.
Amazingly I had to search hard for a guitar that I liked in my price range (about $1000, and I live in the SF Bay area, with lots of music stores. I could have found a great axe for 2000-3000 bucks, but there was little on the shelves in my price range besides Ibanez & Jackson shred type guitars. Very cool guitars, but not what I wanted. I ended up finding this one on Ebay from a local seller. I tried it out and it felt better and looked better than the other 3 wolfgangs I played in music shops (two of them specials).
The coolest feature is the neck. It feels wonderful to me. As far as the toggle switch being in the way like others have mentioned, I have not found it to be a problem. I think you need to have alligator arms to accidentally flip the switch while double tapping.

2001 Peavey Wolfgang Standard, Flame Purple Top /w Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo System. Basswood Bottom, Custom wound Pickups, D-Tuna, Birdseye Maple Non finished Neck /w 22 Frets Tall and Narrow., reversed toggle switch, Schaller tuners - Hardshell case. Pretty standard guitar hardware setup?I mean ALL guitars have the same kind of setup?but with this guitar they did it RIGHT.

The sound out of this thing makes my shitty little Gorilla practice amp rock!! I tried this guitar out at the store- they happened to have both the Fender Hotrod DeVille and the Marshall JCM 900 I have- lets just say that I walked into the store without wanting to buy this guitar, despite the fact that I have wanted one now for the last 2 years. I tried it out and WOW?thick full tone, nice balanced pickups!! I NEVER use the neck pickup for anything, but I do now! Both amps sounded great- both clean and dirty. Nice job on the design of the pickups!

The neck plays better than any neck I have played- even when I would ?test drive? similar models of this guitar, the neck felt good, but not enough for me to slap down the cash. For some reason this guitar was majical for me. It fit right, played right, sounded right. The finish and the action are PERFECT- even for a used guitar! The D-Tuna is a little on the tight side however?no biggie, but that is the only thing that is off on this guitar (an it is a very minor thing for me).

Peavey built this thing SOLID. I would have no problem gigging with this guitar with no backup. Stays in tune NO PROBLEM!

Ok, Peavey is my new favorite company. The guitar came with the case and THAT?S IT. I had contacted Peavey about getting aneck for a Wolfgang Special body I had aquired; they don?t sell any of the parts unless you are registered with Peavey, BUT they were going to make an exception in my case. Long story short, the neck was going to be the price of a Special (used). I declined and they sent me neck bolts at no charge (as I was going to buy a neck from Warmoth). A few days later (after I had put the guitar on layaway) I dropped them a line with a question about registering the guitar with them; although they could not register me as a Peavey Wolfgang owner (Have to buy new for that), they would instead send me everything else AT NO CHARGE (strap included). Despite not being registered with them as an owner, they did go the extra mile in my eyes?most guitar makers wouldn?t and in fact would be real dicks about it (FENDER?GRETSCH!!). Great company, VERY customer focused! I am even going to purchase a Wolfgang Special at the end of the year because of their customer focus!!

If I could rate this guitar high than 10 I would!! I have had SEVERAL guitars over the last 5 years I have been playing- Fenders, Gibson, DeArmond, Warmoth?non come close to the playabilty and quality as this guitar does. EVH?s involvment with this product aside, it is a solid machine, built RIGHT, designed RIGHT, plays RIGH, and sold by a company that does seem to care about its customers. I am VERY happy with my purchase and intend on purchasing another Wolfgang soon. This guitar is not a mere one trick pony either; I play not only rock, but a little rockabilly/psychobilly and punk as well. I can get a vairied array of tones, clean and dirty. Hands down the best guitar I have ever owned.

1999 Wolfgang Standard...oil finished birdseye maple neck, basswood body, 2 EVH humbucking pickups, 22 frets, arched top and neck, 3 way pickup selector, volume and tone controls, Floyd Rose licensed tremolo with drop-d tuner. It doesn't have a ton of features and gimmicks, but it does have pretty much everything I need. The D-tuner is a brilliant invention, and the guitar stays in tune with no problems when using it.

