Peavey JF-2

Since the guitar was made in China Peavey told me they don't keep records making the serial number simply a novelty for verifying the guitar is actually a real Peavey (as if you'd find someone who'd make a fake Peavey.) It was built around 2007 or 2008 I can assume.
22 frets, silver sparkle top with silver hardware, cream binding and black everything else. I wish I could see the wood grain on the neck but oh well. Two tones, two volumes and a three way switch.

The pickups are Firebird-sized minihumbuckers built by Peavey. The tuners are supposedly Grovers but have no markings. They run real smooth. Bridge is a tune-o matic. Replace it with a rolling bridge if you desire tuning stability with the Bigsby. Also, to make the stock Bigsby work better replace the tension spring with a real Bigsby 1" spring. It'll make it feel tougher and less spongy.

All in all, replace the bridge with a roller, replace the tension spring with a better one and replace the pickups if you don't like them (pretty good for stock pups.) Without pickups, that's less than 50 dollars of upgrades.

The stock pickups are alright but it's worth your time to replace them with higher end pickups if you wanna bring this thing to life. I used Bill Laurence L560's. I was unaware when I ordered them that they were P90 retrofits and not Firebird sized so the guitar had to go in for surgery. Now it may not sound appealing to buy a guitar and immediately have it routed but the instrument is solid and deserves nice pickups. It also has no resale value so you might as well hotrod it. I love this guitar and it's fresh pickups.

I use an Ampeg GV-22 and it sounds great. The guitar doesn't hum with the stock or new pickups though watch it if you like high gain. It will feed back on you regardless of how good your pickups are if you aren't careful. Basically, step away from your amp and it should be alright without a noise gate. The guitar is versatile with its stock pickups and goes through the roof with nice pickups.

If you replace pups at all make sure they are a matching set. This guitar works really well in mixed positions.

The guitar was purchased used but was in like-new condition. It was not setup when I bought it used and I had to adjust some things. Nothing abnormal and no real issues. Tune-o matics and rolling bridges both are trick to intonate due to their position on the guitar but you only intonate once every few months. It beats a floyd.

There were little nicks in the sparkle finish by the neck and an F-hole was cut too long and is filled in with some sort of black substance. It's something you wouldn't catch unless you got in close.

If you have trouble with overtones from the bridge, use a hair tie and wiggle-waggle it onto the Bigsby area in some fashion. Works like a charm.

It's pretty tough and the finish has yet to show a scratch from my metal pick. My spider-bridge resonator actually has more scratches from my metal pick. Good stuff I guess. The hardware is built solid, the finish doesn't seem to scratch under any average amount of abuse. The strap buttons could be bigger but I'll buy locking ones at some point anyways. I'd gig with backup because a guitar like this is hard to work on yourself. There are no holes aside from the F-holes so you need a pro or infinite patience to fix problems with this thing.

Somewhat leery of the neck being painted black on the rear. I'd feel more confident if I could see the woodgrain and verify it's indeed a solid chunk of wood. It feels fine but a pal of mine recently had a cheaper ESP of his get knocked over and, when the head stock hit the ground, the neck split revealing it was layered.

Overall, reliable but if something goes wrong (loose wire) you need to get some help.

Peavey is cool and they'll help you out in a quick fashion.

Been playing for about 6 years. I own a Johnson resonator, an Ampeg GV-22 and some pedals. This guitar has sounded great in a lot of situations for me and is extremely versatile.

I wish I would have known minihumbuckers came in different sizes. If it were lost I'd be ashamed for losing a large object. If stolen, I'd probably buy another semi-hollow body with humbuckers and a Bigsby. You don't see these often.

I love the guitar to death and I won't sell it at any point. It has everything I could want except a convenient volume knob.

Overall, I'd recommend this guitar to anyone who enjoys upgrading an instrument or just needs a semi-hollow body.

The finish on this thing is pure rockabilly beauty. Three colors available (red, gold and silver). The gold looks gorgeous to me, but the red is even better. The silver looks like of goofy because the hardware is gold.

The body is pretty much your typical 335 hollow clone.

Bigsby tremolo, Grover tuners... I bought it with the intention of swapping out the tuners for locking Grovers or Schallers, but it actually holds in tune fine with these (at least with the 9s it comes set up with), so I may leave it as-is.

Rosewood fretboard... No idea what wood was used for the neck (it's covered with a black finish), but I really don't care as long as it stays straight.

This guitar (along with others I've seen recently) is proof that the Chinese are seriously catching up. When Peavey moved their factories from the US to Korea, I thought it would suck but was proven wrong. Now they have Chinese factories make most of their stuff, and once again, I'm very pleased to have my assumptions dispelled. A very high-quality instrument for the money.

