Peavey HP Special USA Flat Top

I recently purchased and received a new Peavey HP Special FT (Flat Top). Check out Peavey's website for all of the features. My HP Special has an AMAZING flame maple top with a gorgeous transparent amber finish. The guitar featues a Peavey Floyd Rose tremelo system that can be setup as fully floating or dive only. Also features push/pull volume AND tone controls that split the coils of each humbucker. Plenty of awesome features that make this axe very versitle.

The sound is INCREDIBLE....I repeat INCREDIBLE. I currenty own 2 Peavey Wolfgangs and 2 Ernie Ball Music Man Axis guitars. Being a huge Van Halen fan, I love the "brown" sound. This axe sounds just as good (if not better) than the Wolfs and EB's. The coil spliting feature lets you dial an MANY MANY tones...from Les Paul to Strat. This guitar does it all!!

The guitar I received was 100% perfect right out of the case. Great finish, perfect neck/frets, amazing setup with low action. Perfect!

I have owned plenty of Peavey products over the years and this guitar is as solid as any other Peavey instrument/amp I have owned. You won't be disappointed with Peavey's USA quality.

Never have needed it...that's a good thing.

If you are looking for a versitile guitar that looks great, plays fast and smooth, and gives you AMAZING sound and tone....then you should buy a Peavey HP special. Being a EVH fan, I was skeptical. I cannot put this guitar down!! This guitar is just as good as any Wolfgang or Ernie Ball guitar out there. I hope my review has helped.

Just bought mine. Bought the Amber 5A Maple finish. Made in Peavey's Meridian, Mississippi USA Custom Shop in 2006. The features have already been covered by the reviews below mine, so no need to repeat. Just to say that this beautiful guitar provides just about every sound option one could want.

I've been playing for more than 40 years - just abt anything but hip-hop (music?) The guitar is dead quiet, whether using the humbuckers or coil taps. The basswood body, combined with Peavey's custom-wound pickups (mounted directly to the wood of the body - no mounting rings) and infintely playable asymmetrical birdseye maple neck and fretboard puts out some of the best sounds you'll ever hear from a 6-string electric guitar. (And I've played or owned most of them over the years.) Add the blocked Floyd Rose trem, and you're covered for just about any type of music you play.
These days I mainly play thru a Vox AC15, a Vox AD50VT and a Fender Super Champ XD (all highly recommended!)
This guitar loves different types of pick-attack. It'll squeal like a pig if you want it to, or do jazz riffs on the neck pickup beautifully - and everything inbetween! Excellent for hard/classic rock and blues especially!

After all these years, I've learned what to check for on any guitar. I've been over this thing w a magnifying glass, from every angle, and mine is perfect! Simply a beautiful guitar, beautifully finished, and the set-up and action are to die for. (Mine was set up by my local Peavey dealer, as are all the guitars he sells, before it was put out for sale.) Honestly, I can't find a single thing wrong w this guitar - no complaints whatsoever.

I used to gig, record and do studio sessions, but, at 58, I now play mostly for my own amusement at home. I have no doubt that this guitar will stand up to live dates for many years. Superb quality! (Always take a backup guitar when gigging, especially when using a double-locking trem setup as the HP Special has! You don't wanna take 15 minutes to change a broken string in the middle of a song/gig.)

I've never had to call Peavey with any problems, but I have called to chat about a few things over time. They're always friendly and very helpful.

As I said, I've been playing for some 45 years now. I now own 11 guitars (2 acoustic, 9 electric). My favorites include my beloved Guild GAD JF48 Jumbo acoustic, Ibanez AF120 jazz box, Rickenbacker 360 12 string, and Ibanez S520EX - all marvelous guitars. But, I must say, my new Peavey HP Special FT USA is my favorite amongst those! This beauty simply offers everything in one heck of a beautiful package. I think it looks as wonderful as it sounds! I am VERY proud to own it. Check one out, maybe you'll love it as much as I do. This is now my flagship guitar!

2007 HP Special FT specs.
Let me start this off. I'm not a "big Peavey guy". The more Peavey stuff I get, the more I realize: Peavey just makes great gear. I bought two new HP FT's brand new, sight unseen, on a blowout deal from a Dealer in SE Wisconsin. I couldn't fin one local to look, but I'm have some Peavey stuff and

Things I really like: Splits coils, Peavey licensed Floyd is much nicer than an Original Floyd, scalloped heel, 5 bolt neck mount, spoke truss rod, trem lock, huge birds-eye maple, very nice flame/quited tops. This is a very well thought out guitar made from quality wood.

