LEAVE IT TO PEAVEY

LEAVE IT TO PEAVEY

EXTENSION CHORDS

by

Allen Hester

A few months back I took a look at the Peavey T-15 guitar; the little two-pickup axe that only costs $199.00. After seeing what other new goodies Peavey had to offer at the NAMM convention this year, I feel obliged to share some new information with you. The company from Meridian, Missisippi (birthplace of Jimmie Rodgers/ the Singing Brakeman," father of country music) has three more guitars and two new basses now available, and they are all priced very low and well worth the money.

If you keep up with the price of American-made guitars" these days, you know that there is very little on the market in the under-$350 range that is worth playing. How is it then that Peavey has a whole line of guitars for under 350 bucks? Well, Peavey just started building guitars and basses a few years ago, so their production facility is very up-to-date, using computers and new machinery to do much of the work. Also, Peavey doesnt have to go outside their own factory for parts; they build everything from the ground up in their own plant. They benefit by being independently owned, and by having more modern factory equipment to work with.

One of the new models that just came out is the T-30, a triple-pickup guitar with a Southern Ash body and a bi-laminated maple neck. The triple-pickup design is more popular today than ever, and it has been around since the 50s. The reason for this popularity is that the placement of the pickups, and the newer 5-way selection switch gives the guitar a wide tonal range, as well as a very sharp, biting tone that really cuts through and can be heard above a loud rock n roll band.

The pickups are single-coil, with blade polepieces. Single coil pickups have a brighter, cleaner sound than humbuckers do, and the blade polepieces allow the plater to bend strings as far as possible without going off-axis and losing power from the pickup. This means good sustain, even when bending strings, which is very important.

The T-30 has one volume control and one tone control, as well as the 5-way toggle switch. The guitar is simple to operate, yet the controls are not as simple" as they look. The volume control is tonecompensating"; that is, it works in such-a way that when the volume knob is turned down, the high frequencies are boosted so that the player doesn t lose high-end response at a low volume. This is especially important for doing clean, solid rhythm work at less-than-full volume without losing the clear tone that is necessary when playing chord passages and fills. The tone control has a very wide frequency range, and allows the player to move from smooth, warm sounds, to sharp, biting lead runs. The 5-way switch allows that player to get that out-of-phase" sound that in previous years was tricky to achieve because the old 3-way switches on triplepickup guitars had to be precariously balanced between two positions and could easily slip out of place into either the middle of treble pickup position. So, even though the T-30 looks simple enough, and in fact is simple to operate, the tone circuitry has been very carefully planned to give the most performance with the least difficulty.

The scale length of this guitar is 23V2"; shorter than a lot of other guitar, therefore giving the player a slightly shorter, faster fretboard to work with. The neck has 21 frets and the body has two deep cutaways so that the players has access to the topmost fret with no trouble. The body of the T-30 is slightly thicker than that of the T-15, and it is available with a natural satin finish, hardshell case included, for $249.95.

In addition to the T-30, Peavey has the T-25, a two-pickup sunburst finished guitar that has the same dual/single coil circuitry as the older model T-60, This guitar is more for the player who prefers that heavy humbucking sound, yet it can be operated in single-coil mode for very clean sounds, too. The T-20 and the T-45 are the new bass guitars, both single pickup models. And the T-jr. is a pint-sized guitar that is tuned a full octave above a regular guitar! The T-jr. is great for overdubbing guitar parts in the studio, and for creating mandolin-like sounds on stage. You can travel with this little guitar in your lap, a pair of powered headphones, and practice while you ride.

So, just in case someone should ask, there are guitars made in the United States that are affordable and well made.

At the other end of the price spectrum, looking over a range of from $200 to $1000, there is another new Americanmade guitar that caught my eye at the music conventon this year. It is called simply The Prototype ($950) and it is made by Hamer Guitars in Chicago. So far, x>nly five Prototypes have been made. According to Joel Dantzig of Hamer, this guitar was designed with the help of Andy Summers of the Police. Andy owns and plays one of the Prototypes, and if you have heard his music, you know that he gets a unique guitar sound. The search for a tone that other guitars dont have is a large part of Hamers approach to guitar manufacturing. By experimenting with pickup placement, tone circuitry, and types of bridges, Hamer has come up with a design that is very simple, classic in appearance, yet unique in sound and function.

For instance, the Prototype has only one pickup. But it is a triple-coil humbucker that can be split into single-coil or dual-coil operation. Each of these coils has its own height adjustments, so the output can be balanced to suit the player. A three-way toggle switch allowed the guitar to be operated in dual, single, or both modes combined. The pickup coils are made with Alnico magnets, and have adjustable pole pieces. The sound of the pickup, because of the way it is made and its placement near the bridge of the guitar, is a notched" sound, a punchy, clear sound that is not quite classic humbucker" or vintage single-coil," but some subtle shade in between these classic (but often overworked) tones. This sound position, and both the sjngle and dual coils are in operation.

The volume control is designed in such a way that it compensated for high-frequency signal loss when it is turned down; most guitars do just the opposite, they get brighter as you turn them up. This has been a problem with guitars for years; turn the volume knob down, and the sound gets muddy and unclear, but turn them all the way and you are too loud to play without overpowering the other instruments in the band. So it is good to see someone addressing this problem with an idea that doesnt require the use of any additional switch, or, an on-board preamp, but an idea that works within the context of what guitarists are already used to.

The tone control on the Prototype is a little bit different, too. It is in the normal" position at a setting of about 5." This pieans that it is as bright as most tone controls ever get, yet it is only halfway up. So, when it comes time for a solo passage that needs to cut through, the player turns the tone control up to 10," and gets more highs without a drastic increase in volume that would overpower the rest of the band. This is another thoughtful touch, and again, the guitarist is not asked to learn to operate some new mini-micro-toggle switch placed at some awkward spot on the guitar; its just a tone control, same as always, but it is more sensitive than usual.

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To look at this guitar, you wouldnt think of it as any radical new departure from other guitars. It has a double cutaway body design that harkens back to the old Les Paul Jr.s of the 1950s. But upon closer inspection, one begins to see details of craftsmanship that are anything but outdated. The Prototype has a beautiful two-piece flame maple top, with cherry sunburst finish. The back of the guitar body and the neck is covered with a cherry stain, and the overall color of the finish is excellent. Aside from the big three-coil pickup, everything looks innocent enough. But feel the neck; somethings different. Although the Prototype has the

same scale length as the Gibson Les Paul, the fret spacing is slightly different. This, says Dantzig, makes the guitar fret true and play in tune better on the upper end of the neck. It is not a drastic new change, just another subtle refinement of older designs that works out better for the player.

I really like what Hamer has done here; theyve taken a classic look and feel and made slight, yet very critical adjustments that make for a better all around instrument. They have maintained a beautiful, balanced auitar that is very pleasing to look at, very simple to operate, and very versatile. Too often, I think, guitar manufacturers go overboard in their attempts to create a wild new design, or an ultra-sophisticated wiring system. The result is usually confusion.

The Prototype is a guitar that will lend itself well to many styles of playing; not just rock and roll. According to Dantzig, the Prototype will be available by late August 1981. Keep an eye out for it. ^