23 / 9.5

How's everyone doing? I'm sure you're better off than me & enjoying life, worry-free (for the most part). I am killing time at home with an unfashionable guitar which is my Peavey 23. That single pickup & the reverse headstock were the main draw to this guitar. That body outline might be a derivative of some elementary school project design which hinted at being adventurous but fell flat on the boring turf. Anyway, this guitar sports a 24.75" scale length. I had a set of 10s in there & things felt stiff, uninspiring, semi-hindered & mistake-inducing. It's been set up to my specs which should work but strangely, it felt wrong.

So the guitar was re-strung with a set of 9.5s & these did wonders in terms of feel. It's like a completely different guitar. Almost. Anyway, I'm reflecting if top wrapping the strings for my Gibsons (24.75") was the reason the 10s felt right in those guitars but not for this one. I love this guitar for its ability to manifest heavy tones. It's a riff machine more so than a tool for solos. 

23 (2)

When I bought the 23, the last thing on my mind was to re-live some Burzum throwbacks. I'm aware Varg Vickernes played a Peavey PXD 23 III (above).

Pic: whatgear

Unlike Varg's my 23 is the starter pack version featuring a single humbucker. I'm drawn to this guitar for its single pickup feature as opposed to drawing affiliations with the dark lord of metal. I've taken the above pic with my living room lights at its brightest to show you its non-gloss body hence no light reflection to be seen anywhere. Yes, I've sanded down the previous finish & gave it a new satin coat. The perfect brown tone that matched the headstock's original finish was purely coincidental.