SeriesSchecter Artist

Jeff Loomis is well known guitar player in the metal world. He was the guitar player in the recently disbanded band Nevermore. He was one of the founding members and a huge part of their unique sound. He is known for his incredible chops and mastery of the 7 string. This was his signature model and main go to guitar for a long time. He recently got a new signature model which is basically the same guitar but with a V body shape. This guitar has a traditional superstrat shape albiet slightly englarged and 7 string. This guitar has an ash body with a set maple neck. The fretboard is maple as well with a maple headstock. When these guitars first came out everyone said the non matching headstock was weird. The neck has a 26.5 inch scale with 24 jumbo frets and cross inlays. All the hardware is black chrome. up top you get 7 Grover Rotomatic tuners on the 3x4 headstock. The bridge is a 7 string Floyd Rose unit. The pickups are a set of EMG 707s and the controls are super simple with just a volume and a 3 way toggle. UTILIZATION This guitar was certainly built for Loomis. Many people say this is one of the hardest guitars to play there is. Schecter guitar necks are usually on the bigger side and this guitar takes it over the top. The 7 string neck is wider than most 7 string necks and the neck is thicker than most. You really need to have big paws to play this guitar. Loomis is a really big guy so I guess this is what he needed to not feel cramped on the fretboard. The 26.5 inch scale and the jumbo frets means everything is super clear when you play. The longer scale gives good snap to the strings and lets you keep tension with even light strings. SOUNDS The Loomis production model has EMG 707s in both positions. It would be interesting to see if this is what Loomis still uses personally with the 81-7 becoming a popular bridge pickup for 7 strings. The 707s are like 7 string EMG 85's. I like the 85 in both positions but some people see it as a neck only pickup. It is more common to see 707s in the bridge as well as the neck but with the newer 81-7 this trend might decline. The tone from the 707s and the natural tone of the body blend well. Naturally the tone on this guitar is pretty bright. You have the maple neck and maple fretboard with the long scale neck. This combined with the ash body give you a good high end sound from the guitar. The 707s being thicker sounding pickups give real depth to the sound while the natural brightness of the guitar keeps the sound from becoming too boomy. OVERALL OPINION Lots of players have signature guitars that they dont really play or they might have it as a back up guitar. Loomis actually plays his signature guitar as his primary guitar and this shows the quality and ruggedness of the Schecter design. Loomis is the type of player who can play anything he wanted and if this guitar didnt suit his needs perfectly he would be playing something else for most of his sets. If you are looking for a super solid 7 string that doesnt feel like a toy this is a good option. Some people like pencil thin necks and light bodies while some people like guitars that have a substantial feel to this. This guitar certainly has some mass and if thats what suits you this 7 string is right up your alley.

Jeff Loomis was the guitar player for Nevermore up until very recently. He is one of the most modern heavy metal players around. This is his signature schecter guitar. It is a good solid 7 string but when you play it you can tell it was made for a big guy like Loomis. This is also the hardtail version which I dont think Loomis uses very often but I am a hardtail guy and this is the one I gravitated towards. This guitar has an ash body with a set maple neck. The fretboard is maple as well with a maple headstock. When I first saw this guitar I thought the maple headstock was funny looking but I guess it grew on me. The neck has a 26.5 inch scale with 24 jumbo frets and cross inlays. All the hardware is black chrome. up top you get 7 Grover Rotomatic tuners with 18:1 ratios. The bridge is a tune-o-matic by Tonepros. The other model has a 7 string Floyd Rose bridge. The pickups are a set of EMG 707s and the controls are super simple with just a volume and a 3 way toggle. UTILIZATION When you play this guitar you can realyl tell that it was made for Loomis who is a big guy. The neck is super chunky compared other modern 7 string guitars. The neck is wider as well. This combined with the 26.5 inch scale means its a bit harder to play and probably very hard to play for someone with smaller hands. I like the tune-o-matic version. Over the years I have discovered that tune-o-matic bridges feel right to me in my hands. Other bridges even if they are hardtails I may have to adjust my hands and I cant just jump into them and get the right sound I want. The tuners are nice. They are not locking but they are high ratio and they are very smooth and dont slip. SOUNDS I like the EMG 707 pickups in this guitar. To me they are like the 7 string versions of EMG 85s. They give a nice thick sound on a 7 string which is what you want if you are playing a 7 string. These pickups combined with the ash body and maple neck give you a good combination of thickness and clarity. The guitar has a naturally bright tone and this is balanced by the thick pickups. The pickups have a nice attack and give you a good percussive chunky tone. Some people do not like the lead tones from these pickups. The chunkyness of the tone from the pickups means the lead tone can be muddy sometimes. This can be fixed with having an eq pedal for leads and whatnot. Also doing the 18v mod can really help the lead tones if you find them lacking. When you do the 18v mod you run the pickups on two 9v batteries instead of one so you get more headroom in the tone and a more organic tone overall. OVERALL OPINION This is one of the best 7 string guitars on the market. That being said it is not for everyone. If you can play it properly you can appreciate what the big neck and extended scale does for the tone. The tone from this guitar is super tight because of it. If you cannot handle the scale and size of the neck there are normal scaled Schecters or you can try out an Ibanez 7 string which is what most people switch over to 7 string with. If you want one of the best 7 strings on the market you dont have to be a Jeff Loomis or Nevermore fan to appreciate this guitar because it is a good guitar on its own.

Made in Korea I suspect. Usualy Schecter quality, have played a lot of these and they are consistently pretty good. Comparable to LTD and upper end Ibanez. In fact I believe the Schecter stuff is made in the LTD factory too. 24 jumbo frets with 25.5 scale. Mahagony neck and body. Duncan Invader pickups and a Floyd Rose trem. Pretty much a shred machine. No big surprises here. UTILIZATION I am the lead player in a band that tours more than anything, and we have a partial endorsement with Schecter. This is good because quite frankly we tour pretty hard and these guitars typically last about 4-6 months on the road depending on how long our tech and myself can keep them going. Usually the higher end ones $600+ last longer than the cheaper Schecters but there are exceptions. This is not a knock against the brand. We used to be endorsed by Jackson and it was basically the same story. They might have lasted a bit longer but Schecter takes better care of us. Anyway, I decided to give the Gates Custom a whirl on tour last year. I usually like more traditional body shapes but I can tolerate this one. It's a lot like an explorer. It plays well enough. Average for Schecter. No dead frets. SOUNDS I've never been a really big fan of Duncan Invaders but I think the mahogany in this guitar really warms them up for solos. They are high output and while I rarely play rhythm they have a nice full sound when strumming. I think perhaps they could've went with something else in the neck but it's not a big deal. The band plays hard rock and metal stuff. I think this might be one of my favorite schecters so far for what I do. Shame I can't bring my nice guitars out on the road but oh well. OVERALL OPINION I do have one complaint about this one and it's a problem I've had with a few other floyd schecters. The locking nut on these licensed trems are not good. It's getting to a point where me and my tech are replacing them as soon as we get them. I play lead and I really need a floyd, but Shecter locking nuts don't stay in tune for me because they don't secure small gauges very well. It's a problem I've had for about 3 tours now. I will either keep replacing the nut or get non floyd models. Still, not a huge complaint but something to think about. Overall this is a good axe for the price I think.