Peavey T-40 and T-60, The Begining. . . .

Peavey T-40 and T-60 - Bass & Guitar.

How far is it back to the beginning??
1822!! 
"You're Kidding"!!!
Well, sort of!

Way back, Thomas Blanchard invented a machine to make gun stocks
all the same shape.
See picture of Thomas and a later machine and ask. . . . .

"What's that got to do with a Peavey Guitar?"
Well,  quite a bit.

When Hartley Peavey and Chip Todd set out to make guitars, they
were going to do it differently - Completely differently!

A machine that could make gun stocks all the same, could also make
guitar necks all the same.
Having gone into that sort of detail with the neck, they carried on the 
theme with the body, which was made by a CNC machine.
CNC - Computer Numerical Control.
You programme it to make something and it will make the next 10, 100,
1000 or 10000 items, all the same!
Peavey, as far as I understand, were the first company to do this - all
the others followed later.

So, select the timber, bond sections together, onto the machine and this
is what it made.

This is the body from Project 
T-40, which. . . . erm. . .has not 
progressed much . . . . 
but will do soon!

The main hardware was not taken from any generic stock - bridges,

control knobs, back-plate, pick-ups, pick-up rings etc, were all Peavey.

I have seen publications that state the T Series was launched in 1976 

but I am not sure that 1976 is correct - I have a VERY early Pre 8M,

and the pots on that are dated 1977, so I will try to confirm when they

were actually launched.

8M serial numbers date from 1978 and these are generally accepted 

as the first "out of the gate"

This is a shot of one of the last ones.

 

 The last of the Forty's and Sixty's had slight differences - the bodies had 

been contoured for some time, the Blade pick-ups had replaced the Toasters 

and the selector switches, had been changed to what are referred to as the

"Bat style" switch.

Next time, I will start with the early T's, in more detail and then over the 

following weeks, work my way through to the last of the line.

Cheers. :) 

EDIT :

I have received an e.mail from Chip Todd, saying that he is happy to help

me with this feature. What great news!

I have communicated with Chip before but never in any great detail.

As with the feature I did on Peter Cook, the guitar builder, it is SO much better

to have words from "the horses mouth", so to speak.

I indicated that I would try not to pester him but in his reply, he said "Pester away" 

So, Chip - thank you for agreeing to be involved, I'm sure what you have to say

will be of great benefit to this feature on the Peavey "T" series.

Cheers. :)