I play mostly cover songs, spanning a variety of rock styles. AC/DC, The Clash, Alice In Chains, The Marvelous 3, Lit, Motley Crue...stuff like that, and this guitar can do it all with no problem. The Wolfgang pickups are some of the best I've ever heard, much better than the stock pickups you find on most guitars. Some people complain that the pickups don't clean up very well, so I will offer two suggestions to correct this. Either roll off of the guitar volume a bit, or have the pickups coil tapped. I had both pickups on mine tapped, and it plays nice and clean in single coil mode.

Since I bought mine used, I have no idea as to how well it was set up when it left the factory, although I've heard that the factory setups from Peavey are pretty good. The action, fit, and finish are excellent. The neck is what sold me on this guitar. I love the feeling of the oil finished neck, it practically plays itself. My only complaint about this guitar, and it's minor one, is that the bridge pickup seems to be set a little bit too low at the factory. I raised mine a little bit, and now it sounds much better.

I don't see any reason why this guitar would have reliability or durability problems. Gigging without a backup is never a good idea, no matter what guitar you use, but if I had to, I'd want to be playing my Wolfgang.

Peavey's customer support is some of the best I've ever experienced from any company. The forums on the Peavey web site are excellent, and they have customer service reps who answer questions posted on the forum. And it's not one of those deals where a rep glances at the forum every couple weeks, Peavey's reps post answers to questions on a daily basis. When I first got my Wolfgang, I called about ordering the set of tools that came with it. They knew exactly what I needed, and they shipped it out right away. When I wanted to coil tap the pickups, I called and left a message for a Peavey guitar tech, even though I doubted that I'd ever get a call back. 15 minutes later, Steve from Peavey customer service called back, and was very helpful in answering my questions.

hI looked at Les Paul's, Strats, and a PRS McCarty before buying this, and I'm glad I chose the Wolfgang. I almost went with a PRS, but in the end, I liked both guitars equally, and so I couldn't justify paying three times as much for a PRS, when I wasn't getting three times as much guitar. I've been playing for a year, and I feel that the reason I've made such good progress in learning to play guitar is because I had a quality guitar to learn with. It just felt so comfortable from the moment I first picked it up. If anyone is looking into buying a Wolfgang, feel free to email me, I'd be happy to tell you anything else you'd like to know about it.

My model features a tiger-striped arched maple top, finished in Amber, with a birdseye maple neck. The body is Basswood. In keeping the the idea that this is Eddie's idea of a marriage between a Les Paul body and a Strat shape, then maybe the body should be made of mahogany. I know of no basswood Strats or Les Pauls.

The much touted custom Van Halen pickups are not to my liking. Alledgedly Eddie did not like the sound he got when using off-the-shelf pickups in a bridge/neck configuration. I think the neck pickup in the Wolfgang absolutely sucks. Instead of the neck pickup being warm and sweet (i.e. a Paul Reed Smith or Les Paul) it sounds muffled. Van Halen describes it as "like butter". I say it's Almost like you want to turn the tone knob up some more, but it's cranked. The bridge pickup isn't much better. Someone commented that these are NOT clean pickups, and that is definetly true. Not the sparkling traditional humbucking clean you'd expect. Kinda like the first 5150 was not designed clean tones in mind so they gave us the 5150 II.

I do like the compound radius neck, and the 6105 fret size. As someone also mentioned, the threaded tremolo arm is a poor design. We are in 2002 and you'd think they'd engineer this better. The Floyd Rose is still the best in this category. It allows you to adjust the angle of the arm in a fixed position as opposed to letting the bar either be to tight or too loose. Eddie has even commented that when people played his guitars, they thought the arm was broken because it was so loose. He keeps his spring tension incredibly stiff as well. Loose bar, stiff springs...go figure!

I've played it through my Marshall 100 watt TSL head, as well as my Crate Blue Voodoo 120 watt head. It works better with the Blue Voodoo which shouldn't suprise anybody. The Blue Voodoo is essentially a rip-off of a Soldano, which is same platform that the 5150 sprang from. It sounds okay, but nothing to write home about. Again, I think the combination of muffled pickups and the basswood body are the main culprits.

If you like Eddie's setup for instance, strings installed with the ball-end on the tuning keys, blocked tremolo, very stiff spring tension, loose whammy bar arm, non adjustable pickup height, etc., then this setup is for you.

The finish and workmanship were beautiful, but at $2000.00 it's what you'd expect. The only strange thing is that the heel of the neck overlaps where it joins the body.

