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Peavey HP Special CT USA

Summary
Manufacturer URL http://www.peavey.com/
Features 9.6 (12 responses)
Sound 9.7 (13 responses)
Action, Fit, & Finish 9.3 (12 responses)
Reliability/Durability 9.8 (9 responses)
Customer Support 8.8 (9 responses)
Overall Rating 9.5 (12 responses)
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Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: USD 2366
Submitted 09/05/2009 at 04:15am by Timdog1650

Features : 9
**Purchased from Geoff at Rocknrollweekend.com. Great guy, fantastic prices and I got exactly what I wanted in a reasonable amount of time**

2009 Custom shop carved top, 22 frets, maple top/basswood body. 2 controls (volume/tone) each is a push pull for the 2 humbuckers to tap out. The pickups are hand-wound Peavey zebra colored humbuckers mounted directly to the body. Neck and fretboard are highly figured birdseye maple, although my neck also has a heavy quilt pattern to it in places in addition to the bird pecks. Transparent Peacock Blue finish from the standard custom shop transparent paints; looks like an emerald green in bright sunlight and looks more like a deep Mediterranean blue indoors in lower light. The guitar has the dual compression stop tail style bridge, so tuning and action are improved over the Floyd model guitars. Tuners and fretboard dots are pearloid, hardware is gold; tuners are schaller and although a little stiff right now, will certainly become a bit smoother with use. 25.5" neck scale with that signature Peavey unfinished offset C-shape neck carve. Feels very small in your hand (especially compared to my Ibanez RG) but is ultimately way more comfortable for someone with smaller hands like myself. Came with a molded hardshell case...for a Wolfgang! This is probably my only major complaint, the cutouts in the case for the body are clearly designed for a Wolfgang, not an HP special, and although it fits fine I would prefer a case that hugs the body more snugly as the Wolfgang is definitely a larger guitar.

Sound : 10
I play every kind of music out there, from Jazz to Vai, Van Halen to SRV, occasional country, chikin pickin, etc. The name of the game here is versatility. The pickups are medium output compared to something like an EVO or PAF Pro but are voiced in the higher end of the frequency range to give great harmonic resonance. What you end up with is the ability to get a really scooped shreddy tone and then instantly transition to a glassy round SRV sound, then drop right into a twangy Freddie King "Hideaway" sound. Right now I'm playing through a Marshall DFX 15 with a couple of Boss pedals but I have a Peavey JSX 212 combo on order...playing through that thing you can pretty much emulate any guitar/amp combination in the rock and roll spectrum; between the coil tapping and 3 channels of clean/crunch/distortion you can get any variety of sounds. I'd say the only thing this guitar really doesn't do is a dark muddy stratocaster "front 2" sound under distortion. The pickups are too bright to really get down there in the weeds all the way.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 9
Action is relatively low but is higher than you would get on a factory setup from say an Ibanez JEM7vwh. Factory setup was fine and with the adjustable truss rod with no component removal (located just forward of the neck pickup) you can really go to town without taking anything apart. The guitar was badly out of tune in the box when I got it, but that's to be expected as it was shipped from Meridian, Mississippi to Arizona then back to me in Virginia Beach. The quilted maple top is perfectly book matched and looks just like water on the bottom of a swimming pool on a sunny day...nice big ripply quilts. That was my main criteria when ordering the guitar, I wanted it to remind me of the ocean and Peavey really did a bangup job making that happen. All the hardware/routing is very clean (as you would expect a custom instrument to be) and there are no visible chips or unfinished areas around the pickups or bridge.

Reliability/Durability : No Opinion
I have less than 20 hours playing time right now, so I'm not sure yet about durability. That being said, there's not a whole lot I can envision going wrong on a fixed bridge guitar with good solid tuners. The finish is nice and thick on the back and the clearcoat on the top is tough as nails. Strap buttons are a little smaller than on an Ibanez but are larger than on my Strat. I would certainly go to a gig without a backup if I had to, but it would be good common sense to bring one in the event of the unthinkable.

Customer Support : 10
Customer support from Rocknrollweekend.com was great, he does the majority of Peavey's custom shop sales domestically so he has their attention when necessary. Peavey is a US company and has answered the phone politely every time I have called, but as of right now I've had no complaints that needed any input from them other than just asking basic questions about their products. Warranty is limited lifetime for manufacturer defects/materials.

