Peavey Hydra Doubleneck

I have had almost every double neck out there before and this one had what I needed the most. 24 frets on both necks. I hated those other 20 fret double necks.

I thought it sounded great, I used it both with a row of Marshall amps and a direct box.

I did guitar repairs for years so I could dial it in just like I wanted. My first one was a sunburst with rosewood necks. My second was black with maple necks. My next one will be white with rosewood if I can find one. (I never really liked anyone's maple necks.)

I had no problems, but I also baby my guitars as much as I can. I keep hitting cymbals with the back of the neck, so that always gets dinged.

Never needed any outside help, but Peavey has always been great for all my other stuff.

I had to replace the interiors in the cases, something I have never done with any other guitars. The orignal foam needed a cloth covering instead of the bare foam. That messed the finish up some.

I have been playing for over 30 years, own about 15 major guitars, this is my only Peavey guitar, but its perfect for me. People are surprised when they see it. I like that.

this is a made in USA guitar from around 1985-86, according to my research. white pearl satin finish, a little yellowish with age, double neck strat-style, body wood unknown but heavy. fixed bridges, strat hardtail style. peavey tuners, non locking and working fine. fat necks with maple fretboards, some nicks in back. bought it without case (the seller used the flight style heavy case as a keyboard case and wanted to sell it very expensive). frets in fair condition for its age. bought it on 1992, it had been heavily used touring in europe with a latin folk band and then left resting in a room so when i bought it many parts were rusty or dirty or in bad condition (had to replace the pickup and neck selector switches), lots of scratches and dings in the body back, very few in the front. double H/H configuration, 4 original peavey black humbuckers with two rows of 6 poles each, fine tunable with an allen wrench (very useful to find your own personal balance between the two necks and 4 p-ups). controls work fine: master volume and two cool tone controls that work as coil blenders: from 0 to 6 pickups are humbuckers and from 7 to ten single coils.

Not the best sounding guitar in the world but neither a dissapointing one. with the proper manipulation of the pickups height and pole pieces individual height i found a nice balance between the two necks, so i can play jangly chords with the 12 string neck and then smoky solos with the six string neck. eventually i would change the lead pickup of the 6-string for a louder one, but the stock works fine and has been tested live hundreds of times, i have even some youtube clips playing it live with my pub band.

i bought this guitar second hand and heavily used. as i had to make minimal changes and adjustments(aside from patient and careful cleaning because the guitar was almost 'abandoned'), i assume the factory setting was very good / excellent, considering this is a standard production model, not a fancy or custom shop one.

a real workhorse. survived heavy use with previous owner through dozens of european pubs (lots of nick, dings, scratches). i had to clean a lot of rust and dirt because they left it unused and without case in small room in the roof for two years. the only things i changed are the two selector switches (rusty) and the strap buttons for schallers (locking), but the originals were in working condition.
All the rest is stock and have used it live since 1992 for 4-8 songs once a month (plus hundreds of rehersals). sounds fine too.

found a pdt copy of the owners manual in internet! great help. never needed to ask for support.

i play part time in pub bands since 1987 and own three more electrics, one tele with bill lawrence p-ups, one strat with dimarzios and one strat with gfs p-ups, so this is the only one with stock pickups and blends well onstage, with digital and analog pedals (zoom 4040, boss, dods, vai's bad horsie). i love the versatility and the good looks (a double neck is always a show stopper). i hate the heavy weight and changing and tuning 18 strings! (can't afford a roadie, but happily it stays in tune)
if i lost it or is stolen i would hunt and kill the thief!! and get other hydra double neck, if i am lucky to find one

1986 Peavey Hydra 6/12 doubleneck, made in the good 'ol USA. Black "Strat" shaped and contoured body (have no idea what the wood is) and two hard rock maple necks with rosewood fretboards. 24 3/4 scale with 24 frets. Four (4) humbucking pickups, one volume and two tone controls. The tone controls also double as a coil-splitter for any of the four pickups, a very cool feature. Three (3) toggle switches. One selects the neck (6, 12, or both), and the other two are for selecting either the bridge or neck pickup (or both) on each of the two necks. The tuning machines are enclosed and seem to be good quality. Graphite nuts. The necks have a unique "tilt" control feature at the 4-bolt plate. The hardware is nickel and also seems go good quality. Your basic Tele type bridges. These guitars come with a flight case that is huge and heavy. I bought a Yamaha keyboard gig bag for $50.00 that works great. I don't think anyone who owned the guitar before me used the case, either, as it is in pristine condition. Since the necks are bolt-on and the bridges attach exactly the same way, I moved the 12-sting neck to the bottom, ala Richie Sambora's Ovation doublenecks. Much easier to play lead on the 6 without having to reach over the 12. One day when I have my dream doubleneck built, I will have the 12 on bottom.

The 6 string roars. I play with .11 guage strings. Add a 10+ pound body to that and you have a tone monster. Splitting the coils gets a nice Stratty sound, too. The pickups sound very good for stock Peavey circa 1986.
The 12 can do everything from Beatles/Byrds spank to Cheap Trick and Zeppelin. I do have to crank the treble on my amp a bit to get that nice bright 12 sound.

This took awhile. The 12 neck when I got this guitar was pathetic. I set it up and experimented with different strings. .09s seemed to light and .10s to heavy, and the neck didn't like the .10s at all. What I use now is a Rickenbacker 12 set (they only make one) on the E, A, D, and G. The regular strings are lighter than a usual electric .10 set, but the octave strings are heavier. For the B and high E I go down to a standard .09 set. This is a good compromise between tone, tension, and playability. I use a standard GHS Boomer .11 set on the 6, and it has always played very well.
The 12 is not the best electric 12 I have every played, but it is certainly not the worse, either. But it is much better than any of the cheap import Gibson copies I have played.

This guitar has held up very well since 1986. I seems to be built very well. The hardware still looks new. The elctronics all work fine.

Never really dealt with them directly, but their website is very good. Very helpful moderators on the discussion boards.

Our cover band does quite a few tunes that I thought a 12 string would sound good on and just thought a doubleneck would look cool. I used to have an old Ventura Gibson copy, and regretted selling it. I bought an Epiphone, but UPS trashed it. I found the Peavey, and decided to give it a try. It took a long time to get the 12 string set up, but it was worth it. It plays really good now, and totally blows away anything new out there that cost under $1000.00. Plus, I really like the 12 string neck on bottom. My only real complaint is the thing is so friggin' heavy, but, duh. Perhaps Parker should build a doubleneck.
Overall, I would give this guitar an even 8. The 12 could set up and play better, but for the money I can't complain. I may buy a new 12 string neck and have it professionally installed some day. I would also like a bridge on the 12 with intonation saddles for every string, and may do that one day, too. I just don't play it enough really to warrant those changes, and it works fine as is.