Peavey Raptor 1 Questions

[Radspin]

I just got another garage sale find--a Peavey Raptor 1 Strat copy. Looks to be about late '90s and maybe Korean but I'm guessing. Sunburst, black sprayed over the contours (probably to hide a plywood body?), slab rosewood (?) fingerboard, S/N 6040867. I haven't had a chance to do much more than clean it up and restring it, but so far it seems like a good budget guitar. It has those crappy generic tuners with the six-sided, four-faceted stamped back (you see these on a lot of cheap Eastern guitars), which I'll probably replace--I have plenty of better ones lying around. I bought this as a beater and a guitar I can leave in the trunk without worrying about it.

Can anyone shed any light on this--when and where it was made or other information? I couldn't find much online.

Also, a specific question--can a Mexican tremolo block fit on this? if anyone knows i would appreciate the info as the stock block looks pretty flimsy.

 

[e-merlin]

There were a couple of different Raptor models. Peavey's never used plywood in any of their guitars, even the overseas models.

Pickguards and necks don't usually interchange between Peavey and Fender, but hardware usually does.

Pics would help.

 

[Stratelcaster]

You probably won't be able to put a Fender licensed neck on it in the future, as Peavey officially discourages this by designing the spacings differently. The bolt on necks are similar to a tele neck where there is no overhang, but 22 frets in most cases. You could put a Peavey neck on another guitar body, but you would have to route the body to accept the neck. After the mid 90's much of the budget guitars were made overseas, so a lot of hardware will fit. I haven't tried a MIM trem on one of these, but i'm sure there are standard measurements listed somewhere that you can use to compare. Online Allparts, Schaller, or WD have specs listed with their hardware.

 

[Radspin]

I don't want to replace the neck as it feels pretty nice--fairly substantial with a satin finish. I'd like to get the back of the neck a little smoother--they didn't do the greatest sanding job on it--that's a project for another day. I was contemplating getting a GFS body or something like that just to play around, but if it involves routing, forget it--I don't have a router.

I did replace the tuners with some Schallers I had lying around, as the stock tuners were the worst I've ever had on a guitar, no exaggeration. A little bit of hole enlarging and new (old) tuners, and now the guitar stays in tune whereas before it was hopeless, even with the tremolo blocked. Make of this what you will--the guitar now feels stiffer to play--the strings felt a lot slinkier when the crappy tuners were on it.

The guitar is three color sunburst, looks a lot like a '66 - '68 era Fender, and I'm wondering if the top and back are a veneer. I'll take pictures and post soon. Overall, the guitar is better than a Squier Bullet and on a par with an Affinity, maybe a little better but not as good as a Mexican Strat or Korean Schecter.

 

[Radspin]

Well, here are some pictures. i would be interested to hear what everyone thinks! Don't know exactly what I have but since I replaced the tuners it's been staying in tune beautifully, and the pickups actually sound pretty good. That cheesy trem block is going to go if I can get a big Mexi block to fit--I'll figure it out soon enough. The guitar's pretty light too.

 

[brewwagon]

plywood consists of three or more layers of veneer

veneering is an art, dating back to the ancient Egyptians who used veneers on their furniture and sarcophagi


(think strong and light like a ww II mosquito fighter)

 

[e-merlin]

Peavey's bodies have always been solid wood, not veneer or laminate. Even their maple tops have been normal thickness tops.

 

[Radspin]

Hmm, then what do I have? A Peavey neck on someone else's body? If so the guy I bought it from probably bought it that way--he didn't even seem to know about things like adjusting truss rods and so on, much less doing guitar modifications. The neck pocket fits perfectly. In any case, I paid $50 for it so I'm not going to stress if it's not all original (Heck, i already modified it). I am somewhat curious to know just what I have here, though.

And I certainly won't have to worry about dropping or banging it!

 

[beeforetone]

Peavey's bodies have always been solid wood, not veneer or laminate. Even their maple tops have been normal thickness tops.

I hate to bring up an old topic......I discovered two Raptor International series with solid finishes and guess what...plywood bodies like a Korean Squier. Both guitars are Peavey and If I am not mistaken may be from Vietnam?

 

[Dogface]

I hate to bring up an old topic......I discovered two Raptor International series with solid finishes and guess what...plywood bodies like a Korean Squier. Both guitars are Peavey and If I am not mistaken may be from Vietnam?

This is true. I had an international series that was multi-lam, aka plywood.

 

[chzzyg269]

I'm here from the distant future to confirm the wood is some sort of plywood. I just stripped my Raptor 1 down and repainted it. Love this guitar. I came here looking to find out what the neck is made of. If it's maple, it's an ugly cut of maple. Looking back at the photos now, you can only tell in one shot, but I swear it's plywood. I had to replace some of the slats in the cavity with paint stirrer sticks because they started falling out, after the poly came off. It's not finished yet, but when it is I'm sending the photo results to Peavey. If y'all are interested I can post them here too. Cheers... from the future....

 

[chzzyg269]

All finished...if anyone will ever see this. More for my own records at this point. It came out exactly like I'd hoped. A complete overhaul of the instrument. New truss rod, graphtech nut, Kluson locking tuners, Hipshot fixed bridge, YJM's and a custom creation pup's, plug-in LED, on-off pup switches, worn bronze knobs, push-pull phase knob, stained neck, jack-o-lantern paint job, this guitar has been brought back from the dead. Hence the halloween theme. It plays and sounds great and has been given a new life. Costed about $1200 in parts, tools, and supplies, but the skills I learned and new instrument I gained was worth it.

 

[chzzyg269]

Comparison