MusicRadar

• Review

Called "the string-bending king of the planet" by Danny Gatton, Jerry Donahue is not only well-known for his scary chops but also as a past Fender endorsee - we believe he holds the unique distinction of being the only artist to have had both Strat and Tele signature models.

His signature Telecaster appeared in 1994 and was followed in 1997 by a Japanese model: the Fender 'Hellecasters' Ltd Edition Jerry Donahue Strat - surely one of the longest names in the history of the guitar!

Both models included some tricky Strat/Tele hybrid wiring, the 1997 Strat offering a unique A/B rotary switch instead of a centre tone control which enabled you to use either standard Fender Strat wiring (albeit with the special design Tele-voiced bridge pickup) or a custom circuit designed by Seymour Duncan, to go with a trio of custom-design single-coils.

Now onto Jerry Donahue's new Peavey Te... No! We mean Peavey Omniac. Let's get one thing straight: Jerry hasn't designed a new Parker Fly here. The Omniac is based on Peavey's Generation model, itself closely modelled on Fender's Tele. But, as ever when Donahue is involved in the design, it's going to be interesting.

Overview

The first thing you notice when picking the guitar up is the gorgeous neck: it's easily the best neck to bear the Peavey logo since the introduction of the very first EVH Wolfgang back in 1996.

The quality of birds-eye maple is of a similarly high grade and it has been oil finished; in fact just the headstock's front face is coated in a clear finish. Jerry has opted for a soft 'V'-shape to the neck and, as with all of his previous guitars, the Omniac also features a hefty scallop behind the nut to allow him to perform those famously mind-blowing bends.

With a standard 648mm (25.5-inch) scale and 21 medium frets - slightly more substantial than those fitted to a Fender '52 Reissue, for example - you do feel that you're playing something familiar and the neck work is so good that the vibe is really more Fender Custom Shop Relic than American Vintage Series... and that's saying something.

Actually there's a definite Music Man vibe, too, brought on both by the oil-finished neck and the passing resemblance the slab ash body has to that company's Axis models.

Overall build is equally high but subtle changes are made to the generic-style hardware. For example, we get a classic vintage-style Tele bridge plate with a trio of brass saddles - the central one of which is intonated - and we also have four chrome and two bronze rear-mounted ferrules, the latter designed to add sustain to the B and high E.

As for pickups, at the bridge we have a Seymour Duncan Jerry Donahue signature single-coil. "This is an updated stock-style bridge pickup," says Peavey, "with symmetrically staggered pole pieces for great string balance and a special wind for increased sustain. It captures that amazing gutsy lead sound found on the very best of those traditional two-pickup guitars."