Schecter Solid Body Electric Guitars

(Originally written by mikethehobbit/translated from Audiofanzine FR) Jeff Loomis Signature model (Nevermore guitarist) Made in Korea. Neck Type:Set neck Wood:Maple Finish:Vampire Red Satin (neck back and head) Fingerboard Wood:Maple Fret typeJumbo Number of frets:24 Neck length (mm):66,7 Black binding InlaysMetal cross (black) Body Wood:Ash Finish:Vampire Red Satin Accessories Machine heads:Grover Bridge type:Floating tremolo or TonePros w/Thru-Body Tremolo brand:Floyd Rose Finish:Black Electronics Pickups:EMG 707 Pickups type:Humbucker Pickups model:EMG 707 (85-like) Toggle switch:3-way Electronics Controls:Volume (x1) and for those of you who are wondering: D´Addario XL strings (.010/.013/.017/.026/.036/.046) Plus a .056 string for the B string https://www.schecterguitars.com/index.asp UTILIZATION Wide neck but pretty comfortable to play with. A bit too "thick" but 7-string guitar players will quickly feel comfortable with this neck. The access to the upper frets is perfect and the hand slides smoothly and naturally all the way to the 24th fret. The guitar is very well-balanced, not too heavy and not too light. The Strat-like shaping allows all possible playing positions whether you are sitting or standing. The sound is no problem either, given the two EMG707 the beast is equipped with. The bridge pickup delivers a razor-sharp tone, ideal for high-speed rhythmic parts. The neck pickup is a real wonder for clean sounds. You'll get the "Tomorrow turns into yesterday" sound without a sweat. Although it's a typical heavy metal, low-tuning guitar, it also allows you to play other music styles with a decent sound. SOUNDS I had been looking for exactly this kind of guitar for a long time. No frills, no gadgets only a volume knob and a 3-way toggle switch. I'm a metal fan but I also like arpeggios and I believe this guitar is a great compromise between both worlds. I use different sets according to the situation. For band rehearsals I plug the guitar directly into a POD XT feeding a mixing console and I get a big tone. Now and then I use a Line6 Flextone 3 XL and the sound is also excellent. For recording, I use my POD XT directly feeding a sound card to get a larger-than-life sound. OVERALL OPINION I tried it at a music trade show a couple of months ago but I just bought it two days ago. The guitar has a fantastic finish (vampire red satin), it's unique and beautiful. I love the pickups and the neck, and the metal cross inlays give it a really slick look. I previously played a Vigier Excalibur and an Ibanez K7, both very good guitars, but I think I found the ideal mix between the sweetness of the Vigier and the big sound of the Ibanez. In short, it's an iron hand in a velvet glove! The value for money is good. This Schecter guitar is a real masterpiece! It's now my main guitar and I promise you I love it just the way it is! lol Of course I would buy it again and I will even purchase a second one if I have enough money. Go try it out, it's really worthwhile, it's an exceptional guitar. Contact me for more info, it'll be my pleasure.

This guitar was the second guitar I ever owned, and I bought it back in 2005 or 2006. Let me start by saying I play a pretty wide range of music. I had a pretty big metal phase where I would have my guitar in anything from standard tuning to drop B, I play clean, a little jazz, blues, classic rock, modern rock, you name it - it can do it all. This guitar has a great clean sound, can take heavy distortion with ease, can be twangy when you want it to be, and can be full and powerful when you need it to be. The neck is one of my favorites I've ever played. The maple is very smooth, PERFECTLY shaped, and you can reach the 24th fret with ease (plus a nice rosewood fret board). I just bought an ESP/LTD MH-400 which is beautiful and cost about 3 times as much as this, and even though it's amazing, if I had to only play one of the two going forward I would choose the Shecter Gryphon. Overall, for the value this is one of the best guitars on the market. Priced for anyone, and a pro would enjoy playing it. Whether you're a beginner looking to get a great guitar to last you years to come, or you're more experienced looking for a versatile utility guitar that won't break the bank, I highly suggest this product.

