Peavey Falcon

87 Peavey Falcon, Glossy Red serial starting with 0264xxxx.
Kahler Tremolo with standard Kahler Tremolo bridge and 5 way switch.
Bought it used locally. It came with plastic Peavey hard case, a Metal Zone pedal and some 30 wats amp, a TRACER made in Korea.

Let aside the pedal and amp, the 5 way switch is actually very nice for selecting your single coils and getting the tones you're looking for.

Let me just say I never owned a "Strat" guitar before as I only played on SG's before. Well, I had a Kramer dual hambucker (made in Germany, Pacifier) once but I would not consider that a "Strat". My regular amp is a Roland JC120 and that amp is just punishing you on false notes or undesired sounds from your instrument. As I have bought an over 20 years used Peavey guitar, the electronics are far from perfect but this is to be expected. Nevertheless, once fixed, I can say this is a sweet guitar and it is a keeper. Sound is nice and crisp, a bit more country crunch then rock power to it but I can always change the coils later. Again, the 5 way switch is quite nice. I think this is my new folk guitar now.

I was a lucky bastard here, a 22 years old guitar still looks great. Actually, only 2 very small dents in the body. The neck is sweet, almost no wear!!! While I can not know how factory setup is, I can tell you to setup this guitar would be almost EASY if the Kahler bridge would have had an easier way to attach the strings trough it. I lost like 5 minutes on one of the strings just to get it trough the hole! That is not great, not great at all if one day you need to change a string during a live play or just jamming with friends. I can see the frustration of watching your friends play while you curse away to the pinhole you need insert your string trough...

Well, a 22 years old guitar we can call reliable and durable and I think it can go for a lot longer even if it gets abused.
Live play with it? Sure but I need a backup because of the difficulty to change strings.

Do not know.

Oh yeah, this is quite a heavy guitar...

Gloss Black, Strat style, Kahler Tremolo, Non-locking tuners, Jumbo frets, maple fretboard, 22 fret, early nineties. Two control chrome control knobs (volume/tone), 5 position switch for s/s/s pickup system.

It really fits my style, fast treble licks with a smidge of rhythm. I'm cheap so I'm using an epiphone 35 watt amp circa too long ago. I just crank the gain and set the pickups on the uppermost setting. This gives a very full sound. I can make this guitar do some pretty cool squeals without the pedal, even better with. Dives are limited due to the low E string snapping into the pickups with a deep dive. That is the only minus to playability.

The factory set up was near perfect. the only thing I changed was the height of the bridge pickup because it was way too low. The guitar was in pristine shape.

This guitar could take several live concerts, I've used it at basketball games and such, and the only damage is several little paint chips and one pretty good chip on the back from a friend. The finish is lasting pretty well because I keep up on polish. I've never had a strap button pop off, which as we all know is always a plus! I believe in this guitar, but not enough to do a big gig wo a backup.

I have never had to send this guitar in for any repairs.

I have only been playing for about four years, and this is my first guitar. It was given to me for my birthday, so I didn't have a whole lot of say as far as what I wanted. I love its smooth sound, but hate the feedback the combination of my amp and guitar gets after a while. The other minus to this guitar is the weight. It is roughly twice the weight of an SG which makes it a little hard to safely to a "pete wentz" spin!

Arctic White with maple neck and fret board

I've owned this guitar for 18 years I've had 4 strats during that time the only complaint i have is sometimes get a buzz on rear pick up.

No problems experienced in this area

I use this and a tele on stage the tele has failed me and the falcon keeps on going.

Never had issue

Been playing 20 years have had this 18 years, if it were stolen i would hunt down the person who done it.

Peavey falcon. 25 1/2" scale Beautiful Arctic white with matching headstock. Strat copy with one volume and tone control. Passive pickups. Poplar body, with beautiful rosewood fretboard. 22 MEDIUM frets, locking nut, kahler trem. Nice schaller tuners. The neck isn't too thin or too fat and is high gloss (Poly), it feels just right for me.

I play Blues, and it suits my style perfectly.

