The carved-top design was originally launched following the end of Eddie Van Halen’s collaboration on the Wolfgang signature model
HP2 in Deep Ocean(Image credit: Peavey)
We recently reported on Peavey’s resurrection of the HP2, a beautifully finished, shred-friendly solidbody electric guitar with upper harmonics that Guitar World’s Tech Editor, Paul Riario, described as "ridiculous."
Now, the company has officially announced that it has resumed production of the beloved offset model, with founder and CEO Hartley Peavey stating, “Peavey has entrusted some of the best luthiers in Europe to take over production of the HP2, and the first 400 builds will be New Old Stock made from wood that’s been aging since the 1990s.”
The new models feature a carved maple top and basswood back and sides with cream edge binding accents.
There’s also a 25.5-inch scale, bolt-on birdseye maple neck and fingerboard cut from a single piece of wood and a contoured neck heel.
Pickups are a pair of custom-wound Peavey humbuckers mounted directly to the body to reduce feedback and increase resonance, and controls are a Switchcraft three-way toggle and two push-pull knobs for volume and tone to allow individual coil splits.
Hardware, meanwhile, includes a Peavey/Floyd Rose licensed double-locking tremolo and Schaller tuners with pearloid buttons.
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HP2 in Tiger Eye(Image credit: Peavey)
HP2 in Moonburst(Image credit: Peavey)
Perceptive guitar fans will no doubt recall the HP2’s stylistic connection to Peavey’s Wolfgang range of guitars. The company began producing that model, a collaboration with Eddie Van Halen, in 1996.
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Van Halen launched his own EVH brand in 2007, and Peavey later introduced the HP2 at summer NAMM in 2017.
As we previously reported, the guitar proved to be quite popular – so popular, in fact, that Peavey struggled to keep up with demand.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit earlier this year and temporarily stopped almost all manufacturing, Peavey took the opportunity to find a European partner who could keep up with the demand for the HP2, but also maintain the top quality of the instrument.
It appears the company has now done that with the new HP2, which is available in Black, Deep Ocean, Tiger Eye and Moonburst finishes for $2,499.99.
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