Things they could improve: Offer a wider nut

Put it in front of lots of amps. Sounds great. Good range..loves harmonics. Sounds as good as any other top qulaity guitar.

Excellent! What can I say....
flawless finish, masked binding, perfect neck-heel fit. Everything lines up perfectly: trem perfectly centered, nut perfectly centered pickups fit route perfectly. The neck is flawless.

Seems very solid. Electronics are perfect.

I once contacted PV Customer Service and they sent me a response in a day. That's all I know.

This guitar is a winner.

HP Special USA FT
quilted top, moonburst
built 2005

just got my black peavey hp special ft... made in peavey's u.s.a custom shop. it's the same as the ct. carved top-- ft.. flat top.. great, beutaful.. awesome neck.. great pick ups. great floyd.. would have used the original... comes with hardshell case.. well i hade to set it a little bit.. like things low... sounds awesome.. the pick ups do there job... i play rock and blues, but it's great for everything .. it's a great guitar.. fair price.. will see how long it will last... light weight.. safe and good purchase...thumbs up.100% satisfied..

i play this using a legacy amp, boss ds 1, boss dd3, stereo chorus, ..some wah.. sounds great clean, it has a rich sound.. refreshing basically it's a wolfgang but even better.. harmonics come out by them selves.. the floyd is smooth.. it also can be blocked or completely floating.. and i tell ya string changing is made easy when trem is blocked cool feature.. humbucking and singl coil, yes it has 2 push and pull knobs.. the controlls don't get in the way , easy access controls.. maple neck and finger board are great sounding ...suggest this guitar to everybody..

well the guitar is small let's say, the neck feel's awesome, it really feels like it's been broken in for 20 years.. when i got i just set the action to my preference that's it.. shiney new sports car.. that's how i felt .. it's like i said you want slow it's great.. you want to push the pedal to the floor it's fast and fiurios....

well .. it's got all you need in one guitar.. no need to have other guitars... will bring with me on stage... i also have a manne bolty, ibanez js 1000.. yeah this baby is great..wil last i'm sure...can depend on it . sure .. it's like everyting if you treat things good they'll last... i've been playing for 15 years.. had'em all........

well, i'm in italy, peavey isn't that famous... compared to fender and gibson..ecc... but we have peavey italy.. went to my favorite store who sells peavey asked him info.. he called peavey italy ... in 4 days i had my new hp special.. after one week whent to store again... ( buy some guitar polish).. he told me that peavey italy called him and asked him if i liked the product and if i was satisfied with my purchase... hell yeah.........

well , if your not on tour, not famouse..... and don't care what name it says on the head stock, then peavey is great. they have been around quit a while... same owner...great product..products.. at this price you can't get alot of us made instruments.. and or value for your money...so don't snob them try one out and then decide.....hopefully they'll make a 24 frett model.....

Coil tapping , floating trem . Just took to much tone out of the guitar . The guitar felt like it had no mo-jo . Production line just slapped together by the number's type of thing . Bottom line ...They lost it on this one . Get yourself a good used wolfgang , or music man axis , or check out Rol's guitars ...

Again , FLAT !!!!!!! To much cutting corner's ...

Here's were I'll give the guitar its due . Peavey was on to something when they had one of the best sound an guitar engineer Mr Eddie Van Halen . I'll bet he was pulling his hair out with some of the shit these guy's came up with ... You can see it in this guitar , I feel for ya Ed ......

Not sure , I had it for just a few days an I dumped it ...

Peavey is a great company , but you guy's lost me on this one !!!!!!

Again for this type of moneys there are better alterative's ....

Maple flame top Basswood body Cherryburst double strat-like Cutaway. Full floating Floyd Rose trem with a brass locking block to lock the trem to divebomb only. Thin birdseye unfinished maple neck with tall narrow frets. Dual passive humbuckers with coil split popups on the tone and volume controls; three way pickup selector switching.

High balanced output for general rock/metal styles. Used with a Peavey 5150II fullstack and a Line 6 varitone III combined with an Alesis nanocomp, BBE sonic maximizer, Lexicon Flexverb and various passive Boss effect to include Chorus/flanger. Line noise is minimal depending on the effect chain. The guitar is very bright sounding and has a sharp edge to it, but easily EQ'd to warm things up. I wish the guitar was warmer sounding.

Finish was flawless with a pronounced heavy flame. Action was high from the factory but was easily adjusted down to my comfort level with no decernable fret buzz. Peavey did a nice job; this guitar's finish and fit was perfect.