I would have to say that this may be one of the nicest guitars I have ever had or played, peavey did a great job with the falcon, it has that real strat tone ala SRV, kenny wayne etc. It has the thickest piece of rosewood I have ever seen, at least a quarter inch thick.

This guitar is a tone machine and excels at the strat tone we all love so much. Gets that sound at the 11th, 12th and 13th frets around the D,A and E strings. You know the sound? With the neck pickup. Instant SRV sound with a tube screamer and a tube amp.

The pickups on the Falcon are as good as any other stock strat pickups.

The action was just right, the guitar plays extremely well, it has the kahler trem, but the previous owner blocked it off nicely, so I'll keep it that way. The medium frets are a real plus.

It does have the typical single coil noise, but I will shield it soon and add a noiseless pickup in the neck position.

Nice fitted nut, impeccable fretwork. Nice tight neck pocket with no gaps, unlike like most MIM's I have seen, where you can keep an extra pick in there.

Very well built instrument, feels very solid and will surely be around for a while.

Peavey is always helpful, thay have answered questions for me in the past, and thier website has info on practically any item they have ever sold.

I have been playing like a hack for about ten years, but I know good gear when I hold it and play it, Presently I play through a behringer v amp, then through a Marshall 4203 amp.

I have had several japanese strats, and a four or five MIM strats, and one US made squier strat. This peavey sounds as good as the best of any of the other strats I have played.

It has become my favorite strat guitar. It's definately a keeper. Nice and resonant when played unplugged, it is a little on the heavy side, it is heavier than my MIM 60's reissue, which sounds as good as the peavey.

Don't hesitate to grab one of these if you get the chance, for $150.00 or so, it's a no brainer. Why pay hundreds for a MIM or American strat when you can have one of these tone machines for a rediculously low price.

In contrast I had a Peavey predator once, and it was complete junk, an awful guitar. The Falcon is in another class, and will hold it's own against any strat ever made, in regards to quality, tone and playability.

Listen to the other reviewers here, they are right!

I have been told my falcon is one of the earlier models, but I have no idea on the year (help on the date would be appreciated). 22 frets, maple fretboard, 1 volume control, 1 tone control, 5-way switch, strat style body and pickups. Mine came with a rectangular hardshell case. "Made in USA" label on headstock. When I got the guitar, one pot was missing the shaft and the other was frozen. I replaced both of them, and I added a second tone control recently.

You can get any strat style sound you want out of this guitar, the USA made pickups are great. Mine gets a little buzz in any position, but I did all the wiring so that could be my fault.

I bought the guitar used, and with very little setup work it plays better than my "deluxe series" (Mexican) Fender. The only complaint I would have is that the neck was slightly loose in the neck pocket, but that was easily fixed with a paper shim. The hardware was and is in great shape, and the tremelo system is adjusted perfectly.

This guitar is rock solid. The finish is good to last, the strap buttons can hold up through gigs, and although I would never play any gig without a backup, if you told me I could only take one guitar, this would be the one.

Never dealt with Peavey

I have been playing for 12 years, and I also own a Fender Super Strat, a Gibson Nighthawk, a Yamaha FG-150, and many other guitars (mostly Fender) through the years. I chose this guitar because it was $20 and I thought I could fix it and sell it for about $100-$150. What I got was an unexpectedly great sounding and playing guitar that I will keep for years.

Ah, memories. I had a Peavey Falcon from about 1988 to 1991, and I LOVED it. I got it via a trade-in (I traded a Hamer KK Downing model flying V, and got the Falcon and a Dunlop Classic Wah in return)
It was a brown/tobacco sunburst, 3 single-coil pickups, old-school Strat-style tremolo (I took the bar off and never used it). Maple neck, 22 frets, white pickguard.
I replaced the bridge pickup twice - first with a weird little bar-magnet pickup that fit in the single-coil space; I can't remember the brand, but the guy who sold it to me said that Joe Perry used one. It had a really biting tone that I wasn't in love with.
Later on I replaced that thing with a Seymour Duncan Invader, which was an awesome beast.