The Schecter Guitar Research C-7 Hellraiser is a seven string, 26 1/2" scale electric guitar. It features a 3-piece Mahogany neck, Rosewood fingerboard, Mahogany body with a quilted Maple top, 24 jumbo frets, gothic cross style inlays, EMG Active 707-TW pickups, a Floyd Rose Original Tremolo and abalone binding. The tuners are nice Grovers, and all the hardware is black chrome. The controls are 2 volume pots with push and pull coil-splitting capabilities, a tone knob and a 3-way directional toggle switch. The construction is absolutely top-notch, everything is done perfectly. The fit and finish is beautiful, the abalone bindings are done right and look great. The deep, dark red finish is awesome and heavy. UTILIZATION The guitar is a dream to play, very smooth and fast action. The neck will feel big for first time players of a 7-string, and it is. Despite it's wideness, the neck is still very fast and comfortable to play. Access to the upper frets has been no problem for me, though I do have long and thin fingers. It could be a little hard to get past the 22nd fret for some players due to the lower cutaway, but I've had no issues. The instrument is not to heavy, but it has some real substance to it and could possibly get tiresome to wear for long shows, I'd recommend a high quality strap so it doesn't irritate your shoulder. SOUNDS The sound is phenomenal. Thanks to the extended scale and the fixed bridge, the attack is very well defined. I use guitar mainly to play deep, slow drones and it does that job perfectly. Every note is clear and defined and sounds awesome. This guitar can get some DEEP sounds. It sounds great clean or with extreme distortion. Overall, it performs awesomely and has done everything I've tried with it to great success. OVERALL OPINION Overall, this guitar freakin' rocks! It's great for anyone who plays a heavier style of music. It could easily go from scorching solos to Satriani style legato down to deep and brutal riffage. Anyone looking for a high end metal guitar should seriously consider this.

I bought this guitar used from eBay. I had ordered a new red one from Musician's Friend but it was backorded. While I was waiting for them to restock, I found this one with a natural finish for auction and I ended up paying $250 including shipping and a hard case. Someone was crazy for selling it. The body is a string-thru Tele shape with a mahogany back , and a beautiful bookmatched quilted maple top. Not a make-your-eyes-pop quilting, but a bit more subtle. The body is sculpted on the front and back for comfortable playing. The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard with diamond shaped inlays rather than dots, which add to it's unique personality. It's got jumbo frets and gold hardware. The pickups are Duncan Design humbuckers with a coil split for single coil sounds. These pups are sweet! Play by the bridge with the single coils and you get a Tele twang, play by neck with the humbuckers and you get the fattest, sweetest Les Paul blues you can dream of, and there's lots of combos in between. Gold Hardware. It always rubs off, even on really expensive instruments, and it already has signs of wear on the bridge saddles where I rest my hand. Black hardware would look good on this guitar, but it's not offered as an option. The pickup selector switch seems a little flimsy, but I did but this used, and it might have been tighter when it was new. If anyone told me this was a $1500 guitar, I would have no trouble believing them. The finish is high gloss on the body and satin on the neck, and it is flawless. The guitar feels solid, and the bolt-on neck joint is tight. The pickups are strong and it stays in tune. Everything is top notch. I own and have owned quite a few guitars, and I must say that this is one of the very best. After I got this one, the red one I had ordered came in and I am expecting it in a few days. At first I thought I would sell one of them and keep the other, but now I plan on keeping both. The PT Elite (PT is for Pete Townsend) plays, looks, feels, and sounds great, and what more could you ask for? How about a bargain price of $300-$500 new? They are made in Korea for Schecter USA, but don't let that worry you. I have several other Korean guitars and basses and they can be first rate. The last time I checked the Musician's Friend site, they said this model is discontinued! The PT Standard is still available, and the only difference is the lack of a quilted top and gold hardware. I am totally happy with this guitar. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Schecters line of guitars is more metal based. They are trying to take on the ESP and Ibanez line ups with their guitars that are more metal oriented. They also have more versatile models in their line that are based on the same models as their metal guitars. This is one of their more traditional designs based on the Solo shape. It is a single cut design with a mahogany body. The body has a flamed maple top. THe neck is mahogany as well with an ebony fretboard. The fretboard has 22 medium jumbo frets with split crown inlays. Some older models had 24 frets and a 25.5 inch scale. Up top on the 3x3 headstock you get schecter locking tuners with pearl buttons. The bridge is a locking Tonepros unit. The electronics are seymour duncan all around. The bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom while the neck pickup is the classic Seymour Duncan 59. The controls are simple with two volumes and a master tone with coil tapping. UTILIZATION Schecter guitars are a more traditional feel than your ESP guitars and Ibanez guitars. The neck on this guitar is a 3 piece mahogany neck. With 3 pieces it means its more stable and less likely to warp. The neck is a bit thicker than you find on most modern guitars. The neck join heel is nicely contoured so you get really good access to the upper frets. The ebony fretboard gives you a nice smooth feel while the medium frets are good for people who like a more traditional feel compared to modenr guitars. The Tonepros locking bridge is great. It means the bridge is locked down and not held in by string tension. This gives you more sustain and when you are changing strings the bridge doesnt fall off. SOUNDS The pickups in this guitar are great and they can do just about every type of music. The Seymour Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge is like a Custom but with a bit more weight and smoothness to it. The normal Custom has a ceramic magnet in it but this pickup has a more traditional Alnico magnet. This gives the pickup smoother high end and a more spongy traditional sounding low end. The 59 in the neck is a classic neck pickup. It has a great PAF style tone to it. It is super smooth in the neck and is great for lead tones. It is a good compliment to the Custom Custom in the bridge. The blues tones just pour out on the neck position. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is a great alternative to your ESP and Ibanez guitars and because of its design it is also a good alternative to an Epiphone or even Gibson. It mixes the playability that you would get with an ESP or Ibanez with the classic design, feel and look of a Gibson. These guitars only cost about 600 USD so it is right in there with the ESP LTD line and most Ibanez guitars. If you are looking for a good single cut on a budget this is a good option. It has lots of pro features like locking tuners and locking bridges with Seymour Duncan pickups, a combination that is hard to find for less than a grand.

Construction/scale: set-neck w/ Ultra Access /25.5 in. Body: Mahogany w/ solid Flame Maple top Neck/fingerboard: 3-pc. Mahogany with an Ebony fretboard Frets: 24 jumbo Inlays: dots Pickups: Schecter Super Rock II Electronics: Two volume controls, one tone control with a push-pull pot/3-way pickup selector switch Bridge: TonePros TOM w/ thru-body Binding: Creme color (neck/headstock) Tuners: Grover Hardware: Gold coated UTILIZATION This is a wonderful instrument. It balances perfectly, is not too heavy, and it plays very well - the neck is incredible. The pickups (Super Rock II by Schecter) are of a quality that I'd put them up there with the best boutique brands available - they're that good. The hardware is top notch - the TonePros bridge and Grover hardware provide incredible tuning stability. The look of the guitar is understated, yet classy, with the natural finish on top of flame maple, as well as the binding. SOUNDS These pickups are great! The Super Rock II pickups astounded me - they deserve to be marketed and sold separately. To use a baseball analogy, I think Schecter has a grand slam on its hands with these pickups. Unfortunately they were only available on this particular short-lived model of guitar! They split very well also, with the push-pull coil tapping. Pickups aside, the guitar is very loud and vibrant when played acoustically. I really can't think of a genre this guitar would not excel in! OVERALL OPINION This is a fantastic instrument, all the way around. I wish they made more of them, and I wish there was a 7 string version as well. I wish there was a version with a piezo element in the bridge....this guitar is so nice, I wish I had a variety of them with slightly different features, just because the neck and body are so perfect for me!

