Peavey hp signature series EXP and USA custom.(GEAR)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Publication: Guitar Player

Publication Date: 01-OCT-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Miller Freeman Publications

Hartley Peavey's decades of guitar-building experience have recently culminated in a new Signature Series of instruments, which are available in both U.S.--and Korean-made versions. While these guitars share such features as mahogany bodies and set necks, dual humbuckers, sunken Tune-o-matic-style bridges, and Dual Compression tailpieces with through-body stringing, they are quite different animals in terms of construction and, of course, price.

HP SIGNATURE SERIES EXP

The Korean-made EXP is a lovely looking guitar with its gorgeous quilted-maple top and matching symmetrical headstock--which is trimmed in gold paint, and bears a distinctive notch at the tip. The fancy woods are only thin veneers, but they certainly make the EXP look like it ought to cost a lot more than it does. Price not withstanding, the construction of this guitar is exemplary. The bindings on the top and neck are flawless. the hardware is super solid, and the high-gloss polyurethane finish is smooth as glass. I like the reddish-colored vintage-style knobs, which nicely complement the top, and the controls are arranged so that the bridge-pickup Volume knob is closest to the bridge a placement that allows you to do pinky swells with the greatest of ease. The wiring is neatly...

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