Peavey Generation EXP

I recently bought this (gently used) guitar on e-bay. Bound Tele body style in sunburst with passive pick-ups: H/S/S. Non-locking tuners, basic bridge, 5-way switch (missing the switch tip). It has a very Strat-like neck - which I love. The serial number is QDF36924. No accessories or info came with it.

I play a wide range of music on a weekly webcast - from traditional country and blues to Pink Floyd and my own original tunes. Basically, I play whatever kind of music strikes me at the time. I go directly into a tube amp (Epiphone Valve Standard) or straight into the mixing board. This guitar is perfectly suited for that. I wanted a guitar that would be versatile enough that I could play it all night and it would handle all these styles without going through a maze of pedals. So far, so good. It's got the Tele twang down. The Strat sound is pretty close and it's surprisingly gutsy on the bridge humbucking pick-up. I do plan to mod this guitar with an onboard overdrive because the tone pot is basically useless.

Keeping in mind it's a used guitar... I like my action set pretty low but this may even be set TOO low. No matter. There's no buzzing or dead frets anywhere up the neck. There are however a couple of manufacturing defects. Routing is visible along the edge of the control plate and there's a black spot in the wood under the finish.

It feels pretty tough for being so light. The electronics are solid but the tone pot is scratchy. (It's going anyway.) The finish does seem brittle though. One of the knobs fell off in transit and it gouged the front edge leaving a surprisingly large, flakey divot. Everything else seems okay.

All I've tried to do so far is determine this guitar's age via the serial number. But, as fellow Peavey owners know, that isn't currently possible. Too bad. You can easily date Fenders - even Squires and they've put out a hell of a lot more guitars than Peavey.

I got my first guitar in 1966 and have been playing ever since. I toured North America (as a bass player) for over a decade until giving up the road in 1990. Since then, I've built a home studio and have been filling it up with Strats, Teles, Gibsons and many others. For the price I paid, ($175 US) I'm extremely pleased with this guitar. I expect it to become my go-to workhorse - once I remove the tone pot and install an onboard overdrive circuit in its place.

This is the triple pick-up model, kinda like a strat/tele hybrid
Made in China - but don't stop reading !
T type body, but shorter and rounder than a Fender
25.5 inch scale
Alder Body - mine has a great butterscotch transparent finish
3ply pick guard
3 x Vintage wound single coil pick ups
Bolt on Maple neck and fingerboard
Vintage frets (21) and tuners (non locking)
Ash tray bridge
No accessories, or at least I didn't get any.

All my ratings are based on what I paid for this guitar. If I was comparing it to my other guitars my ratings might be lower, but for the price this guitar is great.

I'm still learning, aren't we all ? So I play a bit of everything but mainly rock, funk, and blues, no real metal. I'm using it through a Marshall JCM2000 DSL 401, no effects. Clean it ranges from a really bright twang through to some pretty full gutsy grunt (not quite in humbucker territory obviously). Kick on the distortion and the range expands considerably, I reckon this guitar would cope with pretty much anything except the really heavy stuff.

The finish to this guitar is outstanding for the price I paid. The body is a sweet transparent butterscotch which really shows off the grain of the wood underneath. If you look really hard you can just make out where the 3 parts of the body have been joined, but you have to be up real close. I'm almost afraid to admit that the finish on this guitar (cosmetically at least) is almost as good as my ??900 2008 Fender USA Tele in Crimson transparent. There were a couple of small black marks on the body when I bought it, but they came off easily with a bit of elbow grease.
The 3ply black scratch plate could have done with a little better finishing on the lower horn. Although I have the maple fingerboard version the f/board has been stuck onto the maple neck, it isn't just one piece of wood, not that this really matters as the join is very hard to see.
The fret job is better than I have seen on many a more expensive guitar (a certian US maker beginning with G springs to mind). The neck fits well into the pocket and the hardware is well secured and in 'new and shiny' condition.
The controls work well and feel solid, pickups were fine and the action though ok was a little high for me, but no biggy there.
One minor fault on my guitar is that at the end of the neck (by the pick-up) the fretboard has been slighly over rounded on one side, but again you have to look close to spot it, and it dosn't affect the playability.

Everything feels really solid. I bought this guitar to travel with so that I could afford to bang it around a bit and not worry about the resale value. I wouldn't gig with it but only because I don't need to, I think it would be fine.

No dealings with Peavey. The shop gave me a 1 year guarantee.

I've been playing just over a year. I own a Fender 2008 USA Standard Tele, a Blade Texas Standard Pro, an Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus and a Crafter slim arch. I put them through a Marshall JCM2000 DSL401 in my music room and a Roland Micro Cube RX when I'm elsewhere in the house or out and about.
If this guitar where stolen I'd buy it again in a heartbeat if I could find one.
As I said I bought this guitar as a cheap guitar to take on business trips and trips to visit family. I didn't expect much, but it's really surprised me. It hasn't got the depth of my Fender, or the VSC of my Blade, but it looks like it cost three times what I paid and it plays darn well. Pound for pound it's the best value guitar I've EVER bought. It's so good that I'm worried now about using it for the very purpose I bought it in case it got damaged ........... I know, I need to get over it!
I don't know if they are all this good, but if you see one hanging on a guitar shop wall give it a go, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Features way beyond a Fender. GREAT finish (glossy whitewash over clean solid wood) three pups (two strat like, and the bridge is tele) a high gloss slick nitro neck. Nice tuners hold fine, laminated pickguard, I can't fault it at all.

REALLY surprising here. It's one fault IMO) is that the bridge pup sounded too much like a Fender tele, so I swapped it for a Duncan hotrail. Get out of the way!!! I "could" have left the bridge pup, but since the other two were so "different" sounding for a tele, I thought tradition be damned! Tradition great is for people who like air cooled motorcycles :-)

Anyway, I like the way Telecasters play and feel in my hands, especially my right hand, but I really don't like the way standard tele bridge and the "lipstick" pups sound. That said, this one starts where all the others leave off. The only other Tele I have that I like as much is a Traditions Jerry Reid, but it sounds a LOT different than the Peavey, so now I play both. I STILL haven't paid equal the price on a American Fender standard tele :-)

Setup REAL nice, no fault here. Finish was flawless.

It's a hunk of wood with some wires... old tech, I suspect it'll last.

Peavey has been GREAT every time I called them. The rest of the guitar makers could learn a LOT from Peavey.

Ordinarily I'd give a bit of leeway for a $218 guitar. I could buy a Turser and get a less than wonderful guitar, but take into account that it's cheap. Not so with the Peavey. This guitar stands shoulder to shoulder with ANY tele made in looks, fit, finish, playability and sound. At the price it's being sold at, it's incredible.

Telecaster based body built of Basswood, H/S/S with high-output ceramic pickups, 5-Way selector switch, Maple (I think) neck with rosewood fretboard. Non-locking unbranded tuners, chrome hardware.

Sunburst finish, built in 00's I Imagine

This gutar can produce an honestly flattering array of tones for its price.

I play the guitar with a selection of decent pedals, overdrive, chorus, phaser Etc. through either a Roland Cube 30 or Vox AD50VT and the sound combinations are massive with this guitars pickups.

In terms of sound, I think this guitar would suit jazz/blues/classic rock players,with the single coils putting out some very smooth and wholly different sounds from each pickup combination. The sound is bright and full of tone but falls down when it comes to kicking out extreme 'oomph' from the bridge humbucking pickup meaning its probably unsuitable for hardcore heavy metal.

This guitar was professionally set-up at the where I bought it and the action is very good for a guitar of this price, the hum-bucking pickup needed a little adjusting as it was set too low at the factory, though this is probably nit-picking.
The neck is fantastic and really worthy of mention,and everything has been shaped and fitted perfectly. The guitar's very thin neck makes playing a breeze (it's playability isn't far off my epiphone les paul custom). I've played fender telecasters with a higher action and poorer finish at 4 times the price.
Like a few other reviews here, the sunburst finish looks a little odd on close inspection, though nothing worthy of docking marks for.

