Bought a Schecter!

[Glenn Fricker]

After years of dealing with clients bringing in shitty Ibanez guitars with bad intonation, I finally broke down and bought a Schecter C1 Hellraiser. I've got a few good guitars of my own, but they're Floyd based & changing tunings can be a nightmare. Basically, a good utility guitar with a fixed bridge for easy tuning changes can be a real help for clients who don't "bring the goods" when they're trying to get a heavy sound.

Well, I brought the thing home last night, & finally plugged it in this moring. Assesment: FUCK! The tone off this guitar is just plain unreal. Nothing like an EMG 81 mated with a nice chunk of Mahogany to conjure the nine gates of hell thru your amp! I was a tad put off by the neck at first, it's a little thick, but after about 10 minutes, I didn't even notice anymore. The inital setup was well done (a nod to the Schecter company for that little touch) and I found you can tear up & down the fretboard with ease. This thing plays beautifully. ...and for the price, it's damn near unbeatable. Thanks to eveyone who recommended this guitar!

I'll post a clip later tonight. Meanwhile, here's a pic...

 

[Wolfeman]

Welcome to the club man!
Flip the pickups, that 85 cranks in the bridge on that guitar.

 

[Jackal_Strain]

I switched my pups to 85 in the bridge position, but I'm not convinced that it sounds better than the 81. It's got a fatter sound, but I feel I've sacrificed some clarity.

 

[Familia><Publica]

Never been keen on the fancy binding on those schecters.

 

[Wolfeman]

I switched my pups to 85 in the bridge position, but I'm not convinced that it sounds better than the 81. It's got a fatter sound, but I feel I've sacrificed some clarity.

Yeah you do loose some clarity, but I just find the 81 way to 'tinty' in the bridge.

 

[JeffTD]

I absolutely love Schecter guitars! I've never had better tone, tuning stability, or playability out of any other guitar I've owned, including my old RR-1.

Regarding 81 vs 85 in the bridge... Honestly, I've tried both, and the 81 dominates the 85. While the 85 is thicker and more ballsy, you sacrifice a ton of clarity and (this was the killer for me) articulation in the lows.

 

[loomis103]

im gettin one of these for christmas(god, only a week left, i cant wait) and on the emg website it shows the connections for the pickups as just a plug. If i wanted to switch the pickups do i just need to take off the strings, unscrew each pickup, unplug em, flip em, and plug em back in.

*edit*
Just realized this was my 100th post. w00t

 

[JeffTD]

im gettin one of these for christmas(god, only a week left, i cant wait) and on the emg website it shows the connections for the pickups as just a plug. If i wanted to switch the pickups do i just need to take off the strings, unscrew each pickup, unplug em, flip em, and plug em back in.

Yup, that's ALL there is to it! Honestly, I didn't even take off strings when I did it, just loosened em a bunch.

 

[loomis103]

Sweet, i think i'm gonna do this Christmas day.

 

[Massili]

i got a c1 blackjack with JB/59 and i love it , LOVE IT!!! for my taste jb sounded better than my older one with emg81.... the only thing i dislike on hellraiser is the abalone binding!!! Schecters are the best guitars for the money nowadays!!! incredible instrument, i was thinking on getting an epi les paul and now i understand why ppl said me to not doing this!!! schecter ownz!!!

 

[Mood Bender]

cool man... I have an Exotic with a JB bridge PUP.

 

[JeffTD]

I snagged a Blackjack last night with a hardshell case for 300. Kids around here are so stupid!

 

[kaomao]

Welcome to the schecter world Oznimbus!
Great guitars for the money indeed!
The neck is for real men not pussies, if you got the balls then you're a schecter man but if you need that almost flat bananez neck then you're a pussy and can't play schecter ahahhah
That neck is superlative, really close to a gibson les paul 60's neck!
I can shredd on that shit better than on my Jackson RR1.
Important thing: you have to set the right way the truss rod, I noticed that you have to tweak it a little bit to get everything right. Pay attention to that so you'll have a great and good tension on the strings.

 

[Massili]

I snagged a Blackjack last night with a hardshell case for 300. Kids around here are so stupid!

why didnt you grab it? heh

 

[Massili]

Welcome to the schecter world Oznimbus!
Important thing: you have to set the right way the truss rod, I noticed that you have to tweak it a little bit to get everything right. Pay attention to that so you'll have a great and good tension on the strings.

hey man, could u explain it better for me? (bad english here)

 

[JeffTD]

why didnt you grab it? heh

Erm... I did. I said I "snagged" it.

 

[Massili]

Erm... I did. I said I "snagged" it.

oh sorry i misunderstood

 

[kaomao]

hey man, could u explain it better for me? (bad english here)

Sure here it is:
First important thing is to not stress the truss rod with a lot of turns, a eighth of a turn can make a drastic change, so you don't need to turn it that much.
At least for me there are two approches to set the truss rod the right way:
On Jackson/Strat style neck you can lower the bridge a lot and turn the truss rod till you get the right relief at the 8th fret, it should be 0.010'' (as an high E string), this way you have a low action and the tension on the string is loose, so that's good for this kind of guitars that have a longer scale length than gibson (jackson is 25'').
On gibson style neck set the bridge higher but tighten the truss rod to have less relief at the 8th fret (string almost attached to the body) this way the tension is really tighter and this helps a lot this kind of neck, remember gibson style neck is 24 and 3/4''.
But even on my c7 that is a 26.5'' (an extended scale), the gibson method works better than the Jackson/Strat style, I think is due to the violin like style of neck found on gibson.
Here you can find good tips:
How To Adjust Your Guitar's Truss Rod - By Gene Imbody - 5/1/2001

 

[kev]

Nice stuff Oz! Is it compulsary for Ibanez to get given spiked intontation from the factory

 

[Massili]

Sure here it is:
First important thing is to not stress the truss rod with a lot of turns, a eighth of a turn can make a drastic change, so you don't need to turn it that much.
At least for me there are two approches to set the truss rod the right way:
On Jackson/Strat style neck you can lower the bridge a lot and turn the truss rod till you get the right relief at the 8th fret, it should be 0.010'' (as an high E string), this way you have a low action and the tension on the string is loose, so that's good for this kind of guitars that have a longer scale length than gibson (jackson is 25'').
On gibson style neck set the bridge higher but tighten the truss rod to have less relief at the 8th fret (string almost attached to the body) this way the tension is really tighter and this helps a lot this kind of neck, remember gibson style neck is 24 and 3/4''.
But even on my c7 that is a 26.5'' (an extended scale), the gibson method works better than the Jackson/Strat style, I think is due to the violin like style of neck found on gibson.
Here you can find good tips:
How To Adjust Your Guitar's Truss Rod - By Gene Imbody - 5/1/2001

thx alot bro!