This guitar is very well balanced and nible in hand. The overall construction is very good for a guitar in this price range; really a great value over the LP's and PRS's in most stores. You really get a great USA made guitar without all of the big advertising dollars being spent on hype and not form and function. But all that being said, this is not an EVH Wolfgang and never will be. The rumor is that this is the functional replacement for the EVH, but do not be fooled. This guitar is subjectively similar but should never be compared to the EVH's as they are not even close.

Responds well to e-mails, generly within hours.

I've played them all. I own BC Rich's, Yamaha's, Peavey's and Kramer's but I always come back and buy Peavey (if you can find one in stores). The Peavey EVH Wolfgangs are hard to beat. This guitar is not an EVH and does not feel and act as one, but if you never owed an EVH and are looking to feel and play one, this will be as close as you can get without buying one used. This guitar is very good, but be careful to what you compare it too, as the HP special is still a very different animal.

The body is basswood with a flame maple (flat) top. The neck is birdseye maple with a birdseye maple fretboard. The neck has a 5 bolt assembly attaching it to the body. The back of the body is carved for your gut (like a strat) and has a sculpted area at the neck for your palm. The Floyd Rose comes with a brass fitting screwed into the trem cavity which prevents floating of the trem. This can be removed with an allen wrench to allow for full floating of the trem. There are two humbuckers. Each pickup is tapped by pulling up on the volume and tone pots/knobs. In other words, when the volume knob is down, the bridge pickup is a humbucker and when the volume knob is pulled up, the bridge pickup is a single coil.

Any maple neck with a maple fretboard on a maple laminated body is going to be "bright" sounding. I personally feel that Floyd's have better sustain when they rest on the body (do not float). This is the main area where I personally feel the Wolfgang was superior. This however is only my preference. The sound is bright and harmonics are easy to hit. I often practice without an amp and have no problems hearing the sounds resonate from the maple. The number of sounds is what really makes this a unique and versatile guitar. You can select bridge/both/neck with a pickup selector. Then you can select single or double coil at eack pickup indepedantly. Basically you have 8 pickup options.

I felt that mine was very well put together. I actually enjoy building guitars and have an appreciation for the craft. The natural binding is a nice touch on my HP Special. The finish is Dark Cherrybust. Once I got some of the factory sealer off the frets by simply playing the guitar, it really started to feel fast and smoothe. I felt the finish was good and things lined-up well. The cover for the electronics cavity does not fit well and the finish inside the trem cavity is really rough. Like most people, I am comparing this to a Wolfgang. I felt that the finish on my Wolfgang was a little better.

To evaluate durability, you have to allow time. Compared to guitars without tremolos, I would expect trems to present problems over time. I have also noticed that fully floating trems are probably the most susceptable to durability issues. The HP Special does at least allow you to leave it locked (only pulling notes down)or fully floating. If you are a Floyd Rose guy, then you have learned to tweek the bridge deal with tuning issues so that you can pull those notes thru the octave.

Peavey is a solid company. This may be the biggest guitar company to still be owned by its original American founder. I only own guitars that are made in the US. I have honestly never had a problem with a Peavey product that needed the manufacturers attention. This goes back to a Peavey T-30 that I owned in the 80's

I like this guitar. I am a fan of necks with little or no finish. I love the versatility. If you play this thru a tube amp you will get a greater appreciation for the screaming capabilities and the super clean capabilities. I can't imagine any more features. As I said before, I personally prefere the Floyd Rose to rest on the maple top but that is the only thing I do not like. I have played for 20 years and have played everything from PRS to Les Paul to high-end Strats and all I can tell you is that everybody has their own opinions and I would not spend this much money unless you're sure it is "what you like." Les Pauls are great guitars, but the carved top and finished neck feels wrong in my hands. This is not a Wolfgang! The neck will feel similar but the body, sound and set-up are different.

Peavey HP Special Flat Top...In Margarita Stain..

(Read Below)

This a brand new (obviously) Flat top HP Special in the Margarita finish. The Margarita is a very cool army like green....I love it. The guitar is a basswood body and the quilt top is phenomenal. The tone is perfection (If you like VH). It has great Harmonics and I like it better than my Wolfgangs. This is an improvement..

It has coil splitting, body carves, and a superior shape in the horn (IMHOP). The tone pick ups are hand wound for the guitar and sound great..thick and rich. The asymetrical neck is always my favorite.

I think it is very unfortunate to read the reviews below. I wish they had received the guitars I have from Peavey. Mine are just great USA built guitars. The same crew that belt the great Custom Shop Wolfgangs is at work on the HP Special. The reviews in Guitar World are dead on to my experience. I encourage everyone to got to www.rockandrollweekend.com and see the demo Guitar World did on the guitar.

THATS THE SAME EXPERIENCE I'VE HAD WITH ALL THREE HP'S I OWN.

