 |
| from $100.00 to $400.00 USD |
So what's the big deal? USA or not who cares about another Strat copy???
Well the big deal is it 'IS' an American made guitar. It is 29 years old and the wood has reached it's Golden Age.
It was a budget mid priced American alternative to the Japanese who were dominating the market. Especially Ibanez. Fender of course were making a Strat called a Strat in Mexico
and I am sure the made in USA badge brought in more than a few players that were headed to the MIM Strats.
and I am sure the made in USA badge brought in more than a few players that were headed to the MIM Strats.
About 3 years ago these went for $100.00 USD but a really good one now sells for as much as $400.00
I got mine on an even trade for a Korean made DeArmond that I paid $280.00 USD for.
USD. Real collectors know when to jump in. This has of course bumped up the price over a very short time. There are still bargains at small town thrift stores and a few pawn shops. Of course the proverbial garage sale or even someone getting that guitar someone's Dad abandoned buried in a dirty corner of a basement. lol
This is the last of the defunct US made guitars so guys this is IT ...unlike the Harmonys and Kays etc. It can handle modern playing demands as is so it will never become a 'Wall Hanger' which is a major bonus!!!
This is the last of the defunct US made guitars so guys this is IT ...unlike the Harmonys and Kays etc. It can handle modern playing demands as is so it will never become a 'Wall Hanger' which is a major bonus!!!
This guitar will increase rapidly for a few years but the great thing is it is not so precious that you should feel you can not upgrade it to a real players guitar.
THE BUILD
It has a body of American Alder the same used for an American Strat. The shape is mildly different in that the routing on the edges is more curved then a Tele but not nearly as sloped as a Strat. The pickguard is almost a matt white and is one piece and is not beveled.
The 3 single coils are a bit hot and use ceramic PU's not Alnico. They sound very Strat like but slightly harsh and very animated. The harmonic's and the Strat 'chime' are very exaggerated. The result is a love hate thing. You either love the overkill or want the warmth but much subtler tone of the standard Strat Alnico.
I tend to use it with a low gain OD. I set it with just a bit of gain. I get a Sultans of Swing tone but with much more sustain. The OD smooths out the harshness completely.
Later models offered a hummie in the bridge position. You then could choose it red or white
as well as the black and get a rosewood fretboard too.
The all maple neck is 'bi-laminated' ...which means it has been sawed in two then flipped over and glued. The grain is so straight it is near impossible to see but it has a plywood effect of being very strong and very stable. It also means the truss rod can be put sandwiched between both halves. It is all handmade stuff ...not cheap to do. These days they use a CNC machine and put the tod under the skunk stripe. My Peavey is 28 years old and still dead straight. The fingerboard radius is not 9.5 like a Fender but the much flatter 12 like a Gibson. It is stellar for bends and finger vibrato as it does not drag or even choke out on the tighter curve.
The tuners are very cheap, in fact you can buy a new set for $5.34 USD. LOL It is hard to tune but once in tune they do not slip. The nut is graphite and ideal as it lets the strings glide back and forth smoothly helping to keep the strings in tune when using a whammy. The whammy is there own the Power Bend using the Fender's Vintage Strat design as it's basic template. The 4 screws holding the bridge to the body are not evenly spaced like the Fender. The inside two are closer to the center. The whammy bar is threaded. I had to buy a replacement. I was lucky to find one with a short arm that unlike most lies flatter to the body instead of pointing into the air. It allows me to waver over the bar while still picking. I do not like that dead moment while grabbing the bar ...most players do that so it makes quick pitch glisses in the middle of a phrase impossible. I got this technique from Reeves Gabrels. I read an interview where he kicked down a few doors about how to use a whammy for more then a WOW!
The metal quality is fine. I was not sure it would be as the tuners are Chinese. Using it as if it were a fixed bridge gives you a typical Strat sound and sustain. The electrics are great. Mine are 29 years old and still working like new.
Bottom line ...a damn good guitar!!! That has already stood the test of time. With perhaps a few mods for some ...others will just play it as is. A keeper that will only increase in value.
To the underground it already has a cool factor and in a few years everyone will think so.
Remember it is an American made guitar using good stuff where it counts... the workmanship and wood. Anything else is easily upgraded.
It is both a cool guitar and a bargain!!!
It can not but increase in value and prestige.
Mine (pictured above) was made in 1992. It needed a good set up and cleaning. I would like to get the whammy in action I needed new springs or add 2 more to the 3 in there so I sorted out that.
It had not been maintained for so long that it needed many small but annoying adjustments. The whole bridge had shifted about a sixteenth of an inch and needed to be reseated ...it was not rocket science but the kind of thing to make you nervous. lol
The action was easy to get to a standard low one. I used to want it so low it was under the frets. lol
I ordered some Wilkinson locking tuners. They are a very impressive 19:1 ratio. The quality is very impressive. They are made in south Korea most likely by Artec who make the Grover tuners for all American company's having guitars made in Asia.