I've had this guitar for 2 years now and its seen plenty of travel, had drinks spilled on it and even been dropped a few times and no problems have come up as of yet.

The only problems are the jack socket occasionally getting loose and the selector switch knob being a little easy to pull off, however these are common problems on many guitars and easily solveable with a screwdriver/glue.

Never had to deal with customer support as of yet.

I've been playing for several years now at a decent level and music plays a big part in my life. I'd definitely recommend this guitar to beginners without a doubt. For more experienced players, i'd recommend it for those who are looking for a telecaster alternative, a beater/backup or a guitar for laying down some different sounds or recording with.

If it were lost or stolen i'd probably not buy another but instead go for the ACM or custom version (for even more options) however I would miss the guitar a lot as it has character!

This is a review of the standard Peavey Generation EXP guitar i.e. I'm reviewing the NON Piezo version unlike most people in this thread. How difficult is it to read and take note of the titles in the Peavey list guys? You've got your own thread for the Piezo version!

The features are really great if you can find one of these for a decent price. You've got great tonal flexibility from the pickups and the 5 way switch and the sort of solid hardware that Peavey is rightfully known for.

This guitars strong point is it's flexible sound. You've got a couple of guitars in one what with the gutsy rasping humbucker and the Strat type single coils and obviously the 5 way switch allows you to blend in between for even more variety. I love the crunch of the Humbucker and it has great clarity. Love the warmth of the neck pick-up and particularly like positions 2 and 4 where you can get interesting mixes of tone. No doubt the above average weight of the body and the solid build helps here. Get one and one thing you ARE going to love is the sound, for sure.

The hardware is more than up to the job. The tuners are unbranded but seem to increase by the same factor as the 16:1 Grovers that are on my Washburn. The body is heavy, the laquer and detailing great. I can agree with a previous comment about the burst finish looking slightly fake, maybe like those printed finishes you used to see stuck on some guitars. Colour-wise it's very bright, so perhaps that's why. Overall though, I think it's a very handsome guitar. Love the frets too, I'd describe them as medium-jumbo and think they're just right- some of the jumbo frets you see on guitars these days are so fat it[s difficult to fret a note and get it in tune ffs.

The neck is absolutely fabulous. I've gone for Wizard2 style necks in the past because, for my height, my fingers aren't too long. I never felt too comfortable though with them. I've had fatter Les Paul style necks too but then I struggled with the harder chords. This neck is the best yet. It has more depth than I thought I'd be able to use and yet is very useable AND comfortable because of the lovely C shaped profile. Absolutely love it.

The reason the guitar doesn't score higher is because it had slightly high 13th and 19th frets that prevented me from getting the action as low as I would like. I ended up doing a light fret level (not as hard as the guitar techs would have you believe- read up on it and save yourself the money). Now I'm happy with the action. I'm not naive enough to think that most guitars in this price bracket won't have the occasional problem here and there, they will. The reality is that companies probably don't spend the money on testing each and every model that leaves the factory that they might do with the guitars in the higher price brackets. I just got unlucky with this one. If you can, spend some time playing before you buy.

I'd drop this thing off the top of a high-rise and still expect it to be gig worthy, with a light re-tune of course ;)

Seriously, I've had a couple of Peaveys over the years and they have always been particularly well put together with that reassuring "tank" like quality and this is regardless of the different price points. They're the Volvo of the guitar world.

Bought second hand so don't feel I can comment here.

Even with the fret issues, and the fact that it isn't a sexy expensive guitar, I always find it raises a smile when I sit down with it. Whether it's the guitars ability to adapt to several styles of music I may choose to noodle with on the fly, or its great pickups and sex-on-a-stick neck, I always enjoy using it. And I'm really fickle!!

The only reason I can see I might part with it in the future is if I can come across one of the higher spec Piezo models of the same guitar. That slight extra bit of flexibility would be the icing on an already tasty cake.

Sunburst finish
tele style body
fixed bridge
21 fret
1 volume, 1 tone, 5 way selector
s/s/h

as far as the looks, I think it looks great, I play alot of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and other hard rock but wanted something that stood out a little differently. sounds great with the humbucker through distortion.
I have no use for the single coils on it, never use them.
was getting a horible buzz on the open G string so the nut has been replaced with a custom made one.
intonation was horrendous, nothing a screwdriver and digital tuner couldn't fix.
when I first got it, I would give it a 4, but new I could fix it up so sounds good now.

terrible !!! it was NOT setup. If you know how to make truss rod adjustments, intonation adjustments, action etc, then you will be okay and should have no problem fixing that though
got past that though, after doing a bit of work to it it feels great and I love playing it, the one thing I can't complain about is the look of the thing, by no means the look of an old school tele, it's pretty cool looking for a cheaper model guitar.
was going to give it a 5 for that lack of setup at the factory but will give it an 8 just for the looks.

I don't play live, been playing 20 years for a hobby and don't plan on playing in front of anyone else really but friends and family.
as far as durability, I'm really careful with it, don't want to scratch it up
the finish seems pretty thick and not likely to wear.

never dealt with the company directly

I've been playing 20 years, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc. I finally got something that doesn't look like a strat copy so I'm really thrilled about that. also wanted a nice subtle looking guitar that could still hammer out hard rock and not sound like crud.
If it were stolen (how do you "lose" a guitar) I would NOT replace it. Don't get me wrong, oh I love this guitar yes !!! but life is too short to not try new things, I'd most likely buy something else but remember the Generation EXP with fond memories, I'd miss it yes but would want to give something else a try. I think my opinion on that would be the same for ANY guitar I owned.
my sights are set on buying an Iommi G400 sig. to play C# standard tuning. will still use my Peavey for playing DP and really early Sabbath.

The best part is the finish.
i have it in trans blue, and it's got sort of a wood effect on it.

21 frets, i do play a solo in a song that uses fret 22, which is a bit gay, but usually when i get to that bit, i'm like "oh yes.." and i have to bend the 21st.

loose, smooth metal machine heads.

2 single coil, 1 humbucker.

5 way selector, volume, 1 tone.

rosewood fretboard, (i prefer maple, but ok)

tele shape, with a much better headstock.

Distortion.
it's quite good. you can get hard heavy sounds, and still the reckless feedback.

Clean.
has warm baritone, but can also reach a twangy sound.
Good for: grunge, jazz, metal

it's all pistine when you get it...

the only thing that i noticed, was that it had saw dust in the part where you change strings.

it's quite shite in this department.

so far, i have:
knocked 2 tuning pegs off, (the whole thing, not just the part you turn).
knocked the black casing off the pick up selector.
made about 1000000 dents in it.
had to unscrew the input, because it got a bit dislodged, i also had to get part of my jack lead out.

it's perfect for smashing, because this is the only part that is bad. only, i can't afford to completely destroy a guitar every night, so i was slightly concerned about what happened to it after i first used it.

i don't know.

quite good. i like it, i don't uses it live too often, for reasons you may have guessed. if i had loads of money, i would want more of them.

PEAVEY GENERATION EXP CUSTOM.

Tele type guitar with ash body with quilted amber finish on top (sweet). Maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. Grover machine heads (appreciated). ACM acoustic bridge. HB-SC-HB pickup arrangment with 5 position selector.

Essentially a Nashville Power Tele with more style and much, much cheaper!

Jazz to Country blues via some disturbing sonic territory in between. The twang's the thang. I try to keep it mean, but always clean.

