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Post by kodiakblair on Mar 18, 2019 19:49:54 GMT
Over the years I've spent a huge amount of time on Peavey basses. I've talked folks through re-wires,set-ups,replacement parts etc. Putting potential buyers in touch with sellers or simply telling folks what model they have. With friends in the company and contact with Peavey owners worldwide I thought I was pretty clued up Until I saw this One of my favourite Peaveys is the Zephyr 5 I swapped hardware and picks on it but there's no doubt the HB came from the same factory.
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Post by LeoThunder on Mar 19, 2019 3:03:10 GMT
These were on ebay last year:
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Post by JAC on Mar 19, 2019 10:44:08 GMT
kodiakblair , I seem to recall reading at some point that the Zephyr was built in Korea or Vietnam or somewhere (not China), or am I remembering wrong?
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Post by kodiakblair on Mar 19, 2019 18:09:49 GMT
I'd go with Korea for the Zephyrs. Peavey didn't move into Chinese production until 2006/07,long after the Zephyr was discontinued. Could be you're confusing the Zephyr with the Grind BXP,common mistake most folks make. Originally the Grinds were active bolt on basses and not that great Lousy sales figures saw it dropped after near 3 years but that left a hole in the product range. 2005 saw the return of the Grind, this time they were neck thru passives and all natural wood finish. Production started in Vietnam then China,finally they ended up in Indonesia.
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Post by kodiakblair on Mar 22, 2019 23:49:01 GMT
Damn, I forgot to put this one up. Mania,these were built in Vietnam. Again this was after the demise of the Peavey Zephyr. Doubt I'll ever get the full story but I've a theory
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Post by LeoThunder on Mar 23, 2019 5:26:03 GMT
So these basses are built on the same design, meaning the CNC files are being reused to shape the wood parts. I assume CNC works with files that can be shared too, so any factory with an Internet connection could replicate the products of another if given access to the necessary data.
The most likely, though, is that one factory just keeps a "production line" running on the same model with selective changes like the brand name but of course other parts will easily vary: pick-ups, electronics, bridge, nut, tuners, finish tint and even the wood types. Quality tolerances can be tight or loose depending of the targeted price point too. You cannot really know what you get. Maybe the branding takes place after the quality sorting, as for calibrated fruit.
The HB 4, 5 and 6-string shown in this thread all have their own bridge type and the hardward colour goes from gold to chrome to black. I like the way these look.
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Post by kodiakblair on Mar 24, 2019 0:34:16 GMT
So these basses are built on the same design, meaning the CNC files are being reused to shape the wood parts. If ever there was a true Peavey connection,it's there in those 3 wee letters "CNC". Late 1976 Hartley Peavey started plans to enter guitar building. Strict Fender dealership rules forced his hand,dealers were told if they wanted to sell Fender guitars they had to sell Fender amps. Lack of space meant they couldn't stock both Fender and Peavey amps. If the stores loyal to Peavey couldn't sell Fender guitars then they needed something else,and quick . Trouble was the Peavey workforce had no experience building guitars. HP was a realist and knew crappy consistency would doom them so,prompted by gun stocks, he investigated the use of CNC. Peavey became the first company to cut necks/bodies using CNC machines. Pretty bloody quickly CBS and Norlin saw the savings in time/materials and waste CNC gave so adopted it in their factories,soon everyone followed By use of machining methods most modern guitars have a connection to Peavey. Back to the Zephyr/C-series. They predate the Mania and HBs by 6 maybe 7 years,making those 2 a re-branding exercise. Zephyrs weren't limited to mahogany bodies,young Erek in Germany has this lovely maple seen here.
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