THE Peavey LTD Guitar Thread (maybe)

[Scott62]

Hi all,
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a dedicated thread (sticky thread would be better yet) on each Peavey guitar model? Not just showing off a guitar, and not an in depth review, but just sort of highlighting the unique features, pros, cons, maybe explaining different model variations.
Here’s my attempt to get this started. If others have this same model guitar (ST, HB, or VT), please chime in, share pics, disagree with my points, whatever.

Guitar: Peavey LTD ST (I’ve seen it called the Limited, Ltd., and LTD. The owner’s manual cover page says LTD, so that’s what I call it).

Key features:
Made in USA from 2001 till 2004, I believe. So, this is one of the last Made in USA Peavey guitar models.
HSS pickup configuration on this “ST” model.
25.5” scale, 12” radius, bolt on neck with contoured neck joint, 5 neck screws (not that that is important, but it shows a nice attention to detail and no skimping). Nice belly cut on the back side of the body.
Graphite reinforcement in the neck (according to owner’s manual)
3x3 tuners on a smallish headstock. Grover tuners are arranged in a way that make the strings stay straight from neck to each tuner. The backside of the headstock is progressively routed for the tuners which results in all six strings being angled almost identically. Not sure what this does in practice, but it is another nice touch. “Zero friction top nut”.
Maple capped lightweight body. Basswood body? Or some other wood that has been chambered to make it light weight? Not sure. The owner’s manual says: “tone-chambered lightweight body”.
“Peavey/Hipshot Ultra Glide tremolo system with bearing action”.

Pros:
Great build quality. Maybe not a top of the line guitar, but it's definitely closer to the top of the line than the bottom.
Very nice feeling neck profile – not too big, not too small.
Lightweight guitar. Mine weighs in at 7.0 pounds on my not perfect bathroom scale.
Single coil pickups are pretty good. My favorite pickup position is middle only or middle + neck.

Cons:
Minor gripe, but the tuners are close together on the headstock. I’m always bumping into the adjacent tuners.
I’m not nuts about the bridge humbucker. I’d like something more meaty or more ballsy.

Overall Comments:
I love the way this guitar is built – no skimping anywhere. It looks great, and feels great to play. If I could change anything on the guitar to make it perfect, I’d like:
1) A meatier bridge humbucking pickup
2) A slightly larger headstock to spread the tuners out a bit (minor detail)
3) Maybe an arm contour on the front of body (minor detail)

Who else has a LTD? What are your thoughts and comments and photos?

[TRexF16]

Wow that is a stunning guitar! This is a good idea of yours to get an LTD thread going on the lines of "The Firenza Thread."

I hope some owners will pile on. I don't have one, but looking at the pic of yours makes me wish I did. That headstock, common with the Firenza, Wolfgang and HP Special, does have the advantage of being nice and compact. I guess that carries the penalty of being a bit cramped too. I have relatively small hands so it hasn't been an issue for me.

So let's bump this u[p and maybe get some more participants.

Cheers,
Rex

[PVplayer]

I have a Limited HB in blueburst. Currently my favorite guitar. I'll add pics tonight. This can cover any ground with all the pickup switching capability it has. I'd like a VT as well.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f138/ ... /192.jpg<a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/user/imogras ... 2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f138/imograss/192.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 192.jpg"/></a>

[pvholic]

Just got back on the forum again. I have all models of the USA Limited and a Peavey Custom shop VT and one no one has mentioned yet. If you are having a problem with the tuners and the Zebra bridge, must need adjusting. I won't go into why most love them.

Okay another question was the cost of these. All models that are Flame top, retailed for $1099

All models that are Quilt top, retailed for $1299

#1 Of the USA Limited (VT, 3 single coils made by peavey, HB, 2 humbuckers, and ST 2 singles and bridge a humbucker. The early models had Zebra Humbuckers than went to all black, a difference for sure.

The last USA Limited Model seems to be very rare. These came a bit later and the USA Limited Standard, came is a few colors. The difference is it has ( Humbucker -Single coil -Humbucker.) Next complete difference is all on one side, 6 tuners, and yes it is USA. I have several of USA Limited's and the Custom Shop Model is my favorite one I play often. The Standard is awesome too. I am on the look out for a Trans Purple Standard. Mine below is Sunburst.

Hope I have helped. I have been out several months and a few Hospital trips lasted a few months, but I am so thankful I am fine, also had a Left hip replacement. That took about 8 weeks to be able to walk and I walk better than I did before.