Positives: Great body weight,and this does affect the overall acoustic whatever else you may hear. Electrically (almost) as versatile as you like. The bridge humbucker is chrome top aiming at a PAF type sound. The rear is more DiMarzio, with a real honk. In between a generic strat style single coil. Switching is 5 way. Volume and tone for the magnetic pick ups. PLUS another volume for the acoustic side and a 3 way selector switch to bring in the acoustic sound in addition or by itself. Routes stereo or summed mono. Acoustic sound is great, the blended sounds even better.

Negatives: No coil tap on humbuckers or phase switch on the middle pick up. If this is supposed to be a tone machine why oh why are these options not included? A couple of p-p pots would do it. How difficult would that be to reach perfection? Frustration..

Note: I had a battery die on me and so took it out. I thought it wouldn't affect the magnetic electric sound when used by itself, but it did and the o/p level dropped dramatically when in mono, it also (to my ears) cut the top off the signal as well. On looking inside there is quite a complex wiring loom around a PCB and the overall balance of the sound seems to depend on the pre-amp being powered.

Moral: keep a spare battery handy at all times.

I bought it second hand, condition waise it was 'as new'. Everything was spot on. In my experience Peavey know they have a reputation to keep and stick to the core values that makes them so dependable..

Peavey do a good pro guitar. I also have a Rockingham and a Cropper Classic so I am a fan. They are built for live use, so durability is inherent. Hardware is excellent. It stays in tune thanks to the Grovers, and I see no problem with the strap buttons. Finish is solid back and front.

I would use it without a back up, but only if I had a spare battery in the bag.

Never dealt with them

Playing on and off for yonks. This was my bargain buy of 2005, especially as I got an almost new 30W Marshall amp thrown in! The action is great, the sound wonderful and quality wise is good as anything up to #500. A real pro country guitar, its only rival is the Parker P-36. However, the P-36's 'space age '53 tele' vibe is totally different sonically. The EXP is warmer and able to nail those rich Gibson PAF blues tones that elude the Parker's unashamed bright maple fingerboard single coil tele twang.

I now use both this and the P-36 for country and blues stuff and beyond. At first I thought the P-36 would waste the EXP, and was going to sell it even before the P-36 arrived. I'm now pleased I didn't. Instead they became friends and now make the perfect combination. When using the P-36 and this together, I began to see just how distinctive the EXP Custom is. Sure they both honk and twang, it's just the EXP just has a darker, more complex, personality.

I vow I'll never divorce it, and now feeled ashamed for considering such drastic action; but (like us all) it ain't quite perfect and p-p pots are now on the shopping list if I can tap into those pickups!!

I have the EXP with ACM, which is surprising getting the ACM at the price. The finish is sunburst but I had the further choice of blue or black. The blue model had a slightly more pronounced 'piezo' sound, more bass, treble and level but as the guitar has no tone control fro piezo I opted for the sunburst which had a more balanced tone with the conventional pickups. The neck has an unusual 5 bolt fixing and the top upper bout is more similar in shape to a Yamah Pacifica 311 than a Fender Tele. The neck joins a fret closer than the Fender so the top strap button is level with the 15th rather than the 16th fret and the bridge pieces are 25mm closer to the end button than on a Fender.

In ths shop through a two amp acoustic/electric setup it sounded fine, although I thought the piezo sounded better than the electric, although the 'both' setting was very usable. I'm currently playing mostly all-humbucker guitars so single coils sound a bit odd in comparison. I did plug the EXP into the same amp at home as my CL200 which has Mighty Mites and the EXP pickups were powerful enough to overdrive the amp enough for me at the same settings, although with a much less defined bottom end. OTOH the SRV single-coily 'twangy' sounds were very evident. I'd also played an EXP the previous week in another shop in the same chain through a Vox Valvetronics 2x12 with good results. I'd have probably bought that one but it was at the RSP, so I deferred until I'd re-checked the price my local branch.

All seems reasonable for a mid-priced guitar. The tuner pegs were aren't all set quite parallel and the neck 'feels' slightly dry. I'm comparing here to a Yamaha Pacifica 112 and a Cort CL200 which I bought for similar money but both beat the Peavey, but not by a great deal. OTOH cheap guitars are astonishingly good these days whoever seems to make them. The pickup selector knob was preventing proper selection of the neck pickup. Easing the knob up the shaft slightly corrected this, but it's a fairly basic quality control item. The control cavity is screened with conductive paint and the ACM circuit board has a couple of unused 'tags' marked EQ1 and EQ2. I wonder how/if those could be used? I would have been less pleased if I'd paid closer to the #250 (UKP) RSP.

At the price I paid I don't think I'd get anything close, maybe 3 pickups *or* piezo (unlikely) but not both. It's my only hybrid (piezo/electric) guitar, for which I've had an attraction, so I don't have much to compare it to other than some Parker guitars which are in a different price/quality range. Given the choice of 'types' I'd have probably preferred a Strat or PRS style but a 'Nashville' Tele is the offering, so that's it.

I have now had this 2004 model Generation EXP with ACM for 2 months, playing it weekly at church + a couple of large outdoor summer gigs. Mine is the flame top basswood with beautiful finish and binding. 3 pickups H/S/S, with Piezzo. 5 position switch 3 control knobs and a switch for magnetic, piezzo or combined effect. Perhaps the best neck I have played (including my LP studio). Very straight and fast. Grover tuners.

OK here is where this baby shines. Admittedly this will not produce the smooth-buttery chording sounds like the LP, but this is incredibly versitile. I play soft gospel, hard country, old rock and roll and Tex-Mex rock (Los Lonely Boys) and this does it all. Switch forward for the Strat sound, 2nd position for Tele country, middle for full chording and blues...Add the ACM piezzo for nice acoustic (especially with an acoustic amp) or split the stereo cable into both an acoustic and standard combo or tube amp. WOW what possibilities.

Great set up from factory. I did have to replace the output cable due to popping sounds, now it is great. Replaced strings with Peavy 10's. Minimal intunation adjustment needed.Fretboard and frets finished first class. Perfectly fitted bone nut.

I ahce played this guitar agressivly, no problems to date. I have a Peavy Jazz fusion, a LP studio, Guild acoustic. I always carry this now and use it more than the others because of versatility and wonderfull sounds. I am still experimenting with positions and tone combinations. Great hardware, solid strap buttons (but did order strap locks). I always carry a backup but so far hav not needed one!

I did write Peavy concerning the jack, Got an immediate e-mail. A+ guys to work with.

After 30 years of playing various styles (and still learning) but getting a little slower, I would buy this again in a heart beat, and would replace it if lost or stolen. I do not dislike anything on this axe. It is truly a cross between Strat and Tele with acoustic thrown in. I love it. Get one, I know you will agree.

Made in Chine
paid $179.99
22 frets
1 vol., 1 tone, 5 way switch on metal plate
HSS - stock
Basswood string through body
Tele style
non locking tuners
fast neck
came with 2 allen wrenches

Single coil neck is perfect for blues, mid single coil you can get blues to some really good country out of, and the bridge Humbucker is great for rock to heavy metal. I have read where some have found the nect single coil to be a bit tinny sounding, but I have found this to be the case only with the destortion cranked way up, I play it clean. The sustain on this guitar, like others have said, goes on forever, and depending on your settings, amp, and what gear your using, the 5 way selecter gives you many different options for sound. I use a Silvertone 15 watt amp with a DOD Death Metal Distortion stomp box and a Arion Hot Watt 2 headphone amplifier. My only dislikes was that it didn't have 24 frets - but I knew that before I ordered it. It was also not available in red, which was out of stock, so I ordered the sunburst - which looks stunning.