Made in Korea I think, along with the ltd line which is also really solid. As far as the "foreign" made guitars are concerned I think these and the Ibanez guitars coming out right now are great. The Tempest Gold Top is your typical les paul copy from schecter with duncan designed pickups. Nothing you haven't seen before. Really it does look a bit weird but for all purposes it's a les paul. Price point is pretty good too. 3 way selector and three knob config. UTILIZATION I tour with a hard rock band that is endorsed by schecter and due to our nature as a band we go through a lot of these. I normally play lead and use the floyd equipped ones but after getting a little mad with some of the floyds breaking on me last tour I ordered something simpler for a change of pace. This was about the simplest model I could find. It's really comfortable and I was surprised by how good the fret access was. Kind of a plus since I'm used to having super strats with good access. SOUNDS I was really worried about the duncan designed pickups on this guitar because I remember having a Schecter like this years ago and thinking they weren't very good. But after about 4 months of touring with this one I think I like them okay. This is a beater guitar and probably won't last but another couple months, so I'm not hung up about the sound. They sound like JB clones to me which is good because I like the JB pickups okay for what we do. My rhythm player actually liked the Duncan Designed better than the JB/59 set in his other guitar for cleans. But to my ears it's not close. OVERALL OPINION I will admit I'm most impressed with how well it held up to a whole summer of touring and right now it's still going strong with me on a winter tour I'm in the middle of. Some Schecters break on us pretty early and we have to get new ones or repair them. This one did have a wiring issue where my volume knob stopped working. But me and my tech soldered it back with no problems. I am pleasantly surprised by how good this "mid range" model has done. I think I'll try another tempest soon.

This is one of the newer Schecter models. This is the Hellraiser Solo-6. It is Schecters take on the classic single cut design. This guitar has a real metal edge to it. This guitar is made to compete with the ESP LTD EC models. The ones that come with active pickups. The design of this guitar is very similar. This guitar has a mahogany body. The ones with quilt finishes come with maple tops on the mahogany. The one I am reviewing in this review has a solid mahogany body. The neck is 3 piece mahogany as well and it has set neck construction. The neck has s 25.5 inch scale more suited to tuning down than the traditional Les Paul scale. The fretboard is rosewood with 24 jumbo frets. Up top on the headstock you get locking tuners and the bridge is a locking tonepros unit just like on the ESP models. The pickups in this guitar are a set of active EMG's. It has an 81tw in the bridge and an 89 in the neck. The 81 is a familiar pickup but this one has a single coil mode, and not many companies use the 89. The 89 is like an 85 but with single coil mode. The controls you get are two push pull volumes with a master tone and a 3 way toggle on the upper bout. UTILIZATION I find this guitar pretty comfortable. I naturally like arch top guitars with tune-o-matics. They seem to fit me the best. The Tonepros bridge on this guitar is one of the best tune-o-matic units on the market. It is a locking bridge so it doesnt fall off when you are changing strings. Schecters have a little bit bigger necks than what you find on most modern guitars. If you are use to thin necks I would recommend the ESP alternative over this one. The neck on this model is a bit chunky but it is still comfortable. The locking tuners are Schecter locking tuners but they do the job well. I think every hardtail guitar should come with locking tuners nowadays. SOUNDS Schecter was smart in using the dual mode EMG pickups. I dont think any of the other guitars that this guitar is competing with has the dual mode EMG pickups. I say dual mode because they are not really splitting the coils. You cant split an active pickup. These EMG's are essentially two pickups in a single case. So the 81tw and the 89 each have a little single coil packed in with them to simulate a split tone. The 81tw is a newer EMG design. For the longest time if you wanted the brutal 81 tone that brutal tone is all you got. Now you can get some EMG single coil tone with it. It essentially has the EMG SA stuck in with it. This is their fatter sounding single coil model. It gives you some beefy single coil tone with the crushing 81 tone. I believe the 89 was their first dual mode pickup. It is similar to the 81tw but the base of the pickup is an EMG 85. This could have been called the 85tw. I am a fan of the 85 and 89. They have a fatter overall tone than the 81. They give you a smoother lead tone and a better clean tone. The single coil in the 89 is fat as well and it matches up well to the humbucker tone. OVERALL OPINION Schecter is putting out good guitars nowadays. I think most people are leery of them because they are not ESP. Schecter has been around since the late 70s but they only appeared on the major scene in the last few years and have been trying to take on ESP ever since. Schecter is kind of the unknown guitar company. Most people would not be able to tell you where Schecter is from although they are American very few of their guitars are made here. With ESP if you get a made in Japan ESP you know its good and the others are still not bad. It is kind of hard to tell a good Schecter from a bad Schecter you kind of have to take them all at face value. This guitar has a setup that many people want nowadays and is a good and more versatile alternative to the ESP benchmark.