As far as reliability, I was really impressed with the electronics. I always can tell the quality of a guitar by how smooth the volume and tone controls roll the sound up and down. I want very fine granularity, and not a sudden change. Like a light switch dimmer. Very few guitars come with top notch switches and controls anymore, and this one does.

I bought this guitar used around 2 months ago. This is a dark cherry burst with the Peavey version of Floyd Rose and the D-tuna. It has a well played maple neck.

The sound is so good I bought this guitar after buying a special. The pick-ups make the guitar sound alive, It has a very lively sound with a little sparkle in the treble. Very nice for any type of playing.

As I got this guitar used I can't judge the factory setup but I ordered this over the internet without playing it. I was delivered perfect and ready to play. The build quaility is better than the newest gibson ( faded V) I just bought. Very solid with high quality hardware. No noise. Great finish, great wood, great neck.

This guitar is built very well and should/will out live me. I have several old guitars and I'm sure 50 years from now it will be in someones collections.

never neede it but past experience has been good

It's just a great guiar. My only fault with it is the comfort level where you rest your arm to play other than that it's awesome.

Has basically the same features as every other guitar but does have the D tuna which is a godsend. Now I only have to carry three guitars t a gig.

Sound is absolutely amazing. I thought my parker fly duluxe had the best tone I had heard and this thing kills it buy a long shot. i have read some people don't like the cleans. Easy fix. Put in a coil tap to split into singles. The tone absolutely rips on the singles. I play blues, jazz, you name it and I can cover it on my Wolfgang.

Action from the factory was superb. I did not change a thing. Fit and finish on mine was flawless.

No problems so far.

I will give them a 10. Where i live the dealers do not carry alot of wolfgangs in Tennessee. Everything is gibson and fender. i called Peavey and they were very helpful.

I rate it a ten. I will be buying another wolfgang and put a coil tap in it, then the parker fly may just disappear

You know the specs so I won't repeat it.

I will install a coil tap, so I can get a lighter tone for clear playing.

The damn guitar just sounds friggin great. I have a Special and a standard, and the standard just rings when you play it. The arch top definately makes a difference to my ears. If you try to get a clean sound with it, it does not do that very well. However, it was not designed for a clean sound so I can't in good conscience fault the instrument for that. As far a rock sounds go, these pickups have got some serious BALLS for passive pickups. You won't be disappointed when you crank up the gain.

I have to give it a 10 on this. Mine is a '98 model, and I bought it used about 4 months ago in mint condition. The thing is damn near perfect. I can't find any flaws in the finish or with any of the hardware. Peavey done a great job building my guitar.

I have only had it for 4 months, but it seems to be built very well.
I have a special for a back up, I wouldn't gig ANYTHING without a back up.

I don't have a clue.

I've been playing on and off for 15 years. I still suck.
If it were stolen I would cry like a little girl and then go buy another one. I wish it had a coil tap, but I can install one myself anyway. Overall I love this guitar and I think you will too.

Wolfgang Standard deluxe 97 - 2001 Quilt top to Flame Tops. I have them all. You know the story on this guitar. I prefer the stop tail model for several reasons. It seems to have a little better sustain, is much easier to change the strings on and personally I think it looks better. Oh and I have little user for the Floyd Royse since I have never mastered the Whammy bar. This guitar has every feature I want and need.

I can't say enough about this guitar. I started playing a Les Paul out of high school 25 years ago. That was my guitar for many years. I still have it but I never play it because I just always go back to the Wolfgangs. I love the way they sound and I love the way they feel. It just feels so comfortable. I have hot rod Fender Strat that I use to play as well. I hardly ever pull that out either. I would be embarrassed to tell you how many Wolfgang's I have!

I have a 5150 combo but I don't use it much because to be honest I just can't get use to it. I had been playing through a Marshall JCM 2000 Triple Super Lead and really liked it but I just had to get the 5150 with so many Wolfgangs. I find my self sticking with the Marshall. I use various effects pedals and combo units. Some of it I need to spend more time figuring out how to get what I really want out of it.

To me these guitars are art. That is why I own so many of them. I display them. They just hit me right. I love the quilt tops and now with the custom shop open it is going to get expensive for me because I just can't help buying a few of these done just the way I want them. I have already placed some orders!

