Peavey T-15 Guitar - the Mississippi Mustang

I am one of those guys that troll the pawnshops and vintage music stores. Though I have bought new equipment it doesn't seem to have the appeal that a find on older stuff does. Fender Stratocasters are usually what I am looking for because used Mexican strats can be found cheap and are easy to modify. I found a unusual guitar this week that I think is the best find yet, this guitar is the Peavey T-15 electric.

I pulled the old Peavey off the rack it out of curiosity but when I felt the neck in my hand something was different. I quickly put the T-15 next to a Strat and confirmed that the T-15 was a short scale guitar like the Fender Mustang which I have been wanting for a while. The short scale combined with the mahogany body and maple neck gave me a wood combination I liked better than a Mustang offers.

Upon getting the guitar home I found I couldn't put it down, the guitar has an incredibly sweet tone and an easy feel to it. The T-15 has two Peavey Super Ferrite Pickups which are humbucker sized but actually are a single blade single coil. The pickups have great tone in all positions and sound really good through a clean amp, dirty isn't bad either. This guitar is a first for me as I don't want to change the pickups and I like the sound with both engaged.

I have a friend who sings and plays guitar and she has a small frame and is all of five feet tall. Her small hands flew over the neck like never before and she tried to buy it from me after she stopped playing. I have since bought her one off Ebay as well as a spare for myself and found that they are typically in the $100-$200 price range. I think that price is an absolute steal for a Made in U.S.A., well made vintage guitar.

The T-15 was offered from 1981-1983 and was never reproduced to my knowledge, so if you want one Ebay is probably the easiest bet. You can't buy a new guitar for that price that is anywhere close to the quality. If you have small hands or are looking for a guitar for a youth this is it. If I had a kid I would buy him or her this guitar over a Squire Strat hands down. I couldn't be any happier and and relieved I won't have to pay for a Fender Mustang that comes nowhere near the tone of my Mississippi Mustang.