Peavey Cropper Classic, made in USA 1998, honey amber finish. Steve 'The Colonel' Cropper's playing and production credits include Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Rod Stewart and The Blues Brothers band in the movies. He was known for pulling all sorts of sounds out of the humble Telecaster using nought but his hands, vintage Fender amps and a wily wit. Peavey have made some classic guitars over the years... both the early EVH models and the T60 is up there with the most underrated guitars going around. This, friends, really impressed me. The neck is arrow-straight and slim and appears to be quarter-sawn maple, paired with a big slab of very dark rosewood on the board. It's got a fun 'Maxcess neck joint', which involves the aluminium block you can see wedged in next to the neck pickup, allowing the use of different bolts set deeper into the body for maximum stability and super easy reach all the way up to the top notes. The neck pickup is full and sweet, closer to a Strat-style sound than a lipstick pickup, and brimming with dynamic responsiveness and bell-like clarity. The original quad-blade bridge pickup was missing on arrival, so we've installed the ever-handy Duncan JB into the bridge position, which is also excellent. It's snappy and warm in HB mode, or splits convincingly to a slicing single coil tone on demand. You can easily cover heavy Morello-style riffs or more delicate Buckley parts with the roll of some knobs and the flick of some switches. The amber finish looks lush in the flesh too, it has a certain quintessentially mid-90s look to it, but it wears it well. This far exceeded my expectations, it rules.

Model: Peavey Cropper Classic
Made: USA, 1998 approx (serial 08355745)
Finish: honey amber, gloss poly
Body: mahogany, maple cap
Weight: 3.635kg
Neck: maple, rosewood board, 12" radius, 25.5" scale, slim C shape
Mods: bridge pickup replaced
Pickups: Peavey DB-2 dual blade humbucker (neck), Seymour Duncan SH4 JB humbucker (bridge)
Case: none

Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has some scuffs on the end, back and bottom edge. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor dimples and rub wear on the back only. The back has widespread minor dimples and scuffs around the whole body, nothing nasty though. The sides have dimples along the bottom edge, some rub wear with a little bald patch on the top horn and a minor chip and some rub wear in the elbow area. The front has some scuffs near the mini-switch, some dimples around the whole body and some standard play scuffs on both horns. Overall: very good condition (7.5/10).

Playing condition notes: Neck is straight, intonation is good, action is low, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. The frets have some normal wear but look pretty good, 7/10 for life left. Setup with fresh 10/46 Moonshiners strings.