Schecter Fan Bois..

[GuitarGuy08]

My relationship with Schecter over the past 20 years is this: When they first came.out, the quality was damn near unbeatable. I have a Schecter Stilleto Custom from 2005 that is still one of the nicest instruments I have ever played. The builders were so spot on, I still can't find a flaw all of these years later. A buddy got a Schecter around 07, and it was also meticulously crafted.

That has not been my experience with them for the last decade. Every single Schecter I have picked up since then has had QC issues and has not had the same feel for whatever reason. I bought one that I had to sell later. I have picked up and played a number in stores and most feel like turds.

Very hit or miss.

I keep my eyes open for some of the older models I used to want so bad as a teen/early 20s but definitely have to play it in person before buying.


I think they really were trying to be on the Money and build the brand back then. Now, they are just another guitar brand in that same price range, built in the same factory, with the same amount of care as any other production in that facility.

Not bad guitars but not what they used to be sadly.

 

[PurityS.L.G]

@PurityS.L.G I also had the same experience with a Merrow I purchased. It was a piece of deadwood. Great looking guitar, but it was sonically dull.

Yeah it was strange because otherwise the guitar felt like it was built well but something was lost in the process. I even swapped pups (Lundgren M6, SD Pegasus and SH-6) and still did not want to sing. Only other guitar that did that to me was an Ibby RG550 that I wanted to keep so bad but just sonically wasn’t fun to play.

 

[Gitfiddler]

Got this a few weeks ago and it's killer. Super Model is Sun Valley Super Shredder.

View attachment 315504

looks great!! A lot of guitar for the $$. I'd like to see Schecter do more maple boards, but I dig the ebony as well

 

[Gitfiddler]

I've got a JB in the bridge of these two. That's my go-to pickup for my rock-oriented guitars. Then usually either a 59 or an Alnico Pro II in the neck.

Nice! Can't go wrong with a JB, IMO

 

[Zado]

My relationship with Schecter over the past 20 years is this: When they first came.out, the quality was damn near unbeatable. I have a Schecter Stilleto Custom from 2005 that is still one of the nicest instruments I have ever played. The builders were so spot on, I still can't find a flaw all of these years later. A buddy got a Schecter around 07, and it was also meticulously crafted.

That has not been my experience with them for the last decade. Every single Schecter I have picked up since then has had QC issues and has not had the same feel for whatever reason. I bought one that I had to sell later. I have picked up and played a number in stores and most feel like turds.

Very hit or miss.

I keep my eyes open for some of the older models I used to want so bad as a teen/early 20s but definitely have to play it in person before buying.


I think they really were trying to be on the Money and build the brand back then. Now, they are just another guitar brand in that same price range, built in the same factory, with the same amount of care as any other production in that facility.

Not bad guitars but not what they used to be sadly.

Thing is Schecter is famous for being the bang-for-buck brand, and they do know that, so they tried, with the economy kicking prices higher and higher, to keep things fancy with a still acceptable price. But it's not easy task, more and more brands started building import lines in the same facilities LTD and Schecter used, which caused prices to rise up again (and move the whole thing to Indonesia to keep costs down) and QC to go down the drain. I can understand them, it's not an easy market anymore now that even youtubers have their brand; and yeah, while in the past LTD have been a so and so brand (excluding their beginning, when a ~400 series was an outstanding guitar no question), in most recent years they started kicking all kind of arses, maybe not quality wise but features and look wise, which is basically the reason why an ESP/LTD is what 95% of metal players use on stage.
Schecter tried to keep up, but their philosophy of "put some flashy binding here and a figured veneer there, it'll look pricier" is not really what guitar players seek (maybe excluding beginners).

With that said, their Fujigen lineup might be a game changer, if they accept to make some metal machine looking models.

 

[311splawndude]

Mine is the most comfortable guitar I've played. Stock pups were trash tho.

 

[roodboy]

I have an exotic supershredder black limba fr with wenge neck
bought it used a couple years ago
The guitar sounds great, wenge neck feels good and pickups are from custom shop
I put it up for sale a while ego because of a love hate relationship with floyds I have developed in my old age but the fr 1500 is a good trem

 

[Techdeth]

The Origional Diamond Series guitars so good . I did shows with a couple of those .

 

[mnemonic]

I have a 1999 A7+, real solid, great playing and great feeling guitar. But super crappy licenced floyd (but what non-Ibanez licenced floyd wasn’t back then), and Duncan designed pickups.

I also have a mid-2000’s 007 I got back in college (my first 7 string), which was kind of a plank, always sounded dead even with brand new strings, acoustically and amplified. At some point a few years back I stripped the finish off and it lost about half its weight, now it’s very loud acoustically and sounds great amplified. Dunno what it’s made of but it’s super soft, super light wood. Softer and lighter than the basswood guitars I’ve had.

 

[Zado]

Dunno what it’s made of but it’s super soft, super light wood. Softer and lighter than the basswood guitars I’ve had.

Luan, meranthi, nyato.... Mahogany looking cheaper counterparts. Philippines mahogany is their vulgar name.
Same as other brands, mind you, hard to find cheap imports with real mahogany. Not that those timbers are total balsa crap, they don't sound as tight as Honduran mahogany, and are often smooth in the upper end, but arent heavy AF and have some good lower mids.
And ofc yeah, are mostly less dense, depending on the part of the tree the wood originated from. I have a '13 hellraiser, same very light and soft wood, sanded the neck to make it faster, sounds warm but super loud unplugged and sound huge plugged in

 

[mnemonic]

Luan, meranthi, nyato.... Mahogany looking cheaper counterparts. Philippines mahogany is their vulgar name.
Same as other brands, mind you, hard to find cheap imports with real mahogany. Not that those timbers are total balsa crap, they don't sound as tight as Honduran mahogany, and are often smooth in the upper end, but arent heavy AF and have some good lower mids.
And ofc yeah, are mostly less dense, depending on the part of the tree the wood originated from. I have a '13 hellraiser, same very light and soft wood, sanded the neck to make it faster, sounds warm but super loud unplugged and sound huge plugged in

That sounds about right. It did look like mahogany until I sanded off the dark brown undercoat.