The guitar played fine out of the box, but the action was a bit too low for my liking, so I raised the saddles two full turns (each saddle has two spots for the tiny allen wrench, simply give each spot for the allen wrench one to two full turns to raise the action of the strings). Once I raised the action, I checked the intonation, and it was dead on. Didn't have to ajest the neck pickup, but did raise the mid pickup a bit more (do this by turning the two tiny screws off to the sides of the pickups) and I also raised the bridge humbucker till it almost touched the strings, the way I like it. I also replaced the stock strings for better ones, boomers, which sound great. Have not unscrewed the pickguard to check inside, but trust everything is fine. The 5 way selecter switch is rock solid, unlike my first guitar which was a silvertone rocket. And all I had to do to the vol. knob was tighten the screw which holds it on, as the knob was very loose (the knobs are heavy metal knobs with a tiny screw in the side - so tightening was easy). And I was very impressed with the output jack where the chord plugs in from the amp, very solid, not cheap like on my silvertone. 5 way selecter is smooth with no noise when switching. The only flaw on the guitar itself was one tiny screw was put in a tad crooked on the pickguard...no big deal.
If you do need to set the intonation, it's the screws to the backside of the bridge.

I don't play live, don't plan to, but it would be no problem with this guitar, as it is build solid and has a solid feel to it. If I have any concerns at all, it would be with the plastic cap on the five way selecter switch - if it had been all metal it would have been a plus...may look into upgrading it later. The sunburst finish is stunning and doesn't appear as if it would wear too easily. The strap buttons seemed solid enough...but i don't leave anything to chance and replaced them with dunlop locking straplocks, which would be a good $20 investment for anyone. I can't see anything that would lead me to believe that I couldn't depend on this guitar, it's rock solid.

Don't know about any warranty and haven't had to deal with the company and if I ever did have a problem I would most likely take it to my local guitar shop. The guitar came with no paper work, which is why I gave some advice on setting the guitar up.

I've been playing for about eight months now, my first guitar being a Silvertone Bullet which was not built well at all. If stolen, I'd lose many nights of sleep while waiting for another one just like it to arrive in the mail. I love the 5 way selecter and the heavy metal vol. and tone knobs as well as all the different sounds you can get out of the pickups. It was my intention to replace one or more of the stock pickups when I ordered it, but now that I've played them, I think I'll keep them as they are. My son likes this guitar so much he's thinking of ordering one - the sunburst is just stunning. I also love the fact that the control knobs are not cheap plastic, but are heavy metal and that it has a rugged output jack. The guitar has a fast neck and just feels good around your neck and against your body. It's not too heavy and it's not too light, and just has a very solid feel to it. I did compare this guitar to two others, an Omen 6 by Schecter and an Rg 321 by Ibanez...both of these guitars cost more, but the Peavey won out hands down. I just wish this had been the first guitar I had bought...it would have saved me from buying a second guitar...

I bought the Generation EXP Custom, which has lots of advantages over the standard Generation EXP. The EXP is a tele-style shape, made of basswood, with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. It has 22 frets altogether, and has a very comfortable 'C' shaped neck. The Custom has the addition of Grover tuners, which gives the guitar more tone when played acoustically (i.e. not plugged in).
Its features the addition of an excellent humbucker, replacing the standard's top single coil, which is good for jazz and blues. The single coil is good for strat like tones (naturally), and the end humbucker is very powerful, and is great played through distortion. The magnetic pickups use a five-way selector switch, which uses a special wiring technique to split the humbuckers in the 'in-between' positions.
The Graphtech Piezo pickup saddles are in a hardtail tele-style bridge, plus on the Custom there is an extra pickup inside the neck which, combined with the Grover tuners, gives the guitar excellent warm tones. A minature toggle switch can select between the magnetic pickups, piezo pickups, or a combination of both for some very interesting tones. The guitar has its own acoustic modelling circuitry (ACM), which is powered by a 9v battery. This helps the guitar's piezo pickups sound as close to the real thing as possible.
It also has a stereo socket, which when used with a stereo y-lead (as supplied) splits the magnetic and piezo signals to two different plugs.
The guitar has three control dials - master tone, magnetic pickup volume and piezo volume. Also the guitar has a small trimmer potentiometer under the access cover to limit the sound of the piezo system.
All in all this has to be one of the most versatile guitars to date. There are many combinations for pickups, and you can experiment to get almost any sound out of the guitar.

The EXP can produce any sound you want - from heavy metal to rockabilly - all thanks to the choice of combinations you can achieve. The Custom sounds better acoustically, thanks to the Grover tuners and an additional 5th screw for the neck, both providing great tones. The top humbucker is good for blues and jazz with a mellow, cool, tone. Combined with the single coil, it sounds just like a strat. The heavy humbucker at the bottom is great for driving distortion, and gives this guitar a heck of a punch. The ACM circuitry is great, and run through a speaker gives a very convincing acoustic tone. The only thing I think would be useful would be a seperate tone control for the ACM. This can actually be added quite easily (using a double pot, for example) but it would have been a very good feature for the guitar.

As this is the Custom guitar, it is finished much better than the standard. The main difference is the Custom is made in Korea, and the standard is made in China. The extra price for the Custom is well worth it - the fit and finish are of excellent quality.
The Custom's main appealing feature is the flamed maple top - this gives an amazing look, and sets it apart from other guitars. The headstock is also finished in a glossy jet-black finish, and has a 'faux-binding' effect, where the edges are slightly recessed to show the natural wood colour. This guitar is certainly high quality, and is sure to turn heads.
There are little details that sets this guitar apart from the standard - for example, the screws are recessed in the pickguard and for the switch, which subtly hints this guitar is of the highest quality.
The action of the guitar out of the box was - and is - the lowest I have ever seen. It makes the Custom very easy and comfortable to play.
Overall this guitar shows with pride that the extra #100 or so is worth the difference.

The EXP feels solid and secure. The addition of the 5th neck-retaining screw makes it more reasurring to use. Combined with a strap-lock system (I use the planet-waves lock strap) this guitar is reliable, in every sense of the word. The switch cover is very secure (different to the standard where it was quite loose and felt like it was going to drop off), and all the other hardware parts are solid. The minature switch for the pickup selection could do with a cover, as grime can get inside the workings and make it faulty. I haven't had a problem with this, but for heavy use you can buy small rubber covers for about 50p from electronic component suppliers.
This guitar is all you need - I would gig without a backup. It's very dependable, and will last for ages.

I've never used Peavey's support, so I can't comment. Their website has forums that you can use if you need help with it.

I use this guitar with a Zoom GFX-8 pedal, run through a hi-fi system (to make use of the stereo effects). The combination of sounds you can get is endless. I love this guitar - in my opinion its the best around. If it were stolen, I would make every effort to get it back, but I would definitely buy another to replace it if it were lost.
If you're looking for an excellent guitar, that you can get different tones out of and produce your own original sound, switch easily between acoustic and electric sounds, and want excellent quality and reliability, then get this. No questions.

Appearancewise the Generation guitars are something like a Tele copy but with definite Strat influences. If you own one of these, you can be proud not to be carrying one of the zillions of straight Tele/Strat clones out there; on the down side, you might feel this is something of a mongrel which doesn't look sufficiently distinctive as to have its own character.
My guitar is sold in the UK as the Generation EXP + Piezo, centrally placed in Peavey's Generation range. On paper, this guitar's specs are fantastic - but unfortunately Peavey has so many conflicting specs for these Chinese-made guitars (the specs and even the model designations seem to be in a state of flux) that it's really hard to figure out exactly what you're getting. Having worked through contradictory info from Peavey reps in the US and the UK, and looked closely at my guitar, this is what I believe I have:
* No uncertainty as to pickups - double-single-single coil configuration, with a five-position pickup selector.
* This guitar also has undersaddle pickups for a pseudoacoustic sound that can be blended in or used or its own.
* The guitar may also have Peavey's ACM circuit which helps simulate and improve that acoustic sound. (Newer versions of the Generation guitars may omit the undersaddle pickups altogether for an acoustic sound derived purely from built-in circuitry.)
* The HSS pickups have a volume and tone control knob, while the acoustic output has a volume control only.
* A stereo cable is supplied for splitting the undersaddle and standard pick-up outputs.
* Woods are uncertain: the body is alder or basswood; the neck may be maple, with a rosewood fretboard.
* Scale length is 25.5" (64.8cm). Nut width is a narrow 1.6" (41mm).
* One thing this guitar doesn't have is the weight of a Tele - it's relatively light and well-balanced, comfortable to play in your lap or if you're standing up.