Overall Rating : 10
Been playing now for 12 years, own an Ibanez RG2550zgw and a Fender Fat Strat (mexi). The only thing I would change about this guitar is to maybe put the input jack on the front of the body, but that's a cosmetic thing that I prefer, not an actual functionality issue. I would absolutely buy another if this was stolen, but not before filing a full and complete police report! This one is mine and was hand built to be just what I wanted...in that sense it's irreplaceable. My favorite feature is probably the neck, it's so smooth and easy to play, makes you feel literally 20-30% faster. I have taken the Pepsi challenge with the EBMM Axis Super Sport (tremolo) and honestly I couldn't be happier with my purchase. The carved top, stop tail bridge, and overall shape of the guitar make it a no-brainer versus the EBMM. If you're in the market for a versatile guitar that can do the Strat/Tele/LesPaul/Van Halen sound and still have it's own unique character, I would recommend getting in touch with Peavey...they really hit the mark on this one.


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 05/13/2009 at 09:29pm by John V
Email: pipito at bigpond<dot>net<dot>au

Features : 8
Now the honeymoon is over Im ready to give an honest review.

Features are well documented. The Patented Floyed Rose gets a -1 from the score because it is nowhere near as good as an Original. It also gets -1 for the flimsy plastic used on the Tuning head buttons.

Sound : 10
The pickups are powerful and versatile. Both Humbuckers can be split into single coils. The 3 way toggle selects either Bridge or bridge & Neck or Neck Pickup. I bought this guitar for VH & General eighties hard Rock / Metal work. It simply does not disappoint. The humbuckers are so versatile I would use it for ANY hard Rock Metal Work. I use it for Van Halen, Scorpions, Metallica, Megadeth, Motley Crue etc etc.

The single coil tap is a tone monster as well. I would NOT say its better then a good vintage strat, nowhere near it. It has its own sound going on which I REALLY REALLY LIKE! I have never played a modern guitar that can get tap buckers to sound this good. It simply is a beautiful sound and hard to describe. Go play one and you will see What I mean. It DOES NOT sound like a split humbucker AT ALL!. For the player that desires Godly sounds from humbuckers and single coils, then this is the only guitar you need to gig with ... IMHO. Les Paul purists and strat purists (vintage purists in general) stay away ... Forgot to mention The volume and tones controls are EXCELLENT. Very very smooth and sensitive and EVEN!! Very unlike some guitars where you go from 10 to 8 and lose 50 of the volume. Kudos for great great pots!

Action, Fit, & Finish : 4
Ok this is were the shit hits the fan. The Patented Floyd rose would not stay in tune so I took it to Frank Grubisha from Gurbisha Guitars http://www.grubisaguitars.com/frames.html. A true master craftman. The slot for the nut was cut wrong from the Peavey factory. It was actually moving around 2mm when using the whammy bar. The slot had a very small lump which was making the nut pivot !! HUGE!! A BIG BIG NO NO!!! Luckly it was easy to fix and not too expensive. The bottom of the neck just before it joined the body had a small lump! There was 2 paint drops on the back of the body!!!! VERY VERY SLOPPY PEAVEY!!! Last of all the edge of the neck feels too rough. The edges of the guitar is not rolled and the edge of the frets are not softened. Considering that the competition at this price point do BOTH of these is simply rubbish from Peavey. The setup/action from the factory was further misery! The rest of the guitar is perfect. Lots of points deducted here.

Reliability/Durability : 8
So far its holding together.

Customer Support : 1
CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!!!!! Several calls to Audio Products got no response !!!!!!! Probably better off I took the guitar it to frank for proper care!

Overall Rating : 6
The guitars electronics save it from total humiliation. This is the only reason I keep it. The lads at Peavey have to take a HUGE step up if they want to make this guitar compete with the new wolfgang. The finish and quality is very disappointing. A real shame beacuse The electronics/sounds are a REAL WINNER!


