Peavey Falcon Custom

I have no idea what year the one I'm reviewing is. It was bought from Chip Todd who got it from Peavey's storage room. It has no serial number, and Chip told me it's posibly a prototype, from when Peavey changed this model from front route to rear route. It's a solid, strat type poplar rear routed body, 22 fret, 12 1/2 inch radias maple neck. S/S/S Pups, 1 volume, and 1 tone control. The Pups included one active one that wasn't even wired up to a power source. It's finished in pearl white laquer, with a matching painted headstock. The bridge is a standard 2 screw trem, with steel saddles. I rate it a 9. It's really basic, but that's what I want!

Original, mis-matched Pups went in the trash can. I put a set of Vintage Vibe Guitars strat vintage wind Pups on it. I also replaced the volume pot with one that includes a push/pull switch, and wired to the bridge Pup. This has made such an improvement, that I'm going to do this mod to my other 2 Falcons. It especially sounds great using the bridge and neck Pup together. I like this one best out of all of my Falcons. I think the electronic mods, and steel bridge saddles is the reason for this.

Chip Todd set it up great, for the 9 guage strings that was on it. I reset it for the haevier strings that I use. Overall fit and finish was near exelant. It has somewhat cheap Arias Pro II tuners one it, but they seem to work pretty good, so far. I may replace these with Schallers, eventally. I replaced all the electronics, so there's no problems with anything.

As with all of the US Peaveys I've seen, this axe is well built, and solid. I can depend on it, and back it up with another Falcon Custom.

See my previous Falcon Custom review.

I have been playing Blues/Rock for 20 years. 18 of 'em on one Falcon, or another. I love this guitar the way I've set it up. I have recently started using a Traynor YCV20WR amp, and use just a Dime Cry Baby from Hell pedal. Everything I wish this guitar had, I installed, so it's perfect. Why spend a ton of cash on another Strat, when I can buy these for dirt cheap, and still afford to buy a set of great Pups?

This review is covering 2 different Falcon Customs. My '87, that I bought new 12/86, and my recently aquired '90, bought used 1/04. Both feature 22 fret, 12" radius, 25 1/2" scale maple necks, with rosewood 'boards.
The bodies differ, though. The '87 is a top routed black poplar body, with a very Strat-like black pickguard. The '90 is also poplar, but has a maple top, and is bottom routed. No pickguard, just a very flamey looking wood grain beneath the clear red finish. The '87 has more forearm contour, in the body, and also, the tail-end is more rounded, like a Les Paul.
Both feature Peavey's stacked single coil Pups, and dispite the major body differences, sound quite a bit alike.
The '87 has a Kahler roller tremolo, and locking nut, while the '90 has more of a traditional strat type trem, only it's a dual fulcrom unit with graphite saddles.
Offhand, I'm not sure of the tuners that the '87 has, but the '90 has Schaller locking tuners. Both have 1 volume control, and 1 tone control, with a 5 way select switch.
'87 came with a hard shell plastic case, and a leather Peavey gig bag came with the '90

Both sound like Strats should sound. I can play the blues on these! They can ring like a bell, sing sweet as an angel, or crunch down hard! I was leary of the one tone pot, at first, but you can really get a great range of tones with all of the Pickups/Pup combos.
I'm still playing through my old '85 Peavey Bandit 65 SS amp, and using an old DOD Overdrive Plus pedal, set fairly mild.

Well, when I bought the '87, I was GREEEEEEEEN. I had no clue of set-ups! All I know, is that it would stay in tune, even if I was hittin' the whammy, often. When I got the '90, it had the slinkiest strings I've ever seen, and Mr. Previous owner grooved the nut for lower action. Ungood!! Needless to say, it went off to the shop, before it liked my D'Addario XL .011s!
Finish on both are top notch. bookmatched maple top on the '90 is excellent. The '87 black paint has taken some major fumbles, and only has a few small battle scars. There were no flaws in either guitar.

I can really only talk about the '87, here. In 18 years, it's been 100%. No Failures. None. The rollers on the Kahler trem have worn out. The frets have worn out. Nothing else has created any problem on this guitar.

My only experiance with Peavey's Customer Support has been with my Amp. The year I bought it, the speaker took a crap. Through the dealer, this was immediately fixed, and I was on my way.

'87 I love the thinish neck, all black look, and it's reliability. I hate that *!!#@$$!!* Kahler trem. I lost the bar, and locked it down!
'90 I love IT! I hate the friggin rodeo cowboy that put a buckle rash the size of Texas on the back!

Made in the USA in 1986. Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Strat-style body. Beautiful sunburst finish. Three single coil pickups with five-way switch. One tone and one volume knob. Kahler tremolo with locking nut. Came with Peavey HSC.