Great, GREAT fit and finish...

I'm not going to doubt the experience the other reviewers have had, BUT I would strongly encourage people to give these a personal run.

I LOVE THEM..

I never had a complaint about my Wolfgangs, and don't expect the HP to be any different.

PEAVEY is a very stand up group. Even the guys below with complaints seem to have been taken care of it seems.

I love these guitars. I have many boutique guitars and I'm not for a second pretending that this is on par with my Gustavsson. At the same time it doesn't cost $6,000. This guitar is meant to be played and it is a hell of a good time to play. It is on par with my Music Man Axis guitars (Another guitar I love)and all my Jacksons. I have Andersons, Suhr's, and have had Tyler's, Vigier's, and ESP's.

This guitar is my current favorite and the one that gets played.

However, they are all great.

Special ordered, and purchased brand new. Very nicely figured Moonburst (Blue) flame maple top, GEORGOUS birdseye maple neck with matching headstock. Floyd Rose trem, with a new trem-block feature that makes it full floating, or dive only. Has 22 frets that were dressed well. Comes with Peavey's own pickups, and a neat coil-tapping feature for both humbuckers, making it very versitile. Can't think of anything else it could have. Very feature packed!

Didn't own it long enough to plug it in.

REALLY dissapointing here.

Now keep in mind, this was a $1150.00 guitar, so my expectations here are based on that.

I opened the factory sealed box at the store, and gave it a cursory inspection. I was a little disappointed to see handprints and dust all over it out of the box, but it seemed very nice. Beautiful flame top with blue-burst finish (Moonburst is what Peavey calls it), one of the most figured birdseye necks I've ever seen. The frets were dressed nicely, and the action was almost perfect. Once I got home, and gave it a more thorough inspection I began to find some serious issues. First, one of the studs for the Floyd was not perpendicular to the body, meaning it was leaning forward at an angle. On top of tuning issues, it also caused the Floyd to sit cockeyed in the trem cavity, and also made the trem-block on the back useless, since the block of the trem didn't sit flush with the trem-block. On the back of the guitar, the cover for the electronics did not sit flush with it's pocket. There was also glue/adhesive leading away from the edges of the trem route for the black foam cushion under the trem. At first I thought it was gouges in the paint, but after some rubbing I finally realized what it was. Very sloppy work.

Peavey seems to have used top notch materials for making the guitar, but the workmanship seems to be what would keep me from having any faith in this guitar.

The case included with the guitar is the same exact case used for the Wolfgangs, and does not fit this guitar well at all. You can hear and feel it slide around when moved.

Either way, with the issues outlined above, I have no confidence in this guitar.

My dealer sent this guitar back, and issued me a store credit. I've dealt with Peavey in the past and they have been very helpful, so I would assume they would have been so in this case. The guitar comes with a limited lifetime warranty, but due to all of the issues I had with this guitar out of the box, I did not want to give Peavey another chance, however.

I also own 5 Ernie Ball Music Man guitars, a Jackson SL2, and an ESP Eclipse, and thought I'd give Peavey a chance this time.

Prior to buying this guitar, I had read the one and only review here. Honestly, I thought the reviewer may have just had an axe to grind with Peavey stuff or something.

Like the previous reviewer, I also had to have my dealer order me an HP Special sight unseen, since no dealers in my area stock these things.(In fact, I called 5 dealers, and none of them had even heard of them yet.) I had owned 3 Wolfgangs in the past, and thought there was no way their quality could have gone down so much since they stopped making the Wolfgangs. I remember receiving my first Wolfgang and been really impressed that it included a quality inpection/ build sheet that was initialled by the workers inthe factory in it's various stages of assembly. It really made the impression that Peavey was proud of the quality of their products.

Another issue I have, is that the HP Specials they show on their website have a different body shape than the one's they are shipping. If you want to see the final iteration of the HP, www.rocknrollweekend.com/hp_specials.html, and check them out.

All of this combined made this the most disappointing purchase I've made in a while. I guess I thought that since Peavey no longer has Eddie to hang their hat on, they'd be trying especially hard to make the 'new/ improved' version better.

It's really a shame because the guitar has some serious potential. The neck felt great (just like the Wolfgang), the finish and materials for the guitar seem top notch.

The build sticker on the back of mine showed '05, so I'm guessing I got one of the first ones? I read an article from one of the co-designers at Peavey who said they would only be building these per order, but I had my dealer call to check availability, and it was in-stock, so that further confirms that maybe this was an anomoly of some sort?

I know this review seems like I'm bashing Peavey, but I'm not. I loved my old Wolfgangs, still own my JSX, and have owned many other Peavey products that have served me well.