I play this guitar through a Zoom Fire 15 amp. The double-coil pickup produces a nice midrangey sound at a good level; I like playing funky rhythms with it. The single coils are a bit weak - the centre pickup is insipid clean - but produce a pleasant twang nonetheless. None of the pickups seems noisy at all. Whether played clean or with some distortion, the guitar has a nice bite to it, and adding some acoustic output into the mix can produce an appealing bright timbre when used with a bit of distortion. Used alone, however, the acoustic output doesn't have the resonance or woodiness of a real acoustic, nor does it resemble the most quacky piezo output you might get from an electro-acoustic. Instead it sounds like an unusually bassy electric guitar with a bit of a metallic "chime" to the notes. The undersaddle pickups are quite sensitive to pressure, too - medium strumming gives a faint "thumpiness" underlining the acoustic output. So while the acoustic output is great as an ingredient to blend in, you'd have to have a bizarre idea of an acoustic sound to want to use this in place of a real acoustic guitar.
Overall to me this guitar doesn't particularly recall any one sound - it offers a big range of possibilities, and a really good player (ie not me) would get interesting results with it.

Peavey supplies these guitars in a choice of five finishes. Mine is the sunburst, which on this guitar has a slightly fake, mass-produced look to it, but is otherwise quite satisfactory, the black transitioning to chrome yellow via red and orange. There's what Peavey calls "real body binding", which looks like white plastic, not unappealing but nothing special either. The neck has no binding but is otherwise excellent - just feels really smooth and fast, sort of like a slimline D-profile. Frets were competently finished. On the negative side, the narrowness of the nut doesn't suit me personally, and the tuners are really mediocre.
Where the guitar doesn't score is how it was supplied from the factory. The neck was much too straight and one pickups too close to the strings, causing a bit of "drag" on the strings. There was buzzing all over the place, while the intonation was completely out. More seriously, a wiring error meant that the guitar was always on even when not plugged in, and it drained two batteries in the space of a week. That was fixed in a few minutes in the dealer's workshop. Once properly set up (substituting 10s for the 9s it came with also helped the feel), the guitar really started to shine. That said, it was definitely strange that in order to get the intonation correct, the saddles had to be screwed down almost to the base of the bridge, ie they ended up about as far from the nut as they could get; I measured the resulting saddle-nut distance at something like 25.6".

Now that the teething problems are fixed I see no reason why this guitar shouldn't be a workhorse for many years. The obvious upgrade would be to the tuners. Everything else feels very sound.

Peavey in the US and UK were really good about answering my list of questions before I bought the guitar - it's a pity they didn't actually agree on several of the answers. Not good is the fact that the guitar came with no documentation (as of my writing this you still can't get documentation on the EXP series of Generation guitars on Peavey's website either - yet these guitars have been around for at least a year). Also, the guitar came with no form to register ownership and no warranty information whatsoever.

I'm basically an acoustic rhythm guitarist but I keep a couple of inexpensive electrics lying around to take me to other musical places, and the fact I can tear myself away from my acoustic to use this guitar indicates how much fun it is to play. I love the fact that it's reminiscent of a Tele yet so much more comfortable to play, and it is so versatile. Generally a quality product and fantastic value.

This guitar to sum it up is a direct Fender Style cross between a Strat and a Tele. This guitar also has a Piezo pickup that adds acoustic type sound to it. The pickups are all stock Peavey pickups consisting ot 2 sinlge coils, and a dual coil at the bridge. Typical of a fender style is the 5 position switch, tone, and volume. There is an extra knob for the Piezo.

The sounds you can get out of this ax are supurb!!! Playing on this thing brought back memories of the 70's. If the goal was to get a old fender sound, they did a good job of it. Even does a decent job with jazz. The Piezo can also combine with the regular pickups for some interesting fat sounds.

This guitar was setup pretty good when I got it. I had to adjust a few minor things, but it looked like it had been in the store for a while. Put some 1/2Rounds Stainless Steel Strings on it, and it was good to go. There was a crack near the back cover, but it hardly takes anything away from it. It's Cherry red, andother than the crack, the paint job was done very well.

Already played a couple of gigs with it, and this guitar more than holds up to the task.

N/A

I needed this guitar to finish my collection I was looking into getting a Tele(Squier Standard Telecaster) Cause I like the way it played. I was also thinking of buing a cheap folk acoustic/electric. This guitar filled the gap then some. This guitar play cirles around the Squier Tele. This is one of my guitars I would hate to loose. If I did, I would replace it in a hurry,

I was looking for a 6 string electric guitar to bang around on when not playing my Rickenbacker 12 string. I've had a Bullet, Telecaster, Jaguar and '59 Strat in the past so something Fender-like was in order. I couldn't justify spending too much on one and the MIM's didn't do it for me. I bought an OLM "Music Man" copy off of eBay, but was disappointed. Sold it. I'm a Peavey Classic amp fanatic (best tube available for the money, but that's another review), so I started looking at several Peavey guitars. I wanted something with at least 1 Humbucker, preferably 3 pic ups with a 5 way switch and not too expensive. I also like to "personalize" my guitars to make them one-of-a-kind. I can't have a guitar that looks like everyone else's. Most of the hardware on the Generations are Tele interchangeable with plentiful parts available to customize with.

I saw a used gold on on eBay and read some of the review here to see what people thought of them. My Ric is "Maple-Glo" with black hardware and the picture of the Peavey's body color looked to be about the same with a black pick guard, so it appeared it would be fairly easy to mimic the Ric, looks wise. When I got it, the color wasn't quite what I had expected, more of a copper color (a reaction not too uncommon, according to other reviews).

But the guitar itself was way more than I expected. The neck on these rivals tose I tried costing 2-3 times as much. The frets were trimed correctly (something that really bothered me about the Mexican Fenders, I actually cut myself trying one!). The pick ups are balanced well and each gets the sound you'd expect from it's location. I was amazed at the sustain I could get out of something this inexpensive.

The tuners were the biggest disappointment, Two of the six had some slippage. But I was changing them to black Schallers anyway, so not a big deal. But if you don't plan on doing anything to one, check the tuners out before buying. The only other issue I had was the routing for the control plate seemed a little big. The screw holding the control knob end didn't have anything to bite into. Not sure if this is a common problem, but it's an easy fix with some epoxy.

Black Schaller tuners, black DR coated strings, some black roller type string trees, a gold telecaster control plate (see them on ebay all of the time for around $10), a gold telecaster humbucker bridge (eBay, $20-$30) that screws right in, the holes match the stock one. And some gold and black pearloid knobs. For around $250 I have a guitar that not only plays like a $500 guitar, it has the looks of something costing a lot more than it did. That not so desireable gold body color really came alive with the black and gold hardware and I get a lot of compliments on it.There are so many parts available out there to upgrade these, the color and style combinations are almost endless. I just wish that there was enough room to put one of the Bigsby/humbucker conversions on it, in gold. Now that would be a guitar!

Great guitar to start with and at the price, plenty of room to improve or customize and still not break the bank.

Wanted a Fender sound, with a humbucker. And sustain. Got it.