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: USD 1500
Submitted 10/05/2008 at 08:44pm by Eric Ellingsworth
Email: slang05 at yahoo<dot>com

Features : 10
Peavey HP Special guitars are made in the Peavey custom shop in Meridan MS. These are Floyd Rose-outfitted, high-output tone warriors with coil taps on both pickups and our patent-pending Lok Block system that lets you set your tremolo fully down or fully floating. Features Include:
-25 1/2" scale with 22 frets
-Oil-finished, highly figured asymmetrical birdseye maple neck w/ graphite reinforcement
-Three-on-a-side headstock w/ enclosed die-cast Schaller machine heads
-Three-way pickup selector
-Offset basswood body w/ sculpted neck joint
-Bound, figured maple arch top
-Two custom-wound HP Special humbucking pickups w/ coil taps
-Fully floating, Floyd Rose-licensed, double-locking tremolo with a Lok Block system that sets tremolo to "down" only or fully floating
-Master volume & tone control

Mine is an amazing AAA Flamed Cheryburst top with natural binding

Sound : 10
The pickups have a very aggresive tradittional sound to them. I compared the bridge pick up to my Jackson PC1 that has a seymour Duncan Jeff Beck in it and could not tell the difference. The neck PU is very full sounding a almost like a Duncan 59. Great tone. Both Pick ups are coil tapped and with the 3-way switch you can get a plethera of tones. It's a shame Peavey doesn't sell these pickups seperately!

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
The set up on this guitar needed minor tweaking, mainly for my preferences. Plays amazing. The neck is birdseye maple with a ton of character. Very easy to play. Everything from chording to tapping takes no effort. You never fight this guitar. The top on mine is a AAA flamed Cheryburst with natural binding and rivals any PRS 10 top out there. Very nice. There are no finsih flaws, no rough frets..anything I can find.

Reliability/Durability : 10
I would have no fears walking on stage with this guitar, so far it feels as good as the day I got it. It's just a very solid feeling guitar.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Only emailed them to get production date, email was back in 1 business day.

Overall Rating : 10
Yes, it does look a little like a Wolfgang, but that's where the comparisons should end. Ok, maybe you can compare the highly playable, easy to shred necks. But thats it! The HP Special CT sounds much better! The floyd rose is the exact same as the version on the wolfgang, except: no D-Tuna and this baby is fully floating! Or is it? Depends on you! You can also lock it in place for dive bombs only. Very cool. The arch to the top and the curve on the back make it very comfortable to play and the cutaway's make it very easy to get high on the neck. Overall, better than a wolfgang, and one of the best guitars on the market today. I am totally blown away by this guitar! And Just for your info, here is a run down of guitars I've owned this year so you know how sincere and honest this review is.... PRS Mcarty - PRS Singlecut Trem - Gibson Lss Paul Standard - ESP GL-56 (George Lynch Strat) - ESP Eclipse II - Fender Eric Johnson - Ernie Ball Petrucci - Fender Deluxe Strat - Gibson Slash Les Paul - PRS Singlecut

PS: I do not work for Peavey! lol


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 03/19/2008 at 11:19pm by Mario Ferron

Features : 10
This baby was born in 2008 in Peavey's Custom Shop. This is a guitar worth writing about. It has all the bells and whistles a rock lead guitarist could ask for. The top is more beautiful than ANY other I've seen. I used to think that no guitar was match for my custom wolfgang....Well, I was definitively WRONG. This one is not a wolfgang, is definively better. The Floyd is better, and it can be adjusted to either fully floating or fixed. Both humbuckers have coil taps, which are better than any other taps I've seen, it actually makes it sound like a single coil as it should. The tuners are Schallers, with pearloid buttons. The neck is a highly figured birdseye maple neck. The body is solid basswood with a highly figured maple top (no veneers here).

Sound : 10
This guitar is made for shred, but the coil tap is very versatile. I have wolfgangs as well, so I can give you a small comparison. The wolfgang takes a lot more time to get a good sound from. Wolfgang pickups are powerful, but they get muddy easily. On my 5150II stack, the HP special pickups go where the wolfgangs didnt. Their harmonics are better than the wolfies. The sound is VERY VERSATILE. Reason why my wolfies are going on ebay, all of them.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
This is the only guitar that has gotten A LOT of attention from everyone right off the box. When I opened the case and saw that beautiful flame maple top I immediately fell in love with that guitar. The neck is flawless, it feels like it was made for me. Frets were excellennt. The setup...excellent. Everyting in order as it should. Mine even came tuned.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Come on... Its a peavey. My T-60 still kicking, Never had a problem with my VTM-60s or my 5150II stack. All my wolfgangs are still in great condition. Peavey has kept excellent quality at an excellent price throughout his whole life. His guitars are the best in business. The only thing I would be suspicious is the coil taps, bu those are just pots anc can be replaced easily in case they ever go bad. However, it looks like it may take longer than I think it would. They are perfectly well soldered.