This guitar is meant to take on the mid to high end ESP shred guitars. This guitar has a lot of the same features that you would find on an ESP with some extra touches. This guitar has the more modern design of making a shred guitar that can handle the modern music with low tunings. This guitar has a mahogany body and with a set mahogany neck. The neck has a rosewood fretboard with 24 jumbo frets. The pickups in this guitar are a fully active set of EMG's. You get an 81tw in the bridge and an a 89 in the neck. These are special EMG's because they are both splittable. Up top you have locking schecter tuners with a tonepros string through tune-o-matic bridge. The controls are two volume knobs with a master tone. Both the volume knobs have push pull pots so you can split either pickup into single coil mode. There is a 3 way toggle to switch between the pickups. UTILIZATION The arch top design is very comfortable and pretty different than what you would get on most shred guitars. The cutaways are pretty deep and give you good access to the upper frets. The necks on Schecter guitars are pretty big compared to a lot of other shred guitars so that will take some getting use to. I love the tonepros locking tune-o-matic. They lock down in place reducing wiggle and this increases sustain. They also do not fall off when you are changing strings. The locking tuners up top are nice as well. Schecter is really stepping up their game. SOUNDS Unlike a lot of guitars with EMG's this guitar has a pretty versatile sound thanks to the switching functions. The 81 is a classic EMG design and the 81tw just adds more functionality to the pickup. In full humbucker mode the 81 is a beast. It has a searing high gain metal sound. When I play music with a lot of palm muting I can get an awesome tone. The 81 really shines when you are playing tight chugging riffs. With the tune-o-matic bridge you dont have to worry about a tremolo going out of tune when you are trying to do heavy palm mutes. Tight chugging riffs and single note lines are what this pickup is best at. When you downtune all these traits just help to keep the sound nice and tight. It is very hard to get a muddy sound from this pickup. The TW came out in 2008 and has the dual mode function like the 89. It is like 2 pickups built into one. You get an 81 with a single coil in the case. It provides a good true single coil sound. You arent really splitting the pickup you are just turning on another pickup inside the case. The 89 is the original "splitting" EMG pickups. It is like an 85 but with the single coil pickup built in as well. In the neck the 85 is a great pickup. It has a smoother sound that works better for leads in the neck position. So with this guitar you essentially get 4 pickups, two EMG S models and an 81 and 85. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is meant to do battle with the likes of ESP. This guitar has much of the same features as its ESP counterparts but with slight tweaks that give it a slight advantage overall. You do not see many companies using the dual mode EMG's. This really shows that they want to add an air of versatility to the guitar. This is not just a metal machine it can get your good clean tones too but overall this guitar is pretty beastly.