Used guitar, supposedly "owned by a collector" so I'm not sure how it came from the factory. The guy may have been a collector, but the way it was set up when I got it tells me he wasn't a player. 30 minutes and it was set like I like 'em. Other than the control plate routing, fit and finish were surprisingly good. Watch the tuners, though. They look like a Schaller mini, but appear from the markings to be made in China. If you change them to a real Schaller (M6L), the mounting screw on the back doesn't line up and will leave an exposed hole. Other models or brands might match up, but I got such a deal on the M6L's, I was willing to overlook the holes. After all, this is a budget guitar project.

So far, no problems. I don't gig anymore, so I don't need to worry about it being out and about. But, I would trust it to do it's job. Strap buttons were immediately replaced with Strap-Locks (once bitten....).

I've always had good experiences with Peavey, so I have no reason to expect anything otherwise.

I sold every other guitar I owned (4) to buy my Ric12 5 years ago. It's been my dream guitar ever since I saw one in the mid-sixties. But even it succumbed to my desire to personalize and upgrade. Who'd a thought you could improve on a $1400 guitar. But no guitar, no matter the price, is perfect. Even makers of expensive guitars have budgets to keep and comprimises to make.

Pretty tough to measure up to some of the others I've had in the past. I never should have sold the Jaguar or the '59 Strat, but you've all been there. I haven't looked at electric guitars for more that 15 years and was unpleasently surprised at what your dollar actually buys these days. I remember when Japanese Fenders were looked down on as a budget version. Now they go for more than some of the American models. Don't get me wrong, I've had several Japanese acoustics and for the money, you can't match them. But in the under $250 range for an electric, it's either the Far East or Mexico. I'd like to try some of the American made Peavey Tele-style guitars that are out there (used), but I believe that the Generation, with some upgrades, can hold it's own, and surpass, anything in this price range.

I play through a Peavey Classic 30 (with Sovteks) and a 112E closed-back extension cabinet. I like Boss stuff for effects and after trying several other brands, went with a Boss ME-50 multi-effects pedal. The Peavey sounds great through this combination. For the money, I couldn't find another guitar to take it's place. I would buy another one to replace this one if stolen (how do you loose a guitar?) and I'm already considering another one to try some new ideas on. The basic guitar is a great starting place and $100 goes a long way to make something easy to play and proud to show.

I bought the Generation EXP w/ACM Quilt Top Brown Sugar New, in October of 2003. The ACM, acoustic circuit modeling is chip, or model of a HD-28. Acoustic Set up is a tri system, ACM Chip, a Fishman Piezo w/separte pick up on each string, and a pick up in the neck to give the neck tones. HMDBcoil/S/H and a 5 way switch. Vol and Tone for the Elec and Vol only for Acoustic. Grover Tuners,1 side 6. A stereo cord included, signal may be sent to two amps or two channels on the board. The micro swich is a 3 way, Acoustic (UP)
Electric (DN) and Both in the Center positon.

I have many guitars, and most very high end. I hate to admit it, but since I got My ACM, all are but retired. I am a Woship Leader, and he the need to swap acoustic to electric often, My ACM, has a huge acoustic sound that rivals my '76 D-55 Guild, action is awesome. Because you can use so many combo's of pick-ups and combine the ACM with the electric, the range of sounds is almost unlimited
I run mine,via a V-amp, electric in the normal in and ACM Aux where it is unaffected by my effects...

It came ready to play, right out of the box. I made an adjustment to the Single or center coil, because I do alot of finger picking work, and I kept hitting the pickup, Other than that,nothing. The Top is Gorgious and bound, nice weight and feel. Fast neck, and tele style but a little more room, and easier access to the 15th and up frets.

I have many guitars, and most very high end. I hate to admit it, but since I got My ACM, all are but retired. I am a Woship Leader, and he the need to swap acoustic to electric often, My ACM, has a huge acoustic sound that rivals my '76 D-55 Guild, action is awesome.

It carries a 5 year waranty on the ACM and guitar, I have had mine 6 months, and use it more than any other guitar I own or have owned. FINISH IS THICK GLOSSY and Smooth A Peavey REp. was demoing this guitar when I heard it. At first, I heard it, but did not see it, I thought the player was on a Taylor or Guild. Then I saw the Peavey.. I bought it on the spot, but I had to order it... the one they had was just a demo

I am a player of 30 plus years. I have, and have had many guitars over the years,SG,Srats, Tee's, I still have my, Bob Wier '77 Ibanez w/Tree of life, '65 Guild X150 archtop, 4 193o's archtops, Guild D-55 '76, Fernandes Tele, the list goes on. As I sais earlier, my ACM has taken them out of my hands and on the hanger or in the case. I would and might buy a second as my back up. Right now its the Bob Wier, but I have'nt even broke a string, origional 46-9 still on it "PEAVEY" STRINGS.... GREAT GREAT GUITAR

Generation EXP with Piezo.
Only knowledge of manufactor and wood used is from other reviewers.
Two single, one humbucker and Piezo pick-ups.
5 way selector for the s/s/h set up plus a piezo-s/s/h.mix.
Volume & tone controls for the s/s.h, and volume control for the piezo.
Tele style shape, sunburst with white pick guard.

I'm fairly new to electric and play through a Fender DSP90. I'm amazed at the variation in sounds available what with the piezo also being able to mix it with the other pick-ups. Only drawback here is that the volume of the piezo is about three times greater than the s/s/h pick ups so you must make sure you balance the piezo's volume control with the s/s/h if you plan to switch from one to the other.

I'll probably have someone check the set-up although through my amateur eyes it seems ok. The pick guard had taken a bit of a battering from it's life in the local music shop.
Not over impressed with Peaveys choise of colours. I must thank the guy at Music Matters for his patience, he pulled up the Peavey website to view the colours. Settled on the sunburst by default although it is growing on me but as one reviewer said it looks a bit 'toy' like.
The pick-up selector knob pulls off very easily.

Don't know yet. But dispite the 'toy' mention it does have a robust feel to it[apart from that knob]. No hesitation on gigging with it.

n/a

I mainly play acoustic and have only ever dabbled with electric before. Was thinking of going into it big time and tried Fenders, Gibsons and PRS amongst others but didn't really know what I was after. I think the piezo did it for me, it really gives an excellent electric/acoustic compromise but I do love all 5 s/s/h combinations. Still can't quite believe the price. In the Uk a US Tele would cost about #650 and a basic Gibson Les Paul about #800.
Would I buy it again? YES.

2004 Generation EXP Piezo
Ash body
5 way selector
1-Volume and 1-tone for magnetic, 1-volume for Piezo
Tele style with string thru body.
Paid $360 online new

Actually bought the standard first, liked it but it had some serious dings in the basswood body so sent it back and found the piezo version for a few bucks more so splurged, glad I did.

Am using a Peavey Classic 30, and am not even endorsed by peavey.

The Standard EXP was real noisy at the 3,4,5 and fifth selections.

The Piezo model is quiet and superb. Beautiful resonant harmonic tones from the piezo (but don't quite think acoustic sounding, more like a solid body capturing the acoustic vibrations from the strings) give a cello or viola like swirl, best position for me is the second with the piezo at half volume and the magnetic p/u's set at 3/4 volume with a nine o'clock tone. The classic 30 is another review but playing through it with a cranked up preamp and tank reverb is like heaven.

The humbucker is mediocre, but nice to have for crunch rhythm.

If you can squeeze the extra bucks buy the piezo.

Action was set up nice with the factory strings- probally nines. Restrung with 11's and will probally need to lower action.

If you are looking at getting a perfect looking guitar from peavey, I don't think that will be possible. This being my second try, the pickup guard came all scruffed up with no protective lining. The ubiquitious volume knob fell off when taking out of the box- some chinese dude must be very amused at getting the better of us rich fat americans by not tightening the knobs. The battery compartment for the piezo has literally no play for putting the battery in, I had to take the whole back apart to free the power lines- bogus. The black finish is nice and all the components work, decided to keep this one because it sounds so good, and would rather have a banged up sweet sounding axe than one that just looks good.