Customer Support : 10
Excellent. Quick to respond to emails. Always someone there to help you. The prices of replacement parts are reasonable as well. Have had great experiences with Peavey. I have bought accesories from them, and they are always helpful.

Overall Rating : 10
I can babble all day about how great this guitar is, but the bottom line is... YOU GOT TO TRY IT.


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: USD 1800
Submitted 02/26/2008 at 11:05pm by Mike S

Features : 10
New HP special solid, one piece mahogany CT custom shop. Floyd Rose bridge and Schaller tuners. Purchased from Geoff at Rocknrollweekend.com and he is great. Link to pic http://rocknrollweekend.com/Black%20Splatter%201%20pc%20mahog%20-%20full%20V.jpg

Sound : 9
Sound is great! Lots of harmonics.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
Best part of the guitar. Guitar came setup pretty well. Great fret job by peavey.

Reliability/Durability : No Opinion
Only had guitar for a short time. The input Jack needs to be replaced or fixed as the cable does not connect properly. No big deal for me.

Customer Support : No Opinion
NA

Overall Rating : 9
I love this guitar. The neck is the best part of the guitar. Just feels great in your hands!


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: USD 1000
Submitted 01/05/2008 at 12:23pm by greygoat
Email: dberto<at>comcast dot net

Features : 10
Peavey USA HP Special Carved top
22 medium frets
2 humbuckers -w- push/pull coil taps
trans amber finish
basswood body, highley flamed maple top, birseye maple asymetrical neck
peavey floyd rose double locking trem with floating or standard option

included molded case

Sound : 10
I play mostly classic rock in a gigging band.
We do everything from Led Zep, Trower, Van Halen, Hendrix, ZZtop to the Stray Cats.

This guitar is amazing, and covers a ton of ground. I don't use the coil taps so much as I really rely on the volume control.

The volume taper is great, really cleans up the dirty channel on my 5150 amp, so I am not channel switching and getting those annoying "pops"

The Pickups are really hot, so much so, that I generally play with the guitar volume around 6 or 7...then slam it up to full open for the leads..I only use a boost pedal for specific effects where I need to really jump out of the mix momentarally.

It has a real growl to it, even at home through my blues jr, I can get a ritch overdriven sound

On a clean setting with both pickups engages I can really hit a creamy jazz type rich tone as well

I have no complaints

As for effects used I generally run this through a Peavey 5150 or 6505 head
On stage I use a Marshall 4x12 cab and a carvin 2x12 cab
Boss tu2 tuner
Voodoo labs Microvibe
Zvex Box of rock
MXR evh phase 90
boss dd6 delay
and a ELH holy grail reverb

Action, Fit, & Finish : 9
I set the guitar up with 10's, and they work and respond very well on this guitar.

The bookmatched flame top is amazing, I prefer it to any PRS 10 top I have ever seen

The neck's unique shape fits in your hand like you were born with it there, very easy to work with and FAST.

The trem is perfect

HONESTLY i don't sell these nor do I have any type of endorsment.

The USA version is just amazing! I prefer this to my 78 SG that has been my #1 for about 15 years.

the only thing I would change would be .. For peavey to make a version with a slightly wider neck.

Although it is comfortable, and I have no playing issue's, I just like a fat neck.

note: It is slightly wider than the wolfgangs and the musicman AXIS

Reliability/Durability : No Opinion
No problems yet.

Although Basswood is very soft, so as a precaution I put a drop of wood glue in the hole when I replaced the stop strapbuttons with locking

Customer Support : No Opinion
No need to call them yet..and I run other Peavey gear
as mentioned (peavey 6505 and 5150 head)

Overall Rating : 10
I have been playing for 22 years, 15 of those have been in bands playing out regularly.