Overall they are very good, but I have had a few problems. Of course I wouldn't expect them all to be perfect. The biggest problem has been with the input connection getting loose. I have also noticed that based on the climate that I am in that some of the fret edges get a little sharper than I would like them to. There is quite a bit of difference in the feel of the necks from one Wolfgang to the next. It also has a lot to do with how they are oiled, if they are.

The company has been awesome in responding to me everytime I have asked a question. They seem to love their products, which is great.

I have been playing for 25 years with a long dry spell in there. I own a Les Paul Custom and Fender Texas special Fat Strat along with a whole bunch of Wolfgang's. I have 6 Quilt Tops plus a bunch of flame tops. These guitars are art to me along with being the most comfortable guitar I have ever played. I keep them all displayed and I find it hard to walk by them without picking one up to play. I will say that I am not the ulimate guitar player. If I had the natural talent I wouldn't have a real job. However, this guitar inspires me to play and I have a lot of fun and get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I really like a lot of the new music (Offspring, Fuel, Godsmack, Staind, Creed, Tool, etc.) along with VH and the rock and metal bands of the 70's and 80's. The guitar is perfect for my taste. It is very versitile. I am still hoping to increase my skill level to the point at which I can do the guitar justice!

THIS IS A EVH ARCHTOP IN A TOBACCO SUNBURST FLAME TOP W/ FLOYD ROSE TREM. IT WAS MADE IN 98' SER.#91000675 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. THE NECK HAS ALOT OF BIRDSEYE AND LOOKS GREAT. IT COMES W/6105 DUNLOP FRET WIRE, VOLUME AND TONE KNOBS, 2 EVH HUMBUCKERS, 22 FRETS, CASE ETC.

THIS IS NOT A STRICTLY ROCKERS GUITAR. IT PLAYS FAST W/ THE SMALL NECK AND THE PICK-UPS GIVE YOU A WIDE RANGE OF TONES DEPENDING ON WHAT AMP YOU PLAY OUT, MUSIC STYLE ETC. I RUN IT THRU A SLO-100, EVENTIDE HARMONIZER H-3000 DSE, CARVIN POWER AMP, THD-HOT PLATE, A WET-DRY-WET SET-UP W/ 3 CABS BASICALLY AND I CAN GET ANY SOUND I WANT. THE FLOYD ROSE ON THIS GUITAR IS NOT AS GOOD AS THE GOTOH TREM ON THE MUSIC MAN. IT IS LIGHTER WEIGHT AND DOES NOT "FEEL" AS GOOD. ITS A VIBE I GUESS BUT THE QUALITY IS NOT AS GOOD ON THE FLOYD UNIT.

BOTTOM LINE IS IF YOU TAKE CARE OF THIS GUITAR THE WAY YOUR SUPPOSED TO, IT WILL LAST FOREVER. KEEP THE NECK CLEAN, CHANGE STRINGS, BASICALLY READ THE MAUNUAL!!! THE TRUSS ROD IS EASILY ACCESSIBLE AND IT PLAYS FAST W/THE MAPLE NECK. THE FLAME MAPLE TOP IS NICE AND THE FINISH IS GOOD AND DURABLE TO NICKS AND BUMPS. THE NECK IS WIDER AT THE NUT AND IT IS A LITTLE HARD TO HIT THE HIGHER FRETS FOR SOLOING BUT HAS A NICE FEEL WHEN PLAYING CHORDS.

THIS GUITAR HAS BEEN PLAYED OUT ALOT AND NEVER HAD PROBLEMS W/O THE USUAL STRING BREAKS. THE STRAP BUTTONS SUCK, REPLACE THEM W/DUNLOP STRAP LOCKS OR WHATEVER. AGAIN THE FLOYD ROSE IS NOT AS GOOD AS OTHERS. PLAYABILITY IS GREAT AND OVERALL IS AS GOOD AS ANY GUITAR OUT THERE. ONLY USE 9 GAUGE STRINGS ON THIS GUITAR.

PEAVEY IS GOOD W/ THEIR GUITARS AND YOU CAN EVEN SEND IT TO THEM AND THEY WILL SET IT UP BACK TO EDDIE'S SPECS AND RE-STRING IT FOR YOU. NOT BAD FOR A COMPANY AS BIG AS PEAVEY.