I've been playing for 36 years and have played at one time or another almost every style. At this point I'm into blues and contemporary Christian music. As are almost all strat-style guitars, this guitar is versatile. It will do the metal thing quite nicely with some help from a pedal or amp. It produces a fat blues sound with the neck/middle pickups, a little edgier blues tone with the neck pickup and even nice acoustic type sounds from the middle. I've played it through several Peavey amps in the 10 plus years I've owned it; lately I'm using a Classic 30 and a Bandit 112S. This was my number one guitar for several years, only recently taking the back seat to a G&L Legacy.

I bought the guitar used in 1990 or 1991, so I don't know about the original set-up, but it played and looked great when I bought it. i could find no flaws in the workmanship, and Peavey obviously used quality woods and other materials. I've recently had my guitar tech/teacher work on the set-up, and he lowered the string action some, making it play even easier. The only thing I don't like about this guitar is the locking nut, which seems to make string bending a little more difficult than I prefer.

This guitar will likely outlive me. It's built to last. The finish shows no appreciable wear.

I've only contacted Peavey once about this guitar, and that was to find out what year it was manufactured. I received a reply to my e-mail within an hour or so.

I bought this guitar because I played it through a Fender Twin Reverb at the dealer and it sounded and played incredibly sweet. I've since played a lot of other strat-style guitars. My experience is that you really have to get into a top of the line Fender to equal or beat the quality of the Peavey Falcon. The Mexican made Standards can't touch it and it beats the American Standards I've played. If something happened to it I would search for another just like it. It's a shame that these guitars don't get more respect, but then they wouldn't be such a bargain used. Peavey no longer makes this model.

Strat copy. Kahler Spyder tremelo bridge with locking nut and microtuners. Maple neck. Brown/red/black sunburst finish. White pick guard. Chrome hardware. 5 position switch. Only two knobs. Original finish was gloss and held up well considering use. Top quality hard shell case.

It sounds better than a standard strat. Stock pickups are a bit weak but better than most standard strats. I eventually replaced mine with Fender Stevie Ray Vaughn's. The sound is now better for some things (mostly blues) but worse for others. I do mostly blues and classic rock and its good for both with original and replaced pickups. I blocked the tremelo in the body for improved sustain since I don't do the whammy bar thing any more. Sustain was good before, better now. The wiring and pickups were noisy. I rewired the guitar and shielded the cavity and pickguard back when I replaced the pickups.

Note that most of my mods weren't done to correct problems or glaring weakneses. The guitar was/is my main axe (of 3 electrics) and I wanted to improve it. In it's original form it beat every standard strat that I compared it to.

Action was/is great. I wore deep grooves in several frets (playing the same old blues licks over and over and over and over ...) so I refretted it (after 8 years) with higher and slightly wider frets (more like a Les Paul). Fit and finish was/is superb. Suprisingly, the polyurethane finish on the maple neck has held up very well - and I bend the hell out of my strings! The tremelo/bridge is well made. Back when I actually used the tremelo it never dragged the guitar of tune.

Built for the road! Mine saw a little road work, lots of trips to garage band practice, and daily use. The finish had some dings so I did some touch up and a new top coat with a satin finish. I replaced the old pickup selector switch when I rewired the guitar though there wasn't any obvious problem with the original.

When I rewired I wanted a new pick guard. Peavey didn't have them so I had to have one custom made. It never needed repairs but I know parts are a problem since Peavey didn't stick with this model very long - a shame!

I compared it to at least a dozen strats and didn't think twice about buying it. It was lot more guitar for the same money. Peavey put a lot of thought and money into this guitar. It must have been too good of a value for them to keep making it (i.e., too little profit).

I play this as my main axe (my other electric axes are a Gibson Les Paul and an ES-335 copy). I use the Les Paul for what it does best (Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, etc.) and I use the Peavey for everything else. If mine was stolen and they still made them I'd definitely buy another. If you're looking for a used strat get one of these instead.

I wanted to bring attention to the Falcon and Destiny customs since both of the other reviews missed this important guitar. the custom versions as listed in Peavey's documentation are poplar back for the Falcon and Mahog for the Destiny. the big additional feature is the carved flame maple tops. Peavey took great pride in presenting sincere competition to the likes of PRS with this work. The pots and switches are bevelled out with tremendously clean finish work. The stacked single coil humbuckers onthe Falcons offer great hum cancellation with very bold tone and can get glassy and bitey even more than any of my strats. The fretboards are the cleanest and best finished work I own and I've got a lot of guitars. There aren't many of these carved tops around...I found 3 and bought them all. I play them weekly as my main axes even over choices inmy arsenal which include Gibsons and fenders. If you find a carved top they are the best bang for the buck cause nobody respected Peavey back then. Grab em up folks cause the day is comin when people realize that it ain't gotta say PRS to be a great guitar....in fact for fit, finish, and overall playability...these beat my PRS custom 22 anyday.