Peavey needs to spend some extra cents or whatever they use for money in china to get a better pickup selector, it looks like a piece of lego impaled on a toothpick

The guitar looks and feels solid despite cosmetic flaws, good value for $360

Peavey has good support, for the price of long distance call, you talk to live tech. They back their products and have personal experience with them on fixing my Classic 30.

Peavey needs to support all the generation exps with manuals, it is bogus to have to call to find out what knob does what. Again could be posted on web alone and printed by the customer.

Playing for 20 years, have several guitars in my life, and really like the sound and feel of the peavey. Spend the extra cash to buy the piezo model, not the quilted extreme model but the EXP with Piezo.

Perhaps I am naive, but I wished this was made in US, just assumed it would be. I would replace at this point if it was stolen or destroyed. Being able to mix in magnetic pickups with a resonant piezo pickup is my favorite feature.

Wish it had a neck thru body and perhaps a twelve string model available, I bet that would sound great.

Fender and Gibson better wake up, Peavey and other manufactuers are eating their lunch because there are enough people who rather play for sound than image.

This Made in China version of a Peavey EXP comes with a 5-way selector pickup switch with Telecaster-style volume/tone controls. It's got a bridge pickup, 1st coil of bridge pickup and middle pickup, middle pickup, middle and neck pickup and neck pickup.

Has a Tele-style body look to it. I had someone tell me that it looks like a Tele swallowed a Strat.

Rosewood fingerboard, the body has a solid feel to it?feels much better than a Danelectro.

Tuning keys are great. This guitar stays tune fairly well.

Sounds great but then I tend to want a clean sound in the songs I play so I haven?t experimented much.

I bought a Fender Frontman 15R Series II at the same time that I bought this guitar.

The action on this guitar is great. I had one problem: the G and B string would buzz when pressing the first fret. I took the guitar back to Don?s Music City and was told by the guitar tech that the frets had shifted during shipping. He said it was a common thing to happen to guitars?I had never heard this but I have no reason to doubt him. He fixed the buzz problem and I picked my guitar back up the same day that I dropped it off.

BTW, the guitar tech said that my Peavey EXP *felt* like a more expensive guitar.

I?ve had this guitar two weeks and, so far, I?m satisfied. Maybe that?s not long enough to give it a 9 but, wow, what a nice guitar for the price.

I emailed Peavey requesting some sort of documentation. The next day I received an email from Peavey with a bitmap attachment of the guitar pointing out it?s features not much of a document but they did respond fast. Peavey also provide me with a 1-800 number that I could call should I have any questions.

Don?s Music City gets a 10 rating. Nice folks very helpful. I will do more business with Don?s Music City.

I was looking for a guitar that I could play during a contemporary church service on Sunday nights?actually wanted a Tele but was antsy about spending a lot of money (it?s been 20+ years since I?ve performed in front of an audience). This guitar was a good way for me to spend very few dollars to have fun playing again. IMHO, this is a great guitar for the price.

Look for specs on the other reviews.

Tuners are nice. They feel tight and smooth. Haven't had any tuning problems with them.

Hollow under pick gaurd, which I've heard kills the sustain and tone on cheap guitars, but it's fine to me.

Neck feels a bit fat to me, at least fatter than my friends Samick Malibu, but I make do.

I play this guitar through a Behringer GX108 Firebird. I've gotten some great sounds out of this setup. This guitar can distort well, though I'd like more crunch, which may be the fault of the amp. Clean, it can get some nice bright sounds. The tone control ranges from tinny and bright to muddy and bassy and thick. I don't like the muddy part. It's just to, uh, undefined. There's absolutley no clarity. But that's the beauty of it. I may not like that sound, but I can change that in half a second, so I don't mark it down for the ABILITY to sound bad.

I don't know squat about guitar set-up and pickup adjustment. If you don't know either, you'll probably be fine with this guitar right out of the box, just as I was.

I was a bit mad about the color, though. My choices were red, black, sunburst, or gold. I didn't want red or black, and was stuck between sunburst and gold. I looked at the pictures on the dealer site and the Peavey website, and I decided I liked the gold. So that's what I ordered. Instead, I wound up with this orangish brown color. It's a far cry from gold. It's attractive, but had I known I was getting this, I would have picked sunburst. Orange just isn't my color.

The fret board on mine has a beautiful pattern that can only be described as "tiger eye." (Perhaps that would be a good name for it, considering it's orange body and black pickgaurd.)

It does have it's cosmetic flaws that are the only signs of it's origins in China. They are all minor though.

*bits of plastic and wood around the bridge and pickgaurd
*the nut seems off center but its fine
*there are two tiny drops of what seems like dried glue. Unnoticeable, but there.
*the pickguard is not perfectly cut
*the input jack was loose and fell back into the hollow cut for it. I unscrewed the plate and took off the first nut from the input and screwed it on outside the jack. It's fine now.

This guitar seems well built and I doubt any thing will ever go wrong. I'd play with it in a heartbeat without the need for a backup. The finish feels like it will last forever- thick as something that is really thick. Hardware seems trustworthy.

My only experience has been on their website trying to find warranty information and manuals for the guitar. So far I've come up empty. I'm not too impressed, though I haven't tryed contacting the company, and may not be giving them enough credit.

I've been playing for a year on an Alvarez acoustic. If it were stolen, at my current financial state I'd buy another (in sunburst). Except for its color, there really isn't anything I don't like. I'm trying to play acoustic and light rock and pop-punk. This guitar has been perfect for my needs, which vary from clean to grungy. It's all I could want.

Mine is a brand new 2003 model, made in China. It has standard Tele volume/tone controls, with a 5-way selector switch. The guitar has passive s/s/h pickups, with the humbucker in the bridge position. It has a really pretty gold sparkle finish, with black binding and a black pickguard (the gold and black look great together). The bridge has Tele-like Peavey saddles, and the strings mount through the body. The standard non-locking tuners keep the guitar in tune very nicely. I was afraid I might have tuning problems with the Peavey bridge saddles/tuners, but so far the guitar has stayed in tune well. The neck is a little fatter than my old Tele, and the fingerboard is rosewood, but it feels great and plays nicely. It's not a $1500 Tele Deluxe, but then nobody ever said it was supposed to be.

I play a wide variety of styles (rock, r & b, pop, some country, occasional funk, even a little reggae at times), and the guitar's pickup configuration lends itself nicely to all those styles. I'm primarily using a couple of old Fender Deluxe 112 amps with a Mesa Boogie extension cabinet (they're solid state amps, but from the sound you'd swear they've got tubes), and the guitar sounds great through them. You can get a smooth, full, almost jazzy tone from the neck pickup if you like that sort of thing, an out-of-phase Fender sound in the 2 and 4 positions, and the full humbucker effect in position 5. The guitar has an excellent pop sound, with a little Fender Tele and Strat mixed in there. So far I've found nothing to dislike about the sound.

I had the guitar set up by my favorite luthier as soon as it arrived from the factory. He said the intonation was way off, but hey--it just came out of the box, so what do you want? The pickups were adjusted just fine, no problems there. The only complaint I have with regards to hardware is a minor one--the volume pot is a little sticky, which is easily remedied. Otherwise, the thing plays and sounds just fine.

I've only played the guitar live a couple of times, but so far it's doing great. It seems as though it's solid, very well made, and it should last a long time. The strap buttons are solid, the guitar feels comfortable (it weighs 7 pounds), and I think it'll end up being my workhorse for a long time.

I haven't dealt with Peavey at all, since this is my first guitar with them. Sorry, nothing to report here.