When I had this thing, I was playing in a funk/punk/psychedelic band in Austin, TX, so I did everything from wailing Hendrix funk to hardcore thrash to ska. With the Seymour Invader in the bridge position, playing through a Peavey Classic Chorus 120 combo, I could do ANYTHING with this axe. The single coils had a nice slinky sound, too. And the neck was super fast.

I really can't recall any specifics, but I can say that I never had to take it to a shop.

I've never been a gearhead, and back when I had this axe, I was 17-19 years old and pretty careless with my gear - I can remember pulling the Falcon out of it's case the morning after a gig and finding a burned-out cigarette butt still wedged between the strings in the headstock. It was constantly soaked in beer, getting knocked over, etc. And, when I installed the Seymour humbucker, my tool set consisted of a hacksaw, a soldering iron, a screwdriver and a hammer. Even with all that abuse, the only time it let me down was the night after I installed that pickup, and that was because I didn't solder it in properly.

as I said, never needed it.

The ONLY reason I don't still have this guitar is because it was stolen from my apartment in Austin, TX. So, if anyone's come across a beat-up old sunburst Falcon with a G-grafix 'Jester' sticker on the body and a Seymour Duncan Invader pickup in the bridge, please let me know! I'd love to see it again.

Not sure when it was made but I bought at a pawn shop for $125. Strat type body with 3 active peavey single coils. Kahler spyder type tremolo. It has a real nice maple neck. Best of all, it is American made. I have a large collection of other guitars and I truly would put the playability of this guitar up against any of my Stratocaster's.

Sounds great. Use it for strat type sound in the studio.

Probably not fair to judge because it was beat up when I found it.

I have really only used it for recording rhythm tracks on two projects.

Peavey seems like a great company

I have been playing for 20 some odd years and am a 1988 GIT graduate. I mainly do studio work. I primarily use old late 80's Valley Arts guitar's, some strats, a les paul or two, and a couple of old American Charvels. For amps I mainly use a Boogie Mark III, but for studio dates I also have a Boogie Dual Rectifier, Peavey 5150, Johnsom Millemium 150, Line 6 Flextone II and a Line 6 Pod. Live I will use either a three channel Kasha Rockmod II or Soldano 3 channel preamp into a VHT power amp. I like the Kasha better. For effect I do not use much anymore. For live use I have a TC Electronics G Major, Line 6 Modulation Modeler, Rane SM26, DBX Compresser for clean sounds, Rocktron Hush unit and a Furman conditioner. For stomp boxes (wich I do not use much) I have Roland Super Over Drive, EQ, Digital delay, Zak Wylde Overdrive, Dunlop Wah, Pro Co Rat pedal, Line 6 modulation modeler (pedal version)and a Digitech GNX3.

I bought this guitar new in 1988. Made in USA. Strat style body with 3 single coil pickups and one volume and one tone control. White on black with maple neck and fingerboard. I don't need any more than that. I'd give it a ten for my purposes, but it doesn't have "tons" of features so I'll give it a seven.

I'm primarily a blues player. This guitar fits my style perfectly. I don't use any effects except for reverb. Just the guitar and a Peavey Delta Blues amp. As has been stated, it hums in the 1-3-5 positions - that is not a flaw, by the way. Between the guitar's tone settings and my amp's settings it can go from bright and pristine to a Billy Gibbons growl. I don't dislike anything about this guitar.

Factory setup (as I remember) was fine except for the fact that it hadn't been intonated at the factory. Fit and finish was excellent and remains so after (sheesh) 16 years. The only thing that I can see now is that between the bridge and the end pin you can see a little bit of raised grain under the paint if you look across the guitar at an extreme angle. No big deal. It's a nicely built guitar.

This guitar has withstood a *lot* of live playing and has yet to show any sign of getting tired. That's primarily why I posted this review. It's been a very good, durable and dependable guitar and I would recommend buying one if you find one. I wish they still made them.

Never needed it. I don't remember how long the warranty was. I think I probably lost the receipt years ago. If it was a lifetime warranty I guess I'm out of luck.

I've been playing for 32 years (since I was eight). I've been through a lot of gear over the years. This is the only electric guitar I currently own. I'd buy it again if they still made them.

the falcon active w/ floyd rose locking tremelo - 5 way switch

if anyone knows where to find more of those actives - i love those things. play through an old musicman or fender with all the classic effects - space echo - univibe - fuzzface - ect.

favorite action of any guitar I've ever played at any price

very reliable

playing 34 years. bought it for my daughter because it was cheap
and couldn't believe i was getting better sounds/action at home than on any of my expensive guitars at the studio - sold them all and caught her at a weak moment (when she needed money) to purchase. I'll buy falcon actives or customs any day - no kayler tremelos though or internationals.

this is a late 90's peavey falcon classic. its black w/white single ply pickguard. 3 single coil(alnico)pick-ups.5 position selector switch. 1-vol. & 1 tone control(strat copy) it has a maple neck and fretboard,and inclosed tuners. i bought it new about a year ago. at the time this report was done, it is june of 2000.

i play lead guitar in a 50's rock and roll show band.i've been playing guitar for 37 years(aprox.) i use a fender hot rod deville and a fender tube reverb.my pedels are a kmd analog delay,a boss tremolo and a boss chorus. i use thomastic-infeild jazz/flatwounds in med/light guage.(11 to 47) this gutar has become my main axe. it delivers strat sounds in abundance. i like the master tone control because unlike a strat,i can tone down all 3 pick-ups rather than just the neck and middle. if your doing jazz, the tone will have too be re-voiced. surf guitar is clean and full. the pick-ups are very quiet in most situations,but if you are playing a place w/ bad grounding,the 1st,3rd & 5th position can be a little noisy. the 2 nd and 4th position is rw/rp(humbucking).

this guitar needed no set-up. the strings were aligned perfectly.anmd the pick-ups needed no adjustments. not even when i put on the flat wounds. intonation is perfect.strob tuner perfect.the neck fits the pocket much better than my 2 fenders and the neck takes big strings with ease.the emron paint is flawless.and takes a buffing beutifuly.the controls are quiet and the tuners are smooth,not gritty like some guitars in this price range.i blocked the vibrato bridge because vintage style bridges dont like to stay down with heavy strings.(but i like non-vibrato guitar's anyway)the hardware is shinny and mirror like with no noticable flaws.quality is 1st class like most of the peavey(usa)guitars ive played.

this guitar is quality plus. ive used this guitar as my primary axe for a year now. sometimes with out a back-up.ive been rained on with this guitar and it worked just fine.i play 3 to 6 gigs a week and this guitar is there always.the neck is made for me. but that is a matter of oppinion.it bi-laminated neck is solid in hi heat or cold.i play outside(street dances in the summer)so i can testify to its abbilities.the paint is glossy and durable.after all its emron.(thats aircraft paint).after playing all these small towns and a lot of miles,nothing is loose and its still making music.

i have delt w/peavey about amps i used too have by them,and they always were curtious and helpful.they always solved any problem i had. it was a bad experience turned good because of the poeple at peavey.as far as fixing or repairing guitars,it seems pretty stright forward. any electronics on thier guitars are switch craft or generic 250 or 500k pots. as far as peavey has helped me with amp problems in the past,id trust them too follow through with thier promises and responsabilities.

ive had a lot of guitars in my life. 22 of them i still own.strats,tele's,les pauls,335's, a flying v,and an l-5. im not saying this falcon is the end all be all of guitars,but when you play pro. and travel. you expose your gear too a lot of environments. if the roadies dont nick up your amp by moving it,they nick up your guitar by emergency stringing.this guitar is solid and reliable with all the strat/surf sounds you could want. and at this price,you cant go wrong.fender(mexico,korean or japan)versions cant come close. and epiphone cant touch this kind of quality. so for the money,peavey is producing a alnico pi-uped,bilambed neck,emron coated workhorse that really cant be beat.and remember,when your 2 bars away from your lead,you never think of what name is on the guitar.you just want it too work.and work it does.