Ash varies WIDLY in weight. Both of mine come in about 10 lbs. I have several basses heavier.
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NBD… Interesting bass..
- Thread starter shnapper
- Start date
$75!!! Holy Crap!!!View attachment 4410235 This Peavey T-40 popped up locally so I inquired, looked at it and bought it. Good to very good condition for it’s age, all original, original owner as well. Everything works, no cracks, nothing missing. Truss rod was never adjusted during its life, it dialed in fine. Action still a tad high but not bad at all. It sounds fantastic, not sure why, I know zero about the pups but it makes some great sound from both the bridge and neck.
I had to make a custom socket(thinned the crap out of it)on my bench grinder to turn the truss rod nut. Im not gonna mess with the micro tilt, I’ve read it can be an issue or cause issues. For a whopping $75 bucks I think it’s a great sounding beast.
@kodiakblair is gonna have a field day
@Eilif gotta see this too!
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1983: long hair, parachute pants, and a Peavey T40. Those were the days!
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I put new strings on it today. The strings that were on it must have been a decade or more in age. It definitely opened it up and let it breathe, frets are lightly worn as to be expected but it plays nice and clean. I did decide to tilt the heel(by the book)and the action is set very comfy now. I’m glad the seller was the original owner and never removed or modified anything.
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Says Eilif is from Chicago, the seller/original owner bought this T-40 new in late 78 in Chicago where he was from. He said he toured with it right after he bought it…
What a score!
The Infosheet will educate you on the controls and give you a reasonably accurate date based on serial numbers though it looks like you've already deduced that it's likely from 1978, the first year of production.
I've heard of a few similar deals on T-40's but they are are usually missing parts, or with severe wear or damage. Yours this is probably the best condition T-40 I've ever seen at near that price and one of the lightest to boot.
Play it in good health.
The Infosheet will educate you on the controls and give you a reasonably accurate date based on serial numbers though it looks like you've already deduced that it's likely from 1978, the first year of production.
He must have taken very good care of it on tour. From what I can see of the pictures, the metal on that is as good as your likely to ever see. Looks like a bit of buckle wear on the back, but that's so common with these instruments it almost doesn't bear mentioning.
I've heard of a few similar deals on T-40's but they are are usually missing parts, or with severe wear or damage. Yours this is probably the best condition T-40 I've ever seen at near that price and one of the lightest to boot.
Play it in good health.
Nice score!! I got lucky with mine too, it’s all original and 8.7lbs. But it wasn’t $75! I’m always blown away by how many tones it has.
Truth.
I've moved almost entirely to 35" 4 strings, but the two 34" basses I kept were my first bass (a MIM fender P, now much modded) and my T-40 which is my go-to bass on the few occasions where I go into the studio.
I once had an engineer offer to purchase my T-40 from me and have never heard anything but good comments from them. I'm not a pro-audio guy but my suspicion is that it's such a wide, thick and even signal that it records well and gives the engineer a good signal they can easily process/mix/etc in whatever way they choose.
I even occasionally bring out the T-40 for short one-set gigs.
you are correct on the tone controls. I have one, and I thought $350 Canadian was low, so I gave the seller the chance to back out of the deal so he could get more, but he was a righteous dude. Some of the features like the high mass bridge and the tuners were way ahead of their time.
$75 Bucks??? OK, I'll offer the $275 I paid for mine used in 1983 but only if you can ship in the original teardrop case! Congrats on a steal, those were very cool (if heavy) basses with a ton of tonal variety. Well done, sir!
IDK if it's been said yet (no time for 5+ pages), but there is a video on YT about the "Secret tones of the Peavey T-40" or something like that. It demonstrates how this bass can sound like many, many popular basses.View attachment 4410235 This Peavey T-40 popped up locally so I inquired, looked at it and bought it. Good to very good condition for it’s age, all original, original owner as well. Everything works, no cracks, nothing missing. Truss rod was never adjusted during its life, it dialed in fine. Action still a tad high but not bad at all. It sounds fantastic, not sure why, I know zero about the pups but it makes some great sound from both the bridge and neck.
I had to make a custom socket(thinned the crap out of it)on my bench grinder to turn the truss rod nut. Im not gonna mess with the micro tilt, I’ve read it can be an issue or cause issues. For a whopping $75 bucks I think it’s a great sounding beast.
Oddly enough I’m finding this thing one of the best sounding basses I’ve played. I mean for what it cost me it sounds as good as 1000+ dollar basses.
On that note ^^^^^ it will never be for sale, it’s a keeper…
@Eilif
@B-Mac
I have a question?
Ok so I got paranoid about using the micro-tilt feature and decided to pull the neck to verify all was in order. All good, small coin/disc in place, small route/bore hole for heel nut is there as well. Now I’ve seen all the above in pics, what I haven’t found in my search is.(I should of snapped pics)
1. Just above(towards nut)coin/disc is a small square patch of black mesh material on the neck itself. It’s not a repair it’s been there as I can easily see this neck was never removed. What is it?
2. there’s 3 digits written in pencil, 614 or 6/4?
Just curious is all…
Thanks
@B-Mac
I have a question?
Ok so I got paranoid about using the micro-tilt feature and decided to pull the neck to verify all was in order. All good, small coin/disc in place, small route/bore hole for heel nut is there as well. Now I’ve seen all the above in pics, what I haven’t found in my search is.(I should of snapped pics)
1. Just above(towards nut)coin/disc is a small square patch of black mesh material on the neck itself. It’s not a repair it’s been there as I can easily see this neck was never removed. What is it?
2. there’s 3 digits written in pencil, 614 or 6/4?
Just curious is all…
Thanks
Not sure about the digits but the bit of mesh is something I've seen on instruments a few times. It's usually there to keep the neck from shifting position if the neck pocket isn't perfectly tight and can also work as a bit of a shim. I've heard some techs will use a bit of metal window screen as it grabs the neck and body pretty well .@Eilif
@B-Mac
I have a question?
Ok so I got paranoid about using the micro-tilt feature and decided to pull the neck to verify all was in order. All good, small coin/disc in place, small route/bore hole for heel nut is there as well. Now I’ve seen all the above in pics, what I haven’t found in my search is.(I should of snapped pics)
1. Just above(towards nut)coin/disc is a small square patch of black mesh material on the neck itself. It’s not a repair it’s been there as I can easily see this neck was never removed. What is it?
2. there’s 3 digits written in pencil, 614 or 6/4?
Just curious is all…
Thanks