I'll add the picture

USA LTD STD.jpg (61.31 KiB) Viewed 22882 times

[TRexF16]

PVholic

Bless you in your recovery, and thanks for adding to this thread. I am enjoying seeing it unfold. I know nothing of the LTDs and look forward to learning.
Rex

[PVplayer]

Welcome back Charlie

[Scott62]

Just got back on the forum again. I have all models of the USA Limited and a Peavey Custom shop VT and one no one has mentioned yet. If you are having a problem with the tuners and the Zebra bridge, must need adjusting. I won't go into why most love them.

The tuners for me are just a minor gripe, like if I could make it a perfect guitar, I'd just spread the tuners out a bit, and make the headstock a bit bigger to do that. I use a Snark tuner that I need to put on the tip of the headstock, then I can't see it cuz my hand is in the way. Minor gripe.

Same with the bridge pickup, not a problem, just a "if I could change something to make this guitar even better" thing.

I would love to hear more on why others love them, or any other info or thoughts you have on them.

I got mine from E-Bay for about $450, and I would put this against any new $450 guitar or $650 guitar in the world.

Thanks, and glad your health is good.

[pvholic]

Thanks from all of you. I'll help anyone all I can. I still haven't new pictures of my collection, Peavey Guitars and Amps. I also have a Custom USA Limited HB USA Flag model. It has both pups are Zebra's It's on display with the matching Peavey USA Flag Strap and Peavey USA Flag Picks. Our whole house is Patriotic, anyway. We have 5 grand kids from almost 3 to 12.

We will be moving between June till August, and I need to sell several things. I need to sell a few of my Peavey Guitars and maybe I have a hundred's of pounds of Guitar Player Magazines from 1970 till 2013. I can only sell by each year. There are two years that a guy wanted and I told him several years ago, I did not want to break them apart. He offered me way to much $$$ but he wanted them. I am still trying to make list of USA Peavey guitars, I have a few more Peavey Guitar amps. I have been giving the Grand kids their Guitar and possibly a Bass. I'll be 66 in March and I still have the dreaded PV Disease. It's when each Peavey thing I buy, is always one short of too many . DOHHHHHH!!!!!

PVholic w CS USA LTD VT.jpg (63.47 KiB) Viewed 22853 times

[scottp]

I will post to this thread just give me sometime to get everything in order as much as possible

[Scott62]

I’m not nuts about the bridge humbucker. I’d like something more meaty or more ballsy.

I stand corrected. I played around with the bridge pickup height (like I should have a while ago), and am just fine with the pickup. I moved it less than 1/8" closer to the strings and it really made a huge difference.

[Sparky]

Has anyone had neck problems with their LTD? I've got a USA made Peavey Jerry Donahue Omniac (telecaster basically) and the neck has warped and it's not really repairable. Just before buying the JD, I almost pulled the trigger on the 3 single coil limited model, but the seller confided it had an issue where fretboard had warped upward I think, in the upper register.

So I'm looking for a replacement for the JD but I'm worried about the Peavey necks. I also had a USA HP special, and although there was nothing wrong with it, I learned I am not a fan of the basswood + maple + floyd shredder arrangement. Anyone know of issues?

[supercoupe]

I had one a few years ago, it had a pretty amber flame maple top and dual humbuckers. Underwhelmed with it really, the neck was just "ok", the tremolo had terrible stability issues (only good for mild pitch warbling). I swapped in a bridge humbucker from a late 80s Nitro for more balls. Sold it to fund a custom build.

[GoKart Mozart]

Hey guys,
I bought a Limited off a guy on Ebay earlier in the week & am waiting on it to arrive. Besides looking great, this one is a cool piece of Peavey history (in my opinion). The seller included a letter from the previous owner (who I believe still works with Peavey in Meridian) detailing the history and some of the features of the guitar:

The late Mark Powers (former Peavey luthier) built this guitar in the Leakesville plant in the early 2000's before the onset of the Wolfgang Custom Shop models. Bill Xavier (former Peavey product manager, now with Ovation) asked Mike to build this one as a demo guitar to show off the new Tiger Eye finish at shows and or for sales reps. According to the letter, he selected Van Zandt pickups for this guitar. Hartley didn't want those in the final production model, so they based the final Peavey production pickups off of these.

Anyway, sometime after the Limited was formally released, Bill Xavier sold this guitar another Peavey employee who was (maybe still is) involved with the amplifier division. Interesting to note that the headstock color is different from the production models and also there is no serial number on the guitar.

Here's some pics from the Ebay listing:






Edit: here's a neat pic of the body where you can see the maple top on the inside:

[PVplayer]

It's purdy

[scottp]

Here's my limited the lighting isn't that good