Blues galor in the nexk with the tone rolled off about 3 cliks. Great phased strat and honking country coverage in the mid/bridge position. Then straight to the bridge for cut through the dirt overdrive and solo work. The destiny takes it one step further with a hot humbucker and coil tap with the addition 24 th fret and extra access coupled with neck thru body construction...sustain til ya drop!

best craftmenship I've seen in a long time and I've got 30 yrs in the biz and a fair collection of guitars.

played weekly in front of thousands...I carry a natrual flame and a blue flame onstage. the blue has been modified to EMGs active for a little different flavor. Very reliable...no string breakage (10's nickle)

Peavey is a great company that gave up too soon on these guitars....the EVH thing may have helped their image so if they ever get back into this quality of guitar go for em.

1986 model. Basic strat lay out: three single coils, 5-way selector, 1 vol, 1 tone. Poplar body, two piece maple neck, rosewood fingerboard (the difference between the Falcon and the Falcon Custom is the custom usesthe same neck as found on the Nitro series. This neck has a rosewood fingerboard and a 12" or 16" radius instead of the more traditional maple fingerboard with 8" radius found on the Falcon). Kahler "Traditional Series" trem with locking nut.

With the exception of only having a single tone knob this guitar is an exact copy of a strat and that's what it does. If you think you're going to get ultra heavy high gain Pantera/Ministry/Slayer sounds out of this thing you need to stop smoking that. For a strat it sounds excellent. This guitar excels at classic rock and bluesy tones, when I have the desire to play extreme metal I pick up another guitar. For what it is it's great.

This guitar came from the store with a beautiful deep red finish and set up great. The neck is as tight in the pocket as any guitar I've ever seen, overall great craftsmanship. I eventually replaced the stock .09s with a pair of .10s and later Ernie Ball Light Top/Heavy Bottoms (basically the treble strings from a set of .10s with the bass strings from a set of .11s) but that had more to do with an evolution of style than anything that Peavey did wrong (although to this day I question them shipping their non-trem guitars with .10s but their trem equipped guitars with .09s)

The guitar itself will easily outlast me and everyone reading this. After 12 years it has some dings in the finish, but that's to be expected. The truly amazing thing about this guitar is that I've *SAT* on the neck at least 3 times that I can remember off the top of my head. Now you have to understand I haven't weighed less than 200 pounds since I got this guitar, but there's no evidence of any damage whatsoever.
The reason I'm giving a 9 instead of a 10 is that the Kahler Traditional series trem is not what you'd call one of the better designs in the world. You know how the fine tuning knobs on a Floyd sit perpendicular to the body and push down on the actual tuner? Well the fine tuners on the Kahler sit parrallel to the body and push out towards the back of the guitar. Part of the pridge is made to swivel downward to increase the tension on the string. This would all be good but the fine tuners are offset so that instead of pivoting downward (which it's hinged to do) the piece also swivels sideways (which it's *NOT* hinged to do). So basically what happens is at extremes of fine tuning instead or just stopping the piece will torque and eventually break in half (and you really do have to see one of these things to understand what I'm saying). I had this happen to me on *TWO* seperate bridges on two seperate guitars. I actually got the second guitar to replace the first while it was in the shop (see below). Even worse you just can't buy a $.50 piece and replace it, you've got to send the whole bridge back to the factory where they either replace the thing or install a new piece, I don't know witch. You wonder why you never see any Kahler Traditional Series bridges today?

Ok, when my bridge broke the first time it literally took four months to get it fixed during whichtime I ended up buying a new guitar, which broke the second the first one got back to me. I can't blame this on Peavey, the guy who ran the repair shop at the store I bought it at was eventually fired because he wasn't "customer friendly", in fact he was "customer hostile". The second guitar was fixed in about a month, which I think is a fairly reasonable amount of time for what had to be done.

This was my first real guitar that I went in half on with my parents when I was 13 years old 'cos I'd outgrown the "student guitar" I had before. It's stood up for 12 years of abuse and is still, without a doubt, the single best playing guitar I own. Part of that just comes from the fact that I basically learned to play on this guitar, but talking to other people it seems unanimous that old Peaveys just have great necks and are extremely comfortable to play. Even my ex-teacher (who has no love for Peavey, but that's another story) agrees that Peaveys play great. My only real complaing about this guitar (if you can call it that) is that it's my only guitar without a humbucker and it bugged me that I could never get really heavey distortion with it. But to quote C.C. Deville, "You have to learn to play a Strat, they're not like other guitars, and if you don't know what I'm talking about you don't know how to play one."
My other guitars are a Peavey Nitro I, GTX 33 (see review) Ibanez RG570FM, Epi Special II and Squire Pro Tone Fat Strat played through a Korg Pandora, Zoom 9002 Pro and Laney Hardcore. Of these the only guitar I'd grab over the Peavey is the Ibanez and that's only because it's the more tonally diverse, not because I like it more. But unlike the Ibanez I'd play this guitar without a backup and not think twoce about it.
If this guitar were stolen Id cry like a small girl then I'd look high and low for the guy who stole it. I always laughed when people put that on here, but it's true. This guitar is "home". Plust for some reasons later Falcons don't feel "right" (Peavy started equipping them with Kahler Floyds and changed the neck in '88 I believe). If you're looking for a good strat I'd highly suggest you fina an old Falcon, they're more than worth it.