Schecter C-1 E/A

im not going to restate the obvious...from playing a strat forever, this thing has a lot of features

sounds great. you can do a whole lot with two outputs, even though the piezo is not the best..it does sound like an acoustic if you dial it in right. If you want an acoustic sound, buy an acoustic guitar, dont be dumb. I play thru a fender hot rod deluxe. I have a cool volume limiter so every guitar sounds good with the gain all the way up. You can get any sound you need from this guitar...obvioulsy something so versitale is not going to be the best at everything..I play stuff like the dead to my own punk band's stuff.

easy playing guitar....much easier upper fret access compared to a strat for obvious reasons. I really like the feel of the neck, you can play very fast on it. There are minor flaws to the overall finish, but the same will be said for ANY hand mand guitar, these days I dont think it matters that an guitar is made in Korea, by machines, ,however stuff made in China is pretty much crap. Most stuff I have played from Korea, like the cool Fenders are awesome.

Well...I cant say it would be bad....since I havent gigged with it, but its a semi hollow body...it just seems weak...I wouldnt want to drop it like I have done to my strat many times. I have a feeling it wouldnt have stood the test of time.

I first bought a Schecter C-1 plus. I got it so cheap, so I figured I couldnt go wrong. I have gone thru a few diff. guitars over the years, but have always kept my strat, which I love. I rate all other guitars based on this ideal feel. Schecters are excellent guitars. Schecter should not be dismissed as making crap for a specific genre. Every single Schecter I have ever seen is ready to play live and not be ashamed of. That cannot be said for most other brands. I always wated a semi hollow guitar, and this one fit the bill perfectly. I took back the C-1 plus and got the EA. I have recently sold this guitar back to guitar center for more than what I paid! I grinded down the original salesman so bad, and 9 months later I decided I needed some bass gear more than I really needed this, and they decided they really needed to sell a bass cab, gotta love it. I have decided that when I buy another guitar, it will be a schecter C, but probably the top of the line with real Seymour Duncans too.

2003 made in Korea same specs as the rest. No gig bag (had to pay isurance extra because of that)

American Music Supply has the 3 month payment 233.00, and 3-4 days delivery. Since I had the plan I put 10-15 bucks on the first 233.00 payment and they had it at my door in 2 business days.

I had only played strats before this and it literally scared the crap out of me how fat the sound was. For awhile it was way too much, until I got used to it. However after several months with it, nothing else sounded better through my JC120. The sound is beautiful, BUT THE PIEZO IS CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was the main reason why I chose to buy it. I wanted a clean fat sound with the option of some acoustic, since I couldn't spring for a Godin Flat Five X, I bought this. The piezo brings the rating down from 10 to a 7

P.S. It seems to do its best work through tube amps. It will sing through a Peavey Classic 50

The factory setup was good, however, I had to take those ten's off and put on some nines in order to actually hear the notes in the chords I was playing. The finish was perfect, though.

This is where the plot thickens, because I do not trust this guitar as far as I could inhale the smoke from its ashes. I bought it in June of 2004 and the VOLUME POT has been NOTHING BUT TROUBLE!!! It is now February of 2005, not even a year, and it is in repair FOR THE 2ND TIME as I write this review. I am a volume swell kinda guy, because of this guitar, I don't even remember how to do it. It has failed me during gigs, and I don't do backups unless its a special occassion.

TERRIBLE, If you dont have black nail polish or your name isn't modeled after some blunt metallic object, they could care less.

I have been playing 16 years. If this guitar was stolen or lost I would pay a bill rather than buy another one.

I LOVE THE FATNESS,THE CLARITY, AND THE TONE, BUT WHAT IS ALL THAT WITHOUT RELIABILTY?

I wish it had tremolo, maybe that would ease my suffering.

Also this guitar is worthless without an amp in the studio, there was so much mud, I thought I was back in Jamaica during a thunderstorm.

THIS IS THE LAND WHERE THE STRAT IS KING.

I have had this this strat style Diamond Series C-1A/E guitar for a about 6 months. I think the other reviews describe the controls and configuration accurately. The combination Duncan Designed and RMC pickups should be suitable as long as you can tweak the sound chain between the guitar and power amp, so will suit me just fine and I will have no immediate need to replace them. I think the use of the term ?Duncan Design? is a bit of a marketing ploy to get you thinking about Seymour Duncan pickups. In fact they are not Duncan?s, they are patterned after the SD 59/JB models. I actually bought the floor demo they had because they did not have a new one in stock.