I've been playing for 35 years (you'd think I'd be better by now!), and I own a couple of Fenders, a Danelectro, an old Hagstrom Swede from the 70's, and Martin and Gibson flattops. If the Peavey Generation EXP were lost or stolen, I'd buy another in a heartbeat. For the money, I don't think you could do any better. I'd compare it to a Tele for body style and a Strat for pickup selection. The sound is sort of a combination of the two, which is interesting and fun for me. So far I like everything about it. I chose this guitar because my son plays one of the high-end Generation EXP guitars (with the piezo pickup in the bridge), and he loves it. I thought I'd try the cheaper non-piezo model, and it's been a great buy.

Manufactured in 2003. Made in China.
Volume and tone, ala Tele. Five-way selector.
S/S/H configuration.
Peavey ceramic PUs.
25-1/2" scale.
Basswood body.
Rosewood fingerboard.
Dual expanding truss rod.
Real body binding.
Slightly small-scale Tele body and bridge configuration.

This is a poor man's one-size-fits-all Tele/Strat combo. Given that, it suits me perfectly. I am somewhat new to guitar, having played keyboards professionally for 26 years. I like roots "anything", from jazz to country to blues to rock instrumentals to rock classics. The only effects I use are 'verb, and occasionally tremelo.
The neck PU is similar, though not dead-on, to a Tele. Second position is classic spunky Strat. 3rd may be the most non-descript, although it has a very useful biting rock vibe. 4th, again is Strat territory. 5th (the bucker)is very nice; similar to a Tele 3rd, but not quite as "country brittle". The most outstanding feature of this guitar is its inordinate sustain. It just sings and sings, and with a little encouragement from the hands, sings some more. EXTREMELY lyrical. I really like it.

Perfect factory set-up. It plays beautifully, stays in tune wonderfully, and has a super-fast neck.
The pickups are fine, bur the "E" and "A" string are a little dead. Could be anything.
This guitar is a beautiful sunburst with binding. Zero flaws. Everything is solid and intact.

Solid as a rock. Absolutely dependable.

Peavey rules in customer support.

I've been playing guitar for about two years, and have a long professional run as a pianist. Here's the deal: I don't care if an instrument is made in Mandan, ND, or Finland. With computer tolerances, machine-built instruments can be as decent as handmade. Ultimately, if the the thing plays, it's all up to one's own hands anyway. For a buck-eighty, I don't thing a better guitar is available, and I own a ton of stuff. I like my made in Indonesia Squire Tele a little better, but that's because I loaded it with DiMarzio Twnag Kings. A whoppin' $300.00 total.
The long and short of it is that the EXP would suit any good player. Highly recommended.

s/s/h pickup config, peizo pickup in bridge, etc etc

It didn't sound that bad my major problem with it was it looked and felt like a toy. body looks like plastic the neck played reasonably well peizo pickup did'nt really make much difference in sound. Overall it sounded better than it looked.

I'm going to be honest here I payed $350.00 for this guitar and I would expect a little more. I opened the box and knobs started falling off right away. The pickup selector switch isn't even glued on! The body looks like a plastic toy! the neck wasn't seated properly so there was a gap I could stick a screwdriver in! I don't know maybe I expected too much but I think $350 is a fair amount of money to spend on a decent guitar and i've seen washburn's and ibanez's that are better than this guitar.

Can't comment I played it for 10 minutes and decided to send it back for a refund!

I've been playing for 8 years now and I own a Fender American standard Strat and a 1985 Gibson Les Paul. Maybe i'm spoiled from them but this guitar just didn't seem to cut it. I know it's only $350 but a little quality wouldn't hurt I guess you have to spend $800-1000 dollars no a days to get a solid well built guitar you'd be proud to play. Like I said if you have better guitars pass on this one if your a beginner I guess you could give it a try.

i got it brand new from a music store. it has 21 frets and a tele pickup cinfiguration with a s-s-h schema. the pickups are ceramic and man, you can get some serious harmonics in the bridge and bridge/mid selection. for the money, they (pickups) are the best you can get! they even have a piezo model which features, you guessed it, piezo pickups. 5-switch toggle positioning. it comes in all kinds of finishes; you can get more than peavey has on their official website (i saw some darker red ones at the store, not like the fire engine red online...although they had that color too). mine is a beautiful 3-color sunburst. white pickguard....nice 25.5" scale (what i prefer). great action. string through body allows for great sustain, plus the saddles are very nice and you can get a 1.5 step bend on the high E ! nice. looks like a mix between their Raptor and a fender telecaster. one word to describe features....TONS

well, this is great for any kind of music style. the Humbucker in the bridge has a nice, bright chunky sound (the ceramic pickups). It is not quite as think as some humbuckers, but really bright. the "in-between" positions have a great "empty", bright sound, and the single pickups sound good too. for the price, you absolutely CANNOT beat this sound!! the only thing that comes close (for the $$) is Squire, at it doesn't sound this nice and is more expensive. i got the generation EXP for $250 that included a hard case!!.. you can buy them from the peavey store online for , like $179.00. man, you can't beat that! one word to describe sounds...ABUNDANT

the action is nice and is easily adjusted with some small allen-wrenches; mine was fine from the store. the top isn't properly bookmatched, but is still a ver nice finish and nice wood grain ..mine is sunburst. but, what do you expect from $179...... flamed maple!?!? the tuning pegs are very nice. i likes them. the only problem i had was that the input jack was loose when i got it (the nut was on the inside, which didn't stop it from sinking down.). alls i did was unscrew it, place the nut on the outside, and whammo!...it ain't moving. i have seen a lot of people complain and take points off for this, but come on! if tightening up a screw bothers you.......anyway. pickup selector is fine and humbucking in the bridge and mid/neck position, which will take out just about ALL hum, even on high gain amps. the pickups are nice. very quiet. (ooops...should have posted that higher....did i mention the pickups are nice?) it isn't made out of KOA, but it is nice.....one word for finish...PLEASING

Will this guitar withstand live playing?---- it is a peavey. there could be a nuclear bomb detonated and the only thing that could be ID'd would be peavey instruments (check out the t-60 reviews for reliability....that thing is darn rock!!). everything seems good to last. don't need a backup. one word......ROCK

peavey....

if it were lost, i wouldn't sweat b/c it was inexpensive, but i would definitely get another. i love the versatility.....everything from ride the lightning to aerosmith to Andreas Segovia to Cawntry.

2003 made i believe, made in china. 21 frets, rosewood fretboard, cream binding(real), alder body, maple neck. also comes with 2 single coils and one humbucker in a tele style bridge, one volume and one tone knob. i just had a seymour duncan jb put in today, big improvement on the guitar. mine is also a black finish, with medium jumbo frets i assume.

i play kiss, sabbath, classic, hard and heavy rock. i am using my guitar into a dunlop crybaby and either a yjm308 preamp overdrive or a dod 250 preamp overdrive. i like the sounds i get from this guitar, especially with the jb in it. to me the stock humbucker was a tad bit to muddy. the single coils do there job good, i will probably get them replaced with a lil '59 in the neck and middle sooner or later. i love this guitar, and i also want to let you know i was trying a mexi tele and a strat but this guitar was almost half the price and is very well made. i give it a 10 with the addition of the jb.

everything is solid and i had it set up where i bought it. i belive that pickup and string height are all preference so i don't rate anything on that. everything is great, and a lot better than the sg faded special that i had and some of the guitars that are 4 times more expensive.

seems solid

i've been playing for 12 years and i have played and owned just about everything out there. to me and my opinion this is a great guitar, you just can't beat them for the money. go to peavey's website cause they have alot more of these guitars that are equipped with peizo bridge's etc. overall i sold my sg with the intention of getting a mexi tele and i got this rock solid little guitar. i may venture on to get a tele eventually but for now i am happy.