The whammy is staying in tune OK but since I have ordered the locking tuners I figured why not finish it all off with graphite string trees. So I will pick up a pair of Graph Tech Tusq string trees.
A BETTER WHAMMY?
I want to eventually put the new Wilkinson Gotoh 510 type whammy. in. It looks like the standard one but it is a locking whammy. With locking tuners and a graphite nut (which the Predator has) it is as stable as a Floyd Rose ...No sh@t I am not exaggerating ...it is that good even though it looks as tame as a standard Strat.
At $230.00 USD it ain't cheap but this is my only guitar with a whammy and I wish to have the flexibility that extreme use of it can give me.
I am a big fan of better PU's but I really love these Peaveys. Remember though I have many guitars. I even use 7 of them live changing from one to the other on every tune.
I love it and the crowd loves it too. Remember you 'wear' a guitar and mine are mostly in wild colours.
Later models offered a hummie in the bridge position. You then could choose it red or white
as well as the black and get a rosewood fretboard too.
The all maple neck is 'bi-laminated' ...which means it has been sawed in two then flipped over and glued. The grain is so straight it is near impossible to see but it has a plywood effect of being very strong and very stable. It also means the truss rod can be put sandwiched between both halves. It is all handmade stuff ...not cheap to do. These days they use a CNC machine and put the tod under the skunk stripe. My Peavey is 28 years old and still dead straight. The fingerboard radius is not 9.5 like a Fender but the much flatter 12 like a Gibson. It is stellar for bends and finger vibrato as it does not drag or even choke out on the tighter curve.
The tuners are very cheap, in fact you can buy a new set for $5.34 USD. LOL It is hard to tune but once in tune they do not slip. The nut is graphite and ideal as it lets the strings glide back and forth smoothly helping to keep the strings in tune when using a whammy. The whammy is there own the Power Bend using the Fender's Vintage Strat design as it's basic template. The 4 screws holding the bridge to the body are not evenly spaced like the Fender. The inside two are closer to the center. The whammy bar is threaded. I had to buy a replacement. I was lucky to find one with a short arm that unlike most lies flatter to the body instead of pointing into the air. It allows me to waver over the bar while still picking. I do not like that dead moment while grabbing the bar ...most players do that so it makes quick pitch glisses in the middle of a phrase impossible. I got this technique from Reeves Gabrels. I read an interview where he kicked down a few doors about how to use a whammy for more then a WOW!
The metal quality is fine. I was not sure it would be as the tuners are Chinese. Using it as if it were a fixed bridge gives you a typical Strat sound and sustain. The electrics are great. Mine are 29 years old and still working like new.
Bottom line ...a damn good guitar!!! That has already stood the test of time. With perhaps a few mods for some ...others will just play it as is. A keeper that will only increase in value.
To the underground it already has a cool factor and in a few years everyone will think so.
Remember it is an American made guitar using good stuff where it counts... the workmanship and wood. Anything else is easily upgraded.
It is both a cool guitar and a bargain!!!
It can not but increase in value and prestige.
Mine (pictured above) was made in 1992. It needed a good set up and cleaning. I would like to get the whammy in action I needed new springs or add 2 more to the 3 in there so I sorted out that.
It had not been maintained for so long that it needed many small but annoying adjustments. The whole bridge had shifted about a sixteenth of an inch and needed to be reseated ...it was not rocket science but the kind of thing to make you nervous. lol
The action was easy to get to a standard low one. I used to want it so low it was under the frets. lol I ordered some Wilkinson locking tuners. They are a very impressive 19:1 ratio. The quality is very impressive. They are made in south Korea most likely by Artec who make the Grover tuners for all American company's having guitars made in Asia.
The whammy is staying in tune OK but since I have ordered the locking tuners I figured why not finish it all off with graphite string trees. So I will pick up a pair of Graph Tech Tusq string trees.
A BETTER WHAMMY?
I want to eventually put the new Wilkinson Gotoh 510 type whammy. in. It looks like the standard one but it is a locking whammy. With locking tuners and a graphite nut (which the Predator has) it is as stable as a Floyd Rose ...No sh@t I am not exaggerating ...it is that good even though it looks as tame as a standard Strat.At $230.00 USD it ain't cheap but this is my only guitar with a whammy and I wish to have the flexibility that extreme use of it can give me.
I am a big fan of better PU's but I really love these Peaveys. Remember though I have many guitars. I even use 7 of them live changing from one to the other on every tune.
I love it and the crowd loves it too. Remember you 'wear' a guitar and mine are mostly in wild colours.
Or?
VEGA TREM VT1 UTRA TREM
The Italian company a hand machined precision made unt that drops right in to standard Fender trad routing.