PLAYING FOR 18 YEARS. PLAY THRU A SLO-100 ETC. I USE CYMBAL BRASS PICKS AND PLAY PRETTY HARD. FOR THE MONEY IT IS THE BEST 2-HUMBUCKER GUITAR ON THE MARKET. I ONLY WISH IT HAD A 5-WAY SELECTOR SWITCH LIKE THE PAUL REED SMITH GUITARS SO YOU CAN GET MORE OF A VARIETY OF SOUNDS OUT OF THE GUITAR.

Other reviewers have pretty much covered the features...scroll on down!

My particular model is a black EVH wolf with D-tuner and figured top; I've had it for 3 years now (the honeymoon is long over).

I guess I'd give it a high rating in the features department...mainly because of the D-tuner. I don't use it that often, but it is probably the coolest feature to appear on guitars in the past 15 years.

Other than that, it doesn't have tons of options with the pickups (coil splits, phase switches, etc...), but I don't really need all that. The tone knob is kinda useless though, and I'm thinking of bypassing it, and wiring the tone control up as a volume for the neck pickup (to be able to do the ol Les Paul style bridge to neck mute switch trick).

The peavey/Floyd rose licensed bridge is among the best I've played in terms of staying in tune (I've tried genuine floyds, jacksons, Kahlers, etc...). The arm itself is a thread in type, and is either too tight (gets in the way) or too loose (whirls around and makes noise). Generally, I play without the arm installed, and just grab the back of the bridge and pull forward when I need trem...works for me, and no stupid arm getting in the way.

I play alterna-pop radiohead, U2 style...through a Mesa MkIII (not for much longer), POD, and Fender Vibrolux. FX are: korg A3, TC2290, Vox wah

Honestly, I bought the guitar based on fit and feel of the neck alone...I barely tried it plugged it, figuring that I could always swap the pickups out. Well, when I did plug in, I was pleasantly surprised. This guitar seems to have the right balance between lows and highs on the bridge pickup, and the neck pickup has a nice silky sound. I haven't felt the need to change out the pickups at all.

This guitar is great for solid rock sounds. In the studio I also like to use a tele (for single coil brightness), and Gretsch (for arch top body and ring). Hey, no one guitar does it all....

Oh, the pickups seem to be rather high output; something thats quite noticeable when playing using the POD. Sometimes you get a nasty digital clip on the hard struck notes. Of course this is the POD's problem, not the Wolfgang's.

This is the best part of the guitar...I don't know how exactly, but it just feels like 'home'. When I bought my wolfgang I tried just about every guitar in the store, and I couldn't believe how natural the wolfgang felt in my hands. The neck is incredible!

Now, to pick nits...there are two visible creases in the body where it has been glued together. The top routing of the trem looks good, but on the backside it's quite rough (as it is on most guitars).

Setup was great even just off the wall...though I tore the strings off as soon as I got home. .09's are just too light. I've get .10's on it now, and it seems to be begging for .11's; it's that easy to play!

The guitar itself is tough as hell...the neck body joint is good and solid. I really like the short headstock as it doesn't seem to bash into as many things as a long headstock does (you know, like door frames, FX racks, mixing consoles, etc...).

Mine's been dropped a few times, and seems no worse for wear. The body finish has received a couple of dents in it around the top horn(probably from the tip of the pick when slapping harmonics). Otherwise, the finish seems really resistant to scratching.

The pickup selector switch will likely soon need replacing, as it no longer feels smooth. When I put a new one in there I'll wire it up backwards (or rather normal les paul style), as it just seems wrong the way it's currently set up.

The nut for the jack continuously comes undone, and should have a lockwasher installed. Also, the strapbuttons keep popping out (despite the toothpicks and glue that I've shoved in there)...I guess that's part of the curse of having a light wood for the body.

Use it at a gig without a backup...yup, but its nice to have another guitar handy in case you break a string. The upside of a locking trem is that you don't break as many strings, but it takes forever to change them if you do.

Never dealt with 'em...

I've been playing 16 years now, and have gone through a good deal of gear. If you'd have told me 5 years ago that I'd be playing a Peavey guitar, and loving it, I'd have told you that you're crazy. But, here I am, and I really love this guitar. If it got stolen or lost (how exactly do you lose a guitar), I'd buy one again, but I'd probably go used or check out the Wolf special...my fingers seem to really connect with the neck.

Good job Peavey!