Peavey Mystic

An odd-shaped "metal" guitar, I think identical to their Mantis and Razer models except for the shape. The body looks sort of like a BC Rich Stealth (slightly more elegant, I think), in other words it's star-shaped but with round, curving edges. But don't judge a guitar by its shape... USA made, not sure when, other than it's not being made anymore. Neck is maple, 2-piece, with black dot inlays and 23 really huge frets. The neck profile is surprisingly fat, though not 50s fat. Body is probably basswood, finished in dark metallic blue. Pickups are two Peavey Super Ferrite humbuckers with blade magnets, wired to a three-position switch, a volume control, and two knobs that control tone and coil split at the same time. Hardware includes a non-locking floating trem of heavy construction, Schaller tuners (I'm not sure those are original, though), a teflon nut, and an odd triangular string tree. All hardware has heavy chrome plating. There is also a neck-tilt adjustment mechanism. This has the typical features of a low-end 80s metal guitar, but the components (hardware, pickups, frets, neck etc) are generally good. However, for *number* of features, I can't rate it high.

I was pleasantly surprised by the available tones. This guitar can sound very good clean. I don't use distortion much, and have nearly quit using even light overdrive, so I don't really know about that, but clean with the tone controls all the way up (which puts the pickups in single-coil mode), it's very bright and downright twangy. Not Tele-twangy, but for country or rockabilly tones it'll work at least as well as a Jazzmaster. There's not really any ear-piercing extreme treble (and I'm going into a very bright and precise solid state amp so I'd hear it) but a lot of lower treble and high mids. Rolling back the tone, the sound gets fuller and rounder. Below 4 or so, it's really pure mud, but around 6-8, it's really nice - very much what one would expect from a guitar with humbuckers and a basswood body. A dead ringer for the clean tones on Angel'In Heavy Syrup albums, much better than most 80s superstrats. Sustain, however, is poor, about what I'd expect from an average Strat. The major problem I have with this guitar is that it has a basswood body, which isn't bad, it's just not what I like. I like a really hard, concentrated, articulate attack, and this is much softer and more diffuse. It also translates into a less sensitivity - this makes it easier to get a decent sound (one does not have to be as careful about picking technique), but I like to shape tone with my fingers, and this just does not suit me. However, I was planning to take this guitar apart and throw the body away when I got it, and the way it sounds actually convinced me to keep it around until I need some parts from it for a specific project.

This guitar was taken care of very poorly by the previous owner, and needed a complete readjustment of action and intonation everything else, so I can't comment on the factory setup. Moreover, it was also oversprayed with seafoam green spraypaint, so I can't comment on the finish too much either. However, here comes the list of other flaws: the neck pocket fit is downright terrible (this could be due to the previous owner disassembling the guitar, though), the two neck pieces are not matched well at all (one is nicely flamed and the other utterly plain and has a few minor mineral streaks), knobs are not exactly inline, and the neck inlay work shows some not-so-close fits. However, the plating on the hardware is very good, the neck wood straight and even grained, and more importantly stiff, the frets are good, and everything works properly. This guitar plays quite well once set up properly, but with the somewhat fat neck, it's not the best for fretboard wizardry. The one major problem I have is that this guitar can't be set up with large strings and high action, period. The neck should definitely be able to handle it (unlike a lot of other 80s metal guitars), but there simply isn't enough room to adjust the intonation on the saddles. I would like to use 12s, but with medium-high action, 10s are the largest gauge that will work. This isn't a problem for the guitar's intented market, and not really a problem for me, since I bought it for parts, but it *is* the one thing that makes this guitar unsuitable for me.

Well, it's withstood the previous owner without any major damage. The hardware is very good, the neck is very good, the frets show practically no wear, and everything seems stable. However, the strap buttons are not large, and the body wood is soft and dents easily. It stays in tune well as long as the trem isn't used too much - with deep dive bombs it will drift out of tune quickly.

No idea. This is probably too old to be under any warranty, and I haven't tried to contact the company for anything.

I got this guitar strictly for parts because it has top-grade hardware, a good neck, and I like these particular pickups. I can't really use it as a guitar because it needs to have light strings and action, but it sounds surprisingly good even if it's not exactly my thing. It's really pretty good, and I'm glad it has such an unfashionable looking body so nobody wants it nowadays. Great value for the money, and you can get great country or rockabilly sounds out of it and make one hell of a fashion statement. I'm going to use the neck, take the trem apart and make a fixed bridge, and probably reuse the pickups also (with the addition of a middle-position single coil), and make a different guitar around a completely new body.