I always was down on Peavey due to some crappy solid state amp junk I saw in the 80's.

But after being introduced to there modern high gain Amp gear, I was a Changed man! Prev I used Boogie's and Marshall jcm 800 exclusivly!

This is one of 8 guitars I own , and it is on the top of the heap!
Truly a fantastic instrument.
Also, very lighwieght and balanced well , making for a nice time after 4 hours on stage!!!

I also own a vintage Gibson SG
" " Gibson Les Paul custom
a custom shop strat, jimmie vaughan sig strat
another strat that is my very own frankenbeast
and a couple of Reverends

This is always my 1st goto guitar!
Looks, playability, tone, It's all in there.

A little pricey, but still 1 or 2K less than a good Gibson!


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: USD 1800
Submitted 05/08/2007 at 08:09pm by shane
Email: shanejur at hotmail<dot>com

Features : 9
quilted top/amber burst/birdseye neck.

Sound : 9
I love playing it in the "rock" mode. I was able to get some decent jazz tones for practice. Like the other reviewer, I didn't care for the "clean" tone. It sounded kind of muddy.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
It is one beautiful piece of euipment, I love it. It was adjusted well but I asked for 10's to be put on, they put 9's. Very easily corrected.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Looks like it is built very well, solid.

Customer Support : 9
They have a great customer rep if your able to get to her.

Overall Rating : 10
I own a USA Dean Hardtail, 1 American Strat, 1 Mex srtat and a Taylor Acoustic. Playing a couple of years with intense lessons from a former Berklee school of music teacher. Definitely would buy again.


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 04/22/2007 at 04:46am by Oscar Jordan
Email: vvblues<at>yahoo dot com

Features : No Opinion

Sound : 9
All the features have been explained so I don't feel the need to rehash this. The bottom line here is that Greg Howe once told me, It's a good hunk of wood." He's right. This guitar will spoil you for all other guitars because its so light and ergonomic. It just feel right when you're wearing it on stage. The neck is great. It may be a little wide for most people but the rear girth makes it very comfortable. It's a manly neck with great access to the upper regions. It envelopes your body and feels practicle.

I have an amber quilt top and it's gorgeous. It's very striking and I don't have to look like a SRV clone anymore.

I realize that this guitar was built to be a more versatile Wolfgang or shredder guitar. Mission accomplished. If you're one of these guys who has to have his Recto saturated to get your tone than this axe might me for you.

I play shred, blues, jazz, rock, fusion, funk and because I do all these things I realized the stock pickups were middy, unfocused, dark, fizzy and cheap sounding. It's subtle but it's there. You can make due, but it's there.

The Guitar player Magazine review for this guitar pretty much nailed this guitar for not having good clean tones. While I was playing the guitar I kept feeling like the pickups were the weak link here. Even though I'd read articles about how anal they were about these pickups and getting them to sound good together.

Curiosity got the best of me. I make a special order at DiMarzio and got a pair of black and cream humbuckers. A DiMarzio PAF in the neck and a DiMarzio Evolution in the bridge. I took it to a jam and became Steve Morse! The guitar sang!

I was right about the stock pickups. They were cheap. Or just maybe not to my taste. Maybe some people like cheap pickups. The DiMarzios I put in are more vibey, articulate with a lot more definition. No fizz! There's also a little spank in the neck pickup which the old pickups never did. I can still get the tele tones but now they sound more substantial.

Over all I'd say the guitar has a richer more luxuorious sound to it. The guitar screams like a bitch when you crank the distortion and gets soft warm jazz tones when you need that. I couldn't get those sultry tones with the old pickups. It was very woody, blocky and clunky sounding playing it through a clean amp.

Everybody seems happy with their guitars, but if you want to take this guitar to the next level and make it even more versatile, CHANGE THE PICKUPS! I'm planning on playing funk with my guitar!

I recommend Peavy adding a single coil in the middle for those straty funk tones that need to be funked. The middle position is kinda cool when you want the spanky tele thing for funk. But it would be even nicer to have strat pickup tone available.

Great guitar. Just make it your own!