Conversely the 1999 A7+, I routed the pickup slots a bit larger so I could fit covered pickups in there, the wood is deep orangy red, and dense.

 

[Gitfiddler]

I have an exotic supershredder black limba fr with wenge neck
bought it used a couple years ago
The guitar sounds great, wenge neck feels good and pickups are from custom shop
I put it up for sale a while ego because of a love hate relationship with floyds I have developed in my old age but the fr 1500 is a good trem

I was just checking out the non-floyd version of this. Looks like a great guitar!

 

[phillybhatesme]

Got this a few weeks ago and it's killer. Model is Sun Valley Super Shredder.

[green bad boy]

How do you like the Sustainiac?

I just recently sold a great Schecter C-1 Blackjack with a Lundgren M6 in the bridge and Sustainiac in the neck. Sounded fucking great. Looked great. Made in South Korea. Only reason I sold it is because of the Floyd Rose - it's not for me. At some point, I might seek out another similar C-1 with a fixed bridge.

My experience with the new Omens or whatever the 500 dollar Schecters are at Guitar Center - they feel like shit. Maybe the ones I play just need setups, but sprouted frets, uncomfortable necks - idk. They're yucky. And the finishes can be polarizing lol.

 

[7704A]

Got a Reaper 6 in 2020, fell in love the moment I grabbed the neck in guitar center. I didn't buy that serial # (bought used instead), but it feels just as good. Was thinking about swapping pickups, but they're good enough that I haven't been motivated to. Neck feels awesome, fretwork is good, the hard-tail bridge is super comfy, upper fret access is unparalleled in ease and comfort, tuning stability seems to be good, and the skyburst finish regularly gets complements from people.

Before that I had one of their "SGR by Schecter" bottom-level entry guitars (solo shape), and it was pretty decent too. What I didn't like about it was the difficulty of accessing the upper frets, weight, the tune-o-matic bridge (not a fan of TOMs), the hardware eventually losing it's chrome coating, and the pickups. In terms of playability though it was still pretty good, which is why I sprung on the used Reaper later.

 

[Zado]

Got a Reaper 6 in 2020, fell in love the moment I grabbed the neck in guitar center. I didn't buy that serial # (bought used instead), but it feels just as good. Was thinking about swapping pickups, but they're good enough that I haven't been motivated to. Neck feels awesome, fretwork is good, the hard-tail bridge is super comfy, upper fret access is unparalleled in ease and comfort, tuning stability seems to be good, and the skyburst finish regularly gets complements from people.

The reaper is still so much value for what you get, I just wish it was solid gloss finished.

On the other hand, I hope to have a chance to give this model a shot

As far as quality goes, I guess it's a fugly time for every brand. I've been utterly disappointed with most medium-low end Jacksons I've played, and I have bad bad things about Ibanez as well, which was something I did not expect.

 

[7704A]

The reaper is still so much value for what you get, I just wish it was solid gloss finished.

On the other hand, I hope to have a chance to give this model a shot

As far as quality goes, I guess it's a fugly time for every brand. I've been utterly disappointed with most medium-low end Jacksons I've played, and I have bad bad things about Ibanez as well, which was something I did not expect.

I personally like the matt finish, but if you prefer the Reaper Elite has a gloss:

Pricier though. The CR-6 is a near-identical (to the Reaper 6) model from what I recall, except it has Schecter USA Pickups, a bolt-on neck, and a gloss finish, and I think it runs the same price.as a Reaper 6. I know if you're looking for set necks the bolt-on might seem bad, but it's only like a hair or so away from the level of access the Reaper has. It took me entirely too long in guitar center to figure out if I could tell the difference.

 

[Zado]

I personally like the matt finish, but if you prefer the Reaper Elite has a gloss:
View attachment 315978
Pricier though. The CR-6 is a near-identical (to the Reaper 6) model from what I recall, except it has Schecter USA Pickups, a bolt-on neck, and a gloss finish, and I think it runs the same price.as a Reaper 6. I know if you're looking for set necks the bolt-on might seem bad, but it's only like a hair or so away from the level of access the Reaper has. It took me entirely too long in guitar center to figure out if I could tell the difference.
View attachment 315981

Eh yeah, the Custom is faaar pricier, especially here in Europe. It's also korean, with real mahogany body and some cool features, so that's somehow legit I guess. Still want to try it, SanAndreas pickups are supposed to be great.
The C-6 is a fine deal, but being that cheap it's a try n decide for me

 

[7704A]

The C-6 is a fine deal, but being that cheap it's a try n decide for me

CR-6. The C-6 is a different, and I think cheaper, model. Seems like the CR-6 might be out of production? MF still has 'em in stock it seems though.

 

[Zado]

CR-6. The C-6 is a different, and I think cheaper, model. Seems like the CR-6 might be out of production? MF still has 'em in stock it seems though.

Yeah sorry, typo, the CR-6 was initially an EU exclusive too, but I've never played one.

 

[mnemonic]

That sunset triad looks awesome. Not so sure about the triple coil pickup though.