Mini-humbuckers, probably made by Peavey.

It sounds just like you would hope a "jazz guitar" would. A heck of a lot of guitar for the money. When I'm home alone, I like to play the solos from "Get Back" and pretend I'm John Lennon. I tried it out in the store through a Fender combo, but I'm mainly playing it through a 50W SoCal tube stack, and it's more than up to the challenge.

In spite of the hollow-body design, I haven't had any microphonic feedback problems, even standing near my amp at high volumes. The mini-humbuckers work as advertised and cancel out all hum.

99 percent of the time, I leave the switch set for both pick-ups, with all the volume and tone pots at 10... It sounds beautiful like that, so if it ain't broke, I say don't try to fix it.

The set-up was fabulous. Very low action, but without fret buzz anywhere on the neck.

The finish on inside edges the F-holes was a bit rough, but a bit of sandpaper (perhaps followed by a black sharpie) would probably take care of that. I'm choosing to leave it alone, since nobody will see that from the crowd.

The fretboard was kind of dried out looking and had little blobs of what appeared to be excess lacquer on it in a couple tiny spots, but that just kind of gives it character. Besides, it was being liquidated for $299, so I ain't complaining

It's a hollow body.

With a Bigsby tremolo.

And size 9 strings.

If you're not prepared to treat it like it was made of gossamer wings, then go buy a MIM telecaster.

I've owned a lot of Peavey gear, and never once had to rely on them for support, because their stuff just flat-out works.

One of these days I'll have a problem with one of their products, and I'll actually be able to mention their customer support in a review... One of these days, but not today.

Guitars are getting cheaper, thanks to the Chinese getting better, and the Koreans working hard to compete, but this is the first time I've seen a 335 with a Bigsby for anywhere less than $400, ever... and it's a darn good guitar to boot!

I don't expect to get much resale value out of it in the future, because there are so many "headstock snobs" and "made in USA" snobs out there... and those that aren't often just buy new... But when I buy a guitar, it's usually with the intention to keep it until it's destroyed, it's stolen, or I die, whichever comes first.

If I lost it somehow, I'd try to replace it, if I could find another at such a great deal... But I'd probably give up and simply cry, then save up my money for a vintage 335 to take the pain away.

Gold sparkle finish, Bigsby copy, mini-humbuckers, three-way toggle, two volume and two tone controls, Laminated semi-hollow body, made in China

Nice aggressive bite on the bridge pickup. Neck pickup is suitably jazzy. Both are rather hot. When you play unplugged, you get a lot of overtones from the strings stretched between the bridge and the roller bar. Thru an old Fender amp, it's easy to get a nice controlled feedback.

Upper frets were rough. Electronics are suspect, with the neck tone control intermittent. Nut was cut too high (as they are in most guitars). The G string could not be intonated without reversing the saddle and bringing it all the way back. Fit and finish nice. Bigsby works good now that the nut has been tweaked and nothing is binding the strings.

Solid and reliable so far. I don't touch the neck tone control. Stays in tune. Should last a long time.

Peavey has an excellent reputation, and has helped me in the past.

Chinese guitars are getting better. Although it took a little work, I now have a good guitar that didn't break the bank, looks flashy on stage, and feeds back when I ask it to.

Semi Hollow Body
24 3/4 inch scale, set-neck guitar with a mahogany neck
Rosewood fretboard and maple plywood body w/ solid veneer top
Cream binding on body and neck
22 frets
Tune-o-matic bridge with a vintage vibrato tailpiece
Two custom mini-bucking pickups
Two master tone and two master volume controls with three-way switch
Crazy Metal Flake Gold finish on top (over the top)!

I run this through a Peavey ValveKing head and bottom, dirty or clean this thing shines. You get an absolutely amazing tone with both pickups. I play different styles but with this guitar mostly classic rock.

The set up on this guitar was really very good from the factory, the intonation was excellent and the frets were finished smooth. The gold metalflake (sparkle) finish on top is perfect, and the gloss black on the rest of the guitar is excellent. The pickups were adjusted fine and the tuners seem to be alright. The "Bigsby" style tremolo set up was also done well.

In my opinion this guitar is quite reliable, and it is quite heavy for a semi hollow body and well put together. I would gig with this guitar.

I have never had any problem whatsoever with any Peavey gear over the last 28 years! I will give a good rating due to Peaveys warranty.

I have been playing for approximately 29 years and if I had to replace this guitar for any reason I would not hesitate to buy another one! I think that the gold finish is incredible and for the price it is a great buy.