THE END




Action, Fit, & Finish : No Opinion

Reliability/Durability : No Opinion

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : No Opinion


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 10/26/2006 at 09:50am by Vinnie Teranova

Features : 9
Made in USA,offset basswood body,sculpted neck joint,bound figured maple arch top,oil finished asymmetrical birdseye maple neck with graphite reinforcement,25.5" scale with 22 frets,birdseye maple fretboard,two hand wound zebra humbucking pickups with coil-taps,3 per side headstock with Schaller machine heads,Floyd Rose licenced tremolo fully floating or blocked,3-way pickup selector,master volume & tone controls,beautiful transparent cherryburst color,Peavey hardcase included,made in 2006.

Sound : 9
I needed a guitar for playing high gain stuff & after trying many guitars (won't get into that) it came down to a used Wolfgang or a new HP Special CT.After playing three HP Special CT's I went with this one cause it felt just right.Sounded better than the Wolf too.Sounds great with all my amps & a nice surprise is that the single-coil positions are quite good.My favourite position is full bridge humbucker into my Krank Revolution head or into my Peavey VTM-60 head.The bridge pickup has a rich,warm & full tone with strong aggresive harmonics but without sounding hard or muddy.The neck pickup is clean & articulate,reminds me of a SD jazz model.The only thing I dislike is that when pulling up the push-pull controls (in order to get single-coil sounds) it can be a bit hard.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
The guitar is very well made & that's how every USA guitar should be made.The guitar was very well set-up & even in proper tune.The only thing I needed to do was adjust the truss rod a little bit to get a little more relief,which was very easy.

Reliability/Durability : 10
She looks very solid and ready to rock !

Customer Support : 10
I've dealt with them in the past & have a lot of respect for Hartley.

Overall Rating : 9
Been playing guitar for 25 years (ever since Van Halen Fair Warning was released).I've owned a lot of gear through the years,now I have a Krank Revolution head with 412 cab,Peavey VTM-60 head with Wiggy 212 cab,Carvin vintage 16 combo,other guitars include Fender vintage player '67 USA telecaster,Peavey JD Omniac USA,Gibson SG standard.Like I said, I needed a high gain tremolo guitar & the Peavey HP-Special CT is just what I was looking for.After getting the Peavey JD Omniac which is an incredible telecaster BTW and I'll have to review that one also,I was blown away with the quality these USA made Peavey guitars have.Anyway, I love it & I plan on playing the hell out of her.


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: USD 2099
Submitted 08/15/2006 at 05:29pm by Oscar

Features : 10
Mine is a custom shop guitar I acquired at www.rocknrollweekend.com made in the USA.

It has a transparent red quilt maple top, that looks fantastic. The maple top is quite thick around the pickups, that absolutely contributes to the great tone of the guitar. The body is solid basswood.

The bridge is a Floy Rose-licensed one built by Peavey. Tuners are are Schaller's in perloid finish.

The neck has 22 thin frets, great for tapping and legato.

Hard case was included, requried wrenches, and a key to lock the case and a peavey polishing cloth.

Peavey's custom shop gives you a great variety of choices to build the guitar you want, like for instance the woods of your preference, just like Wolfgangs in the past.

It has a volume and tone control, and a three way-selector. By pushing/pulling the volume and tone controls you can enable coil taps.

Two hand-wounded humbucker pickups by Peavey.

Top is quilt maple, body is basswood, neck is birds-eye maple with two graphite reinforcements. Neck is joined to the body with five screws.

Sound : 10
This guitar has two hand-wounded humbuckers with an awesome sound and a double-locking Floyd Rose-licensed tremolo bridge, so this is mostly a guitar for hard rock / heavy metal tunes. BUT, it includes coil taps that are enabled by means of push/pull pots in the volume and tone controls so that you can get a single-coil sound as well (this is a great enhancement over the previous Peavey Wolfgang guitars).

This guitar has an awesome sound under heavy overdrive, with a lot of harmonics; I play it through a Line6 Flextone II and sounds great.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
The guitar was set-up great from factory, with low action and light gauge strings.

You can choose to set the tremolo to be blocked (tremolo bar going down only) or fully-floating, by sliding a brass bracket inside the tremolo cavity. Although that implies the D-tuner (device to quicklu drop the sixth string tuning one whole tone, from E to D so that you can more easily play power chords) Wolfgangs used to have is not delivered any more with the HP Specials, I definitely consider this to be a very good enhancement.