I've heard that Peavey will be opening their custom shop for these things soon, so hopefully they will have a little better QC than their standard production guitars? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Made on 6/5/06. 22 frets. Birds eye maple neck and fingerboard. H/H with coild taps on each. Floyd Rose (peavey liscenced) 25.5 in scale.
It has great features.

Never even plugged it in...read on...

This was the worst USA made guitar I have ever had. Period.
The paint was thin in areas and the primer showed or wood showed through. The frets where finished horribly. It hurt to play it due to the ends not dressed well. The routing for the trem was all bumppy. Like the router was plunged multiple time during the cut.
The neck had some grime smeared on it and then was sealed into the finish. There where sanding marks in the neck. And the trem block was did not allow a third spring to be added because the holes where not drilled deep enough. I though USA made guitars where quality? Not this time I guess.

Never got that far.

They are nice enough to deal with. They wanted to help. I just returned it to the dealer I ordered it from.

I have been playing for 20+ years. I own MusicMan guitars, Ibanez guitars and a Carvin Bass. I wish I never bought it. NEVER WILL I BUY SITE UNSEEN AGAIN. I had a Wolfgang and it was great. I sold it when I needed the money and wish I still had it. I read about this guitar being an improved Wolfgang and called around to find one. A dealer said they could get it and I went for it. I wound up eating the shipping on it and had a hard time getting a refund but in the end I did. I'm sure I got a real puker and others are better. At least if Peavey wants to sell these thing. I opted not to try a second one. I bought a G&L Invader instead. Sorry Peavey.

Brand spankin' new 2006, just arrived today. 1 Vol 1 Tone pot, coil taps on both p/u's. Birds Eye bear naked maple neck attached to a basswood body with a FLAT maple flame. This particular flame top is almost a quilt slash flame, unique and BEAUTIFUL! Licensed floyd rose w/ the old wolfie tuners, complete with a baby butt soft wipe cloth. Cannot figure out for the life of me why no manufacture that have seen has not wired their pickups like this. I have been playing guitars with this mods for 20-years and if you have 2 humbuckers, it is the only way to go for great versatility. Frankly the average guitar has few features to report that offer any difference. Add the wiring job to the locking mechanism on the bridge and this goes to the top of the heap. The finish on this guitar is fantastic by today's standards. As nice as you can buy for a production model anything. The balance point on this guitar is WAY better than the wolfie.

Not sure peavey did different, but yes they retained the jump out of your amp and beat you punch & bite of the wolfgang and yet they sound different. Take notice, the flat top DOES sound different than the arch top. Just a hair less full sounding and a smidge less punch. In exchange you get more bite and sizzle. How do I know, because I bought one of each. Variety of sound is fantastic due again to the wiring scheme on the p/u's. You will be surprised by how good this sounds clean and that's where it differentiates itself from the wolfgang. The notch position either full or tapped are the best and biggest surprise. Try it with a AC-30, matchless or Duncan. If you happen to own a good marshall with good speakers, put your helmet on, god help you and hang on to your shorts, this thing will draw blood at 100 yards! I did not try it with my Fender deluxe, why bother. These might be the best stock pickups I've had in any guitar.

Well here's where it gets interesting. Mine showed in a drop D tuning, was someone in the factory screwing around? This thing is very well built and solid. Having said that, it looks hand made, like it should. This particular guitar has tiny, little, well we'll call them character traits, that I am not surprised to see. American made vs. overseas mass produced, fine with me. We've gotten so accustomed to milled everything in the last 25-years, I can at least tell a human being worked on this guitar, again fine with me.

Who knows, find me in 20-years, we'll talk.

Hey Peavey, I know it just a guitar, so operation is self-evident, but where's the manual?

Is this the best finished guitar I have, no but damn close, that would be my PRS. Fastest neck, no, that would be my JS1000, Does it have the legacy/history, no, that would be my '77 LP deluxe goldtop, best sustain, no that would be my Jackson Soloist (hard to beat thru-necy design), are the p/u's dead as single coils when tapped, no, but have some VERY nice strats, is this the best bang for the buck and bordering on world class, YES. You will be very hard pressed to find a more versatile, sweet sounding, fantastic playing and incredibly beautiful guitar in a production model from any maker. If you get to have only one guitar, this should be it. Now for the gripes and there are few. Peavey I know you have lots of extra wolfie cases lying around, but wouldn't want to travel very far with this case. Too much wiggle room in there. Bridge, could you please give these people the trem arm that has the screw down cap fitting, hell if fender can put it on their strats?.....If you are committed to this model, make them available. I had to search wide and far to find a pair of these things.