It sounds somewhat in between a solid body and semi-hollow since the top is very thick. The pickups sound somewhat limited mid-range to bassy, although good for jazz. The peizo is very tinny sounding to me, but when you roll off the treble it sounds ok. Even though it is a semi-hollow body the top is quite thick and thus I think that this will make the guitar sound more like a solid body. But I definitely does not sound entirely like a solid body. It is somewhat between the two, in a unique way. It suits my music style just fine.. I play quite a variety of styles including psychedelic, jazz, goofy tunes, hard rock, melodic rock, R?n B etc. I plug this into a Digitech RP-12 and sometimes with an A/B box thru to a Korg A4 which then goes to a multi channel mixer which then goes to a stereo amp that is hooked up for quad stereo. An entirely digital pre-amped rig. When I put it on the peizo settings I do hear more fret buzzing than normal, but this is because my action is set really low. I cannot complain too much about the sound and I think it is rather thin sounding for an acoustic/electric. I also dislike that is designed so much like a strat with the location of the first volume knob. I find the volume knob on the C-A/E 1 is too close to playing position. The control knobs protrude a bit, I would have preferred if they would have designed to be further away from playing position.

The initial set-up at the store was much too high. The nut and the bridge were too high. I did pay extra for a set-up and the guy did a pretty good job to set it down really low. I did not notice any major flaws at all. Except for the paint on the edge of the F-holes did not appear uniform. The nut looked like it was banged around. The set-up guy did not bother to dress it. Anyway they gave me a discount because it was a floor model. Aside from those two minor things the guitar was perfect.

This guitar looks very solid and reliable and built to last.

Never dealt with them.

I have been playing on and off for about 20 years. If I got it lost or stolen I?d be pretty sad and just play another guitar I own. I do own a Gibson SG and a Fender Stratocaster. I like it that the neck has a fast feel to it for an acoustic/electric guitar. What I dislike is that the shape is too much like a stratocater. My favorite feature is that it is a neck-thru and semi-hollow body and mimicks the semi-hollow sound well. I compared this to a Carvin AE-185, Washburn WI-67 Pro. I chose this for the price, features and availabilty. You can blend the piezo and the humbuckers which is nice. All the notes sound strong all over the neck even with a very low setup. Overall a good versatile axe.

Piezo Electric System (this is NOT an acoustic pickup, it will NOT make your guitar sound like a Martin, no matter what the sales guy says). This system is active
2 jacks, one dedicated magnetic pups(great for when the battery dies and ur too lazy to replace it) one for blending the mags with the piezo
2 Duncan Designed pups
Grover tuners
Stop tailpiece tun-o-matic style bridge
Gorgeous quilted maple top, everyone can agree on that.
Mahogany body, which I belive is solid but I'm not sure
Rosewood Fretboard, mahogany neck
Set neck with a smooth contoured heel
Standard three way switch options, INVERTED from a Les Paul, that is down is up and up is down, more on this later

My music style ranges from trippy effects drippy stuff to plug and play rock in the vein of George thoroughgood. Throw in some Aeorosmith and Ted Nugent for fun. I play with my guitars, so every once in a while I'll pull one out and put it through the wringer. Rock, Hard Rock, lite rock, effects heavy stuff, country, you name it. This sucker can nail them all IF YOU DIAL IT IN RIGHT!!! If you play through a crappy amp, it will sound like junk. GIGO, for those of you who are familiar with the term. I play with a Classic 50 that I have modded and outfitted with some different speakers and decent tubes. Know your gear!!!
Ahh, the Piezo. What a beautiful letdown. I was hoping to cut a cost corner and buy one electric guitar that could sound acoustic. Well no. Yeah we had it dialed in so it sounded relatively acoustic in the store I bought it from but you will NEVER have that much control over your sound in a live situation unless you are either not mic'd or you run your own sound. Or you have a kick-ass sound guy that follows you around and knows how you like stuff to sound. That said, It does add a very nice diminsion to the clean sound. Try it with a little chorus, incredibly sparkley.

Action? hmm. Kick-ass. I put 12's on this sucker and it's pretty killer. I use a variety of tuning because I play slide sometimes and the 12's help keep the strings from flopping around. The action is NOT low and slick like how speed players like to get their whatever-speed-players-play-guitar. This guitar was not designed for that. The action is more like that on a semi-hollow Gretsch (not quite that nice but close. Plus you save oh about a cool grand...). Works great for slide but regular playing is ont difficult by any standards.
Mine has belt-buckle scratches and such, like somebody else said, it scratches kind of easy. light surface scratches will buff out to almost invisible, other than that GET A CASE. And take care of it if you want to keep it in pristine condition.

It has for me. I have totally rock out on this guitar. It's gotten a little crazy and in moments of sheer insanity, I've scratched up my wrist on the bridge. I do the infamous rock star jab where you use the guitar to strum the pick by violently jerking on the guitar. Yadayadayada...they call it rock for a reason. Anyway, it's held up marvelously through all that torture. Here's some food for thought though, would you climb a mountain with dental floss? No? Then buy straplocks!!!

Pretty awesome website. I had a question once about the legitamcy of a used guitar and they were pretty quick about their response. Good thing cuz it turned out to be a fraud.