The guitar was delivered with the tremolo blocked. Since I prefer a fully-floating bridge, I set it up by sliding the bracket forward, but still could not pull the tremolo bar completely upwards, so eventually I simply removed the bracket device.

The asymmetric birds eye maple neck has an "unfinished" feeling (due to a lightly oiled finish)that makes it extremely comfortable.

Reliability/Durability : 10
I love the unfinished feel of the neck. However, the disadvantage is it can get dirty easily, and you can feel frets a little bit rough when the maple wood of the neck is exposed to a very dry environment. My HP Special was retained at the customs for a while, and when I received it I got this rough feeling, specially when bending the strings, so I guess it was quite dry in the customs facilities. Only a couple of days after receiving it, this weird feeling disappeared, and the touch of the neck is great.

Besides that, this guitar is built to last. When heavily using the tremolo bar like I do, the guitar remains in tune.

Customer Support : 10
Warranty is 2 years (+3 years if you optionally register, you can do it in Peavey's web page).

I sent an e-mail asking for an owner's manual and asking a question about the setup. I got an answer inmediately with a generic manual for Peavey guitars, they wil be sending me an HP Special-specific one once it is made available, and I was also provided with the telephone number of a guitar tech I could ask for support.

Overall Rating : 10
I've been playing for twenty years. I own an Aria and a '93 G&L Legacy which I love, but for heavy rock music the Peavy HP Special is outstanding.

If it was stolen or lost I would buy another one for sure.

I specially like the neck, but also the pickups and the tremolo bridge of this guitar.

I wish it had a D-tuner device like Wolfgangs used to have, but I guess that is not compatible with a fully floating tremolo bridge, so I think this is something just not possible to be achieved.


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 08/08/2006 at 08:45am by shawn
Email: SRoberts5150 at aol<dot>com

Features : 10
This is the new "Wolfgang". Eddie is no longer with Peavey, so they decided to build a better mousetrap, adding coil-taps, new design P"ups, and a newer shape, and carved back for comfort. Quilt maple top is stunning in Blueburst, with a fast mapole neck. Made by custom shop in Miss, USA!!!

Sound : 10
I play mostly 80's style Rock, metal. V-H, Scorps, Maiden, Priest, etc etc..This Guitar nails all of it. I run it through Peavey Triple XXX, with Boss stomp pedals. This thing covers a lot of ground, especially when coils are tapped, for a Srat/Tele type sound. Pickups sound to me like a Duncan JB, witha PAF Pro, with a little less output, but still really bright!!! This thing sounds awesome at any setting. Nice Floyd Trem, stays in tune, and has a block for non-floating, which I like.............

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
I love low action! This Guitar did not disappoint. Came pretty low, and played nice right out of the Box. The Guitar came flawless, and was pretty much in tune!!! I took it to Gary Brawer in S,F, where I had it PLEKED, and set-up, now it is almost cheating!!! This Guitar was made with a lot of pride, as the finish is gorgeous. It is a Moonburst Quilt, stunning.............Maple top, Basswood body, neck ios gorgeous birdseye maple.again, stunning.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Used it Sat night for a club gig, and it did fantastic. My Band members were blown away by the big tone out of this lightweight Axe. Got great tone with tapped coils as well. Ddi great live. The laquer in these is thickmand shiny and very tough. My tech commented on the richness of the gloss, and how tough it was. I unscrewed the trem arm, and it fell off, nicking the finish, not a mark was left!! All Peavey's stuff is built to last............

Customer Support : 9
Have not dealt with Peavey on this, just mailed in Warranty. They have always been good to me in the past

Overall Rating : 10
Been playing 28 years, have many Gibsons, Jacksons. I would replace if stolen. I compared it to Ernie Ball/musicman, PRS, etc etc. This had the best neck in my opinion. I love everything about this Guitar, it's wicked fast, and gorgeous too!!


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: US $1,475
Submitted 06/23/2006 at 05:23pm by Dozer

Features : 10
This is a 2006 PEAVEY HP SPECIAL CT (Carved Top...just in case), and it's crafted right here in the good ole' USA. Mine has a phenomenal AAAA Flame Maple top set on a thick basswood body. The pick-ups are hand wound in the Peavey Custom shop and direct mounted to the body. It's a double Humbucker set up BUT it has coil splits for both the bridge and neck. It's a Floyd Rose Licensed Trem and it has an exceptional Birdseye Maple asymmetrical neck. The neck is bolted on by 5 bolts and has carbon (graphite) rods which make it stable as a steel beam....It doesn't move with the humidity. Low profile frets IMHOP....probably not classified as such but they definately don't feel like the jumbos I've played recently. I love this fact because the playability is unbelievable and bending is effortless. Let me try again...the frets are just right.

Sound : 10
I LOVE late 70's and 80's METAL and as you might guess I'm a EVH disciple. I have been chasing his tones since I first heard them on the radio. That being said, this guitar does the "Brown Sound" like no other guitar I've ever played. I realize that the tone is in your hands, but the right hands with the right instrument is where the magic happens. This guitar will be that tool for great hands.

It has INSANE harmonics and the pickups are wound perfectly to make those harmonics fly off the board even when you're thumping that big E. It is a very articulate guitar and the PUPS will capture nuances of your style....which is imperative if you ever want to develop your own sound.

The coil splits give this guitar a great single coil tone (It can get TWANGY)...

EXTREMELY VERSATILE!! and it can absolutely ROCK....

From Steely Dan to Lamb of God....you have it covered...but the heart is definately a shredders delight.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
The set up was perfect out of the box. I like LOW ACTION...and this was no disappointment. The frets and top are as GOOD AS IT GETS. I have Hubers, Andersons, Suhrs, and a dozen other high end guitars, and the fit and finish on this guitar is top notch.

I LOVED CUSTOM SHOP WOLFGANGS!!! I was reluctant to venture into this guitar because I was concerned it would be a watered down imitation of the Wolfgang.

MAKE NO MISTAKE....This is an evolution of the Wolfgang, and it is an improvement. They kept all the great features...including the most comfortable, fast, and playable neck of any guitar I've owned over 18 years. Then improved on it by adding coil taps and body contouring.

I have since picked up two more HP Specials and sold 4 Wolfgang Custom Shops. I still like the Wolfgangs...but truth be told the HP is a BETTER GUITAR.

Ouch!! That hurt to say.....


Reliability/Durability : 10
Built like a tank....

No worries...this is definately a PLAYER. I'm personally not worried about anyone stealing it backstage because I don't think anyone knows what the hell it is.

I like it this way....

Customer Support : 10
Peavey is fantastic!!! Easy to contact and quick to respond...

I picked mine up from the GURU of Wolfgangs and now HP Specials....

www.rockandrollweekend.com

Geoff is fantastic and certain to be more insane about these guitars then anyone you could possibly imagine.

Overall Rating : 10
I have an enormous amount of gear and none of it is cheap....That being said this is my favorite guitar to go pick up and play. If I'm covering Van Halen, Dokken, Ratt...you know the line up...this is the go to axe without question. It's literally so easy to play it feels like I'm cheating.....


Product: Peavey HP Special CT USA
Price Paid: US $1699
Submitted 04/22/2006 at 08:14am by bill

Features : 10
This is the new HP Special CT made in the USA. Materials and hardware are top notch. The body is basswood and the neck is birdseye maple with incredible figuring. The top is easily a AAAA flamed maple top with maple binding. Mine has the licensec Floyd Rose which can be set to float or get locked in to position. This guitar is as fine as any made today.

Sound : 10
Sound is awesome. I play everything from rock to Jazz. I play through a Digitech Legend II through a Carvin X amp running into a Peavey 5150 4 x 12 top cabinet. Pickups are hot and can be coil tapped for a myriad of sound options. This guitar is versatile.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
This guitar is flawless. Period. The woods are of the highest quality and it played great out of the box.

Reliability/Durability : 10
This is built to last a lifetime and beyond. I have no doubts this will stand the test of time. This is one of the finest guitars I have ever played.

Customer Support : 10
Since mine was one of the first made it seems the owners manualswere not printed yet. One call and they shipped it out.

Overall Rating : 10
I have been playing for 30 years and have played and owned lots of stuff. This guitar ismone of the finest I have ever played. I also own a Fender Clapton Strat a Gibson Lucille, Gibson Nighthawk and Ovation Legend.

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