Peavey Jack Daniels EXP

bought it dec. '07 (charcoal quilted) top finish, grover tuners, no case included.

so far its been sitting in the shadow of an $150.00 epiphone, not using it now. pickups sound good, weight feels good, it is a very good looking/ feeling guitar. my $300.00 jay turser tiger eye finish cutlass has a real maple top, mahogany body, came set up, and is currently looking and playing better than this unit, quality is equal on these, i wouldnt have bought this if id gotten my jt first, it is a quality piece, overpriced for what it is.

this guitar is so messed up out of the box, i dont even play it. my epiphone and jay turser are being well used. the pickups arent correct height, the action on the lower strings is awfull, d chord etc. is just twangy and wrong on this current setup. this was shipped in a box and handed to me, never set up, not peaveys fault for that, still need to go spend $$ to get setup after spending $750.00 after tax for this thing. who knows, might be my favorite once its playable. already seen em new on ebay for $589.00 , makes me want to smash it.

im depending on it to sit tight untill it gets a setup.

emailed and suggested for $700.00 + they should throw in a case, even a gig bag, was told no way, i also just bought a valveking half stack ($1000.00), which i love, peavey is good stuff, losing touch w/ reality if they think ill spend another $1750.00 w/ them and not even get a crappy $30.00 gig bag thrown in ?!? oh well

playing 20 yrs. guitar and drums. 4 guitars, epi, fender, peavey and jay turser, gretsch drums. wish it was in stock item so i could have tried it (special order). if it were lost or stolen i would spend the money on a different guitar. my opinion having multiple guitars to plug in to my valveking halfstack is mainly my jay turser cutlass is every bit as good looking, thinner neck, equal quality and plays every bit as good, so does my cheap epi. dont waste your cash on this unless you are sold on the jd stuff, you could buy an equal for a third the price.

Ok, to start with I'd better go over the specs- this beast was designed by Peavey's Custom shop in collaboration with Jack Daniel's. The guitar is handcrafted in Korea (a country i am increasingly impressed by their manufacturing and quality control)here are the specs off of Peavey's website:
* 24 3/4 inch scale
* Set-neck body construction
* Mahogany body back with quilt maple veneer top
* Unique archtop body style with cutaway and back heel contour at upper register
* 22 frets
* Solid mahogany neck and ebony fretboard with Jack Daniel's?? inlay
* Two master volume and one tone control configuration
* Two high output, vintage Peavey humbuckers with chrome covers
* All-chrome hardware
* Standard stop tail piece
* Premium machine heads
* Special stamped Old No. 7?? chrome knobs
* Case not included.
Only there are a few discrepancies I found- Firstly the body is not an arch top, but is flat with a contoured back section (like a Strat) which makes the axe sit very comfortably against my body. The Standard stop tail piece is in fact Peavey's Dual compression tail piece like the HP sig. which lets the strings go through the body or through the tail piece. The machine heads are quoted as being "grover style" but they have "Grover" stamped on the back so I'm pretty sure these are the real deal. The veneer on the top of the instrument is nothing like the photo on the website (mine is charcoal by the way) and is a very subtle quilt effect- good for me cos' it nearly looks all black-very sexy- but others may be disappointed expecting the bright quilted veneer like the photo. However, the finish on mine may be due to it being an older/newer model so it may differ for you. All things considered this still deserves high marks purely on the custom appointments alone.

Angus Young on steroids.Just the right amount of treble for a vintage hot vibe, lovely round mids and ball shaking bass when you want it, but to give an overall view- A Les Paul with vintage hot sounding Buckers. Precisely what i was after- A Les Paul lookalike that sounded like/better than the real thing for a third of the cost. I cannot speak more highly of the stock sound of this thing. Not a touch of mud on the neck pickup, Bridge is noticeably hot, but not in a bad way. Rolling off the volume does i think lose a little high frequency but the Pu's clean up nicely and sound very, very good. Peavey certainly did a good job with these- as an aside, these pickups are apparently the same that are on the $2,599.99 USA version of this. So the only reason to buy the US one is for the Real Quilted top, as everything else is more or less the same! I compared this guitar to the Peavey HP EXP model that i also recently acquired and can say for the extra 70 quid i paid for the Jack Daniel's I know I've got my money's worth. I doubt I'll change the pick ups in the JD EXP whereas the HP EXP is very likely to see some new pickups in the future to keep up with the Jack Daniels. Switch and pots etc seem very sturdy, but if they do fail, shit its only a small amount of money to replace them. Fuckin' outrageous value for money!

This Axe, like the HP sig. was playable straight from the box. Very impressive as this is my 2nd internet order guitar so I've picked another good store (Nevada Music UK)and if they set up the guitar before dispatch they did a damn good job. Neck is as straight as an arrow, frets impeccably installed, binding on body and neck flawless as was the overall finish.

Solid, i don't intend to hammer any nails into the wall with it, and play as a hobby but if you are a gigging musician it seems a tough beast.

Heard good things about Peavey but couldn't comment myself.

This is my third guitar and I've been teaching myself for four years now, this instrument like the others i have is an inspiration to play, and has certainly helped me with my playing. Playing a guitar of this quality certainly inspires you to keep at it, and I'm even more engrossed in my playing than i ever was. No it isn't too good to be true. I spent days researching all the different guitars in the 350 to 400 pound range and through looking at reviews and knowing what a 300 Peavey could do i was very sure in what i could expect from this guitar. The rule of thumb being, if you get it right, a guitar that costs around 350-400 pounds can turn out to be much better than a guitar that costs twice or three times the price. What people fall for is the "made in the USA" statement and bang thats an extra few hundred/thousand added to the total price. If you look around and do your research there are some corking bargains out there that are guitars that may not be made in the US but are the dogs bollocks and are cheaper than their US counterparts mainly due to the stigma attached to manufacture in countries other than the US. This is a beast of a guitar- another ten points to Peavey.