Made In Korea..22 or 23 frets, 3 pick-ups (the standard Ultra III)... UTILIZATION The feel of this guitar is pretty good, it isn't as smooth as some other guitar I've played, but its pretty easy to play, great for both lead and rhythm playing. It's a very heavy guitar but it's well worth it for the sound of it. SOUNDS I love it because I feel I can get very diverse tones between the three pick ups. I use it mostly with my 1976 Fender Twin Reverb along with a few effects pedals (DL4, Boss comp, chorus and distortion)...I feel that with this guitar I can get some great lead tones as well as heavy distortion or a great clean sound. I listen to mostly anything so I'm always trying out new sounds and this guitar is great for that. OVERALL OPINION I've had this guitar for about two years now and I've enjoyed adding it to my repertoire. Although its very heavy, I don't really mind it, you get used to it and its definitely worth it for the great feel and the sound. If you are looking for a guitar in this price range I would definitely give this one a shot.

Features This guitar offers a lot of features for the money, coming in around $1600 Canadian (about $1150 USD). The Schecter C-1 FR S in this review is the Ultra Violet model (also available in Black Burst), made in South Korea and has a 25.5-inch (648mm) scale. Its set-neck ultra-access construction has a mahogany body with carbon fiber binding and a top contour arched top. The three-piece maple thin-C neck has a compound 12-16” radius, viz., a smaller rounder radius as the nut and a larger flatter radius at the body joint (as the neck gets wider the fretboard gets flatter, and this helps with both speed and string bending). The neck further boasts 24 X-Jumbo frets, ebony binding, glow-in-the-dark side dots and mother of pearl offset/reverse dots with gothic cross at the 12th fret. The neck has carbon fiber reinforcement rods and a 2-way adjustable truss-rod (with 5/32-inch or 4mm Allen nut). Thickness at the 1st fret is .748” (19mm) and 7.87” (20mm) at the 12th fret. Nut width is 1.625” (41.3mm). The neck pickup is a Sustaniac for infinite sustain of either pickup. The bridge pickup is an EMG’s 57 with brushed black chrome cover. This is an active pickup with Alnico V magnets (solderless to allow for easy change of electronics). The controls include a volume, tone and intensity, the latter of which controls the ‘drive’ of the Sustainer. The 3-way selector switch chooses between bridge, neck and bridge + neck. There are two toggle switches, one to activate the Sustaniac and another to choose which ‘mode’ included for the Sustaniac (fundamental or regular, harmonic and mix of the two). These will be addressed in the section under Sound. Other features include a Floyd Rose 1500 bridge/nut system, Grover tuners, black chrome hardware (with knurled metal knobs and set screws) and Ernie Ball regular slinky (.010-.046) strings. The guitar does not come with a gig bag or case (case available separately). Sound Having played a Solar for a few years, I’m used to flatter and less ‘responsive’ pickups and so, with that in mind, initially all my gear setups sounded less than spectacular. I also found the Hellraiser Hybrid a bit on the ‘chunky’ or robust side when playing rhythm, but that tightened up after adding a string muter (e.g., Gruv Gear’s FretWraps) to reduce those extra harmonics common with high gain tones. Moreover, backing off on the gain/distortion slightly and adjusting to the guitar’s playing dynamics for a few hours was required. Now, the EMG 57 bridge pickup does have a PAF quality in its tone, with good headroom, punch, note definition and presence, but as stated it is its own beast and you need to tame it with gear adjustments and playing style. This did not take long and once everything was up to snuff I began enjoying playing this quality axe. When it comes to cleans I always liked and preferred active pickups – the notes seem so full, robust and defined. The pickups on the Hellraiser Hybrid are no different. When working with driven sounds the notes are fairly tight and well defined, but they are more pronounced and full when compared to passive pickups. You will not get a thin Strat sound, which should be apparent considering the nature of this guitar and the genres of music one would play. Rhythm tones do sound bigger on this guitar than others in my studio, and this translates into exceptionally thick lead tones. The Sustaniac works well and takes a bit of getting used to (e.g., to not overdue the drive sensitivity and to know how to hold and cut off notes when required). What is cool is being able to switch from a regular sustained note, then shift into the note plus harmonic, and then