It quite literally like a Floyd moves in both directions. It can handle anything the average Metal guy dive bombing and pulling back can give it and stay in tune. Guys that just want a no fuss that use a whammy in the average tradional way say it keeps tune for a whole set when they take it to the gig.
PICKUPS?
I can get a set of 50's spec PU's
they are made by Artec in Korea who make everyone's American brands but made in Korea guitars like Seymour Duncan etc.
I can get a set of 50's spec PU's
they are made by Artec in Korea who make everyone's American brands but made in Korea guitars like Seymour Duncan etc.
They are largest PU maker in the world with literally state of the art facilities.
These are definitely Duncan quality
and for $45.00 USD a set it's a nobrainer.
FUN TIME
I am totally loving this guitar but a black Strat is pretty boring with everyone from a 6 year old beginner to a seasoned pro with one.
I decided to deck it out. (nothing that can not be reversed) lol
in ....
So way back when ...a store had a $60.00 USD heavy leather guitar strap ...in green? No one wanted to buy it (not even me) They decided to blow it out at ...$10.00 USD. I did not like it and I did not need it . So I bought it. LOL
Anyhow it comes in handy now. It took a month to break it in.
These are definitely Duncan quality
and for $45.00 USD a set it's a nobrainer.
FUN TIMEI am totally loving this guitar but a black Strat is pretty boring with everyone from a 6 year old beginner to a seasoned pro with one.
I decided to deck it out. (nothing that can not be reversed) lol
in ....
So way back when ...a store had a $60.00 USD heavy leather guitar strap ...in green? No one wanted to buy it (not even me) They decided to blow it out at ...$10.00 USD. I did not like it and I did not need it . So I bought it. LOL
Anyhow it comes in handy now. It took a month to break it in.
MORE STRAT THAN A STRAT, NOT THEN A STRAT.
ReplyDeleteartistic license :-)
ReplyDeleteGot one from a neighbor for 20 dollars. All the metal was rusted to death and was missing the trem. But I was in that flood in Kentucky a year or so ago, and all my stuff was destroyed. I still fought with people trying to throw it all away. I kept every thing. I saved 90 percent of it. Except my strat. Which I'll eventually fix if I have to sand and redo the neck myself still, I saw it as a perfect place to keep all my parts, you know, so I don't lose them and at least I can use them. So, I took everything off the Peavey, and put American strat parts on it. Fender locking tuners, vintage fender trem, so it is a little wider than newer strats. So, I had to recenter it. The best part is the electronics. I had some old grey bottoms. I just got done putting the whole shebang together and am playing it. Sounds damn good. It's that cream white that aged almost yellow. That's nitro on that body. It's relicing. Which I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of, but everyone else is, and at least I own one like that now, I guess. But it sounds damn good. Plays damn good. And like you said, made in the USA. When fender first came out, people called those garbage. Look at those same guitars now. Common sense tells you value raises as time goes by. People get way too hung up on marketing programming I call it. It's like talent doesn't matter anymore. Just status symbols. How rich you are. It's nuts. A collector likes it all. Now, I'm gonna leave it all on it and over time rebuild my strat with new parts
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't even care so much, but it was my favorite color. That translucent emerald green that shows the wood grain. And I just love guitars. Any and all. But it was my favorite guitar and color. I'm not sure how people gonna react to this one. Everyone so quick to insult, and never give any thought to circumstances people have. I had two family members drown in sight of me. So, I'm liable to break bad at some point when someone does. Thanks for the info man. You do a thankless service. So, I am here to thank you.
Didn't know my comment would post as anonymous. The name is Randall Scott Clemons. Later man, and thanks again.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your note Randal. I have over 2800 Posts and this Blog provided by Google is decades old. Not only is it beyond crude in general it is full of very nasty bugs as it is decades old format that they never update. There was a small change a few years back that instead of improving it added more bugs It even erased some of my Posts and made others unreadable, LOL. I digress, LOL. The reason I never answered and it is Jan.10, 2024 today ...is because this site does not notify me. If something is within a month I usually notice but others I stumble by accidently when looking to apply info in an old Post into a new one. Oddly enough my old Peavey sits in its case and I got all the parts to hot rod it but never touched it. It is stock.
ReplyDeleteI am 77 and still play a few hours every day. Even after years of just playing by ear I have put in the time to learn theory. You learn more about what you already know. It just makes sense of it. It does fill in a lot of small holes in your knowledge. It also makes it faster working on new things as you do not get stuck finding where the next note or chord will be as you know where it likely is.
I have a Post I put up on the first of every month. I call it the ... The Updater. I put in new things nearly every day. I also delete it at the end of the month. So if anyone wants my attention they can comment on a Post that I simply can not miss as I look often and Google does not bury it as it has the same name but is always in effect a new Post merely the same name.