Peavey CA GX: New (2018) vs. Old (2012)

[Strumalot]

I've had a narrow neck Peavey GX since 2012. It's the road trip GX from MacNichols Guitars.

Recently, a friend of mine bought a 2018 narrow neck "wine" model and I was surprised to learn that Peavey has made some changes.

Peavey has been criticized for not being "innovative." Innovation, however, implies there was something deficient in the previous design. With the GX, Peavey started with a near perfect guitar design that is especially suited to players coming from an electric background. So kudos to Peavey for not breaking what's working and only making worthy incremental improvements.

When Peavey first took over CA, they spent about a year retooling and training personnel. Some of you will remember Fred Poole's posts on the MacNichols forum. They wanted to get the guitars "perfect", consistent, and problem free. Considering the problems that have been reported here with other builders ~ Emerald, Blackbird, pre-Peavey CAs, etc. ~ I suppose reliability is Peavey's most important "innovation."

Here is what Peavey has upgraded since 2012...

The most noticeable change is the finish on the back, including the neck. It's now a matte/satin finish instead of high gloss. From my understanding, this is not a paint or treatment to a painted finish. It's some kind of "glop" that gets sprayed on when the guitar comes out of the mould.

Whatever it is, I like it. A lot! Looks cool, stays cleaner, and the neck plays better.

The tuners on my 2012 GX are OK, but the Gototh 510s on my Savoy got me addicted to better ones. The new GX has similar 18:1 tuners. Nice.

The electronics have also been upgraded. An option for K&Ks would be a better improvement. I don't like having a bunch of electronics right there in the Beer Spill Zone.

The Rossette is another one of the changes. I actually prefer the older style, however, on my friends wine-colored GX ~ when it catches the light ~ it literally glows like it's plugged in.

Quite spectacular; never seen anything quite like it.

Both GXs play great with no additional work set up needed. CA has a Plek Pro machine...

http://www.compositeacoustics.com/advantage/

I assume my friend's guitar went through it. In any case, the frets and fret board are perfect.

The sound...

I read an interview with Hartley Peavey a while back and he was saying that they did something to the interior of the newer GXs to improve the sound. I couldn't find the article online, so I am unsure exactly what the deal is on that.

I do suspect there are some differences. For players who think the CAs are "dark," there may be less of that quality. My friend says he compared his new GX to a vintage Martin D-38 and it sounded "about the same."

Hard to make those comparisons, though, and I haven't been able to adequately compare my 2012 GX to my friend's 2018 model because of string type and age mismatches.

For sure, the new GX sound sounds great.

But only if you like the way it sounds...

That is a beautiful instrument. While I've wondered why Peavey hasn't added new models to the CA line, I've also appreciated the innovations of CA models and how Peavey spent the time and energy making them better.