just the harmonic (and back again if desired) – all at the flip of a toggle switch. Action/Fit/Finish This guitar had absolutely no flaws except my fingerprints from manhandling it and checking out the details. The Ultra Violet paint is striking as it can look dark blue, dark purple, medium purple, etc., depending on lighting and angle. It is not as much of a ‘chameleon’ as other paint finishes, but is more subtle in its charm and appearance. Both pickup cavities, the bridge cavity and the countersunk knob/toggle switch routing are well finished with no rough edges or paint/finish flaws. The carbon fiber binding along the body, neck edge and headstock looks fantastic, unique and is well finished. The frets are well dressed with no rough edges; and each has well rounded crowns. The guitar has a nice belly carve and arch top for comfort and eye appeal. The set neck has great access to the upper frets. As well, the neck has a satin finish on the back, making for smooth and quick playing. Both strap pins are solid with rounded edges. String action is reasonable low and playability very good. I’ve played other guitars that were more slinky, spongy and with lower action, but the Hellraiser Hybrid still has good playability with fairly easy string bending and fretting for playing quickly. Reliability & Durability The Hellraiser Hybrid is a member of the Diamond Series and is among the elite of the Schecter brand, insofar as non-limited edition, signature or custom shop models are concerned. The price is not outlandish and quite reasonable for the detail, quality and functionality of this guitar, but still maintains professional standards that match or exceed more costly guitars. The regular Hellraiser guitar does not have as many features, and yet preserves its reputation as being one of the best go-to guitars for achieving a quality Hard Rock and Metal tone. The Hellraiser Hybrid C-1 FR 1 performs equally as well, albeit with a less chunky neck. A beautiful guitar to look at, the Hellraiser Hybrid was designed to be played. I own another Schecter, the B-24 (Tele style) and it continues to hold up well without any adjustments required. Schecter quality has not diminished over the years, and so, I suspect the Hellraiser Hybrid will continue to play very well for some time to come. Overall Impression This has a reputation of being one of the best Metal guitars, and particularly for studio recording (its sound is very clear, defined and punchy). What sold me on the Hellraiser Hybrid is that it has a Blackjack SLS guitar neck – a compound radius and a thinner C-shape. But taking it one step further, I was further interested in the Sustaniac pickup, thus bringing me to this particular model. Overall, and for the money, this is an impressive guitar, relative to the feel of the neck and fretboard, the comfort of the guitar, the tone of the pickups and the inclusion of the Sustaniac. However, there is a learning curve with the tone and response of the pickups. I’ve played active pickups that do not seem to be any more aggressive than regular ‘hot’ humbuckers, whereas the EMG 57 bridge pickup is rather ‘strong’ and edgy/grainy (not super tight and crisp) and requires a bit dialing back of any overdrive or distortion to achieve the best sound. The Sustaniac does have a ‘drive’ knob to adjust its power and sensitivity, but after some modest tinkering it is a pretty cool feature to have on a guitar.

Black bass with matching headstock. Rosewood Fretboard. Pearl pickguard. Chrome Hardware The knobs are Volume (Push/Pull), Blend, Bass and Treble. The pickups are EMG HZ. One Jazz Bass style pickup in the neck position and one Musicman-style humbucker in the bridge. Very versatile. I paid $150 used for this. Deal of the century! I bought it off of a private seller on my local Craigslist. <a href="http://guitarvideochannel.com/blogs/columns/billys-world">http://guitarvideochannel.com/blogs/columns/billys-world</a> Very easy to play. The neck is thin. A 24 fret 2 octave neck. The cutaways make upper fret access a breeze. It compliments the short coming of my P-basses. I would prefer a pickup selector instead of the blend knob. But it is just something I have grown used to. Maple neck, ash body with maple top. 34' Scale. String Thru body or at the bridge, 2-band active EQ. The quality of this is great for an import bass. The tuning stability is great. Very accurate intonation and setting the action low is no problem. Bottom line is it is a very retro-looking bass with modern technology. I own mostly P-basses, but needed a bass with a variety of different sounds to cover what the P-bass could not. This bass was the ticket. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com