I work in a guitar store so I been around the block with stuff a few times. This guitar is very versatile. If it was stolen, honestly I'd probably take advantage of my discount and buy something more valuable. After kicking the crap outa the dumbass who stole my schecter. Anyway, It's a great axe. The store I work at is in the process of taking on Rio Grande pickups at my urging so I'll probably swap the pickups out with the Bastard and Fat Bastard (P-90's for humbucking ring).

2003 model C1 EA, Dark Vintage Sunburst.
All othger points have been covered in previous reviews.

I am in love with this guitar, I was actually intending to buy a Schecter PT Elite with Transparent Honey finish. Then I was attracted to a Purple US made Tele, I paid my deposit and then came back two days later to see if I had made the right choice. While I was waiting for the sales guy to bring it out I spotted the C1 EA, which I had previously seen but not even tried because I was looking for a Tele shape. And I thought, any manufacturer can produce a good looking guitar, but I was going for proven quality and since they didn't have the PT Elite I went for the Fenders.
WOW, unpulugged this guitar grabbed my attention BIG TIME! My wife was with me and she said it really suited me, and she was unsure about a purple Tele????
So I plugged in the Tele...great clean sound, which is what I was looking for, to play Country/ Blues Rock. However I'm also a Metal player. Anyway I plugged the C1 in and OHMYGOD!!!!, what a brilliant sounding guitar. "Put that Tele back on the rack, buddy, this one's comin home with me" is what I said next. I haven't looked back.
I give it an 8 for features because it doesn't have locking strap pins. But, the fitted pins have a nice wide flange so the lockers can wait.

Well my style is a culmination of Blues, Country, Jazz, and all types of Heavy Metal. I don't often combine these styles but I like to be versatile.
I play thru a Fender Hotrod Deville(clean channel), with a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, GE-7 EQ and a DD-6 Delay. I think I may have found my "tone" after 21 years of playing thru crappy amps and using cheap guitars. I get no feed back, even when cranked up very loud. It's very punchy and bright, which saves me stuffing around with the amp. I can click off the distorion and WHAM!, straight into blues or country. This thing handles open chords and strumming perfectly.

One thing I would have liked is "real deal" Duncans, instead of the Duncan Designed HBs that are fitted. The bridge pickup seems ok, but the neck has no warmth for the Jazz sound I require. I'll probably fit A Duncan Jazz or something later. For this I give it an 8.

The guitar had been in the shop for a couple of months before I came along and it was setup beautifully. I like my action a little higher as I play alot of accoustic lead, so I tend to over play on anything with light strings and low action.
Intonation was perfect and the neck pickup needed a lift.
The binding on the left curve at the base of the headstock has a little paint run, but this I feel is un-important, when the guitar is so good. The edge of the lower F-hole has a slight imperfection in finish, under the clear coat.
My one problem was a terrible buzz coming from the transducer(piezo) on the A string when I picked an up-stroke, the A string piezo also stopped working after a couple of weeks(Must have been a loose connection). Very annoying, but there is a replacement guitar on the way. If the replacement has any problems I will just keep mine and send it off to get repaired.

I haven't used it live yet, however it does feel very delicate and I have noticed some scratches in the finish from cleaning it. I would be extremely careful with this guitar in a live situation. I don't think it would like to be bumped or dropped.
The finish seems tough and durable, but be prepared for scratches because of it's high shine appearance. This is very difficult to maintain unless you never play your guitar.
The fretboard was in dire need of a drink of Lem-Oil.
The strap buttons are sturdy and widely flanged but I would still recommend a locking setup, to be on the safe side.
It stays in tune beautifully even after an intense dose of thrash metal and rigorous lead playing. I would depend on it, but I'd definatley take a back up. Probably another Schecter when I can afford it. The C1 Elite is my next choice.

In Australia we don't deal with Schecter, but the distributor. The replacement for my guitar has taken almost two weeks to get here (still not here), but this is more the fault of the courier company than the suppliers.
However they seem to have no problem replacing faulty products.

I've been playing for 21 years, I have owned another Schecter, many years ago, that fell apart due to mis-treatment. I have had a BC Rich Warlock, Washburn RS 8V, Washburn, BT 2 Maverick, Ibanez Rocket Roll 2 Flying V and a couple of Jap and Korean crappers. This is the best guitar I've owned.
I've played several Strats, a couple of Les Pauls, a Gibson L5, Gibson Country Gentleman, plus countless other US, Jap and Korean made guitars...none of them come close to being as comfortable in my hands as this beauty. The shape and feel is the best available on the market today. $10,000 ESPs, $5,000 Gibsons, $3,000 Fenders or Ibanez, haven't got the sex appeal that this baby has. Perfect styling, weight, shape and finish. Truly stunning, understated guitars.
Anything I wish I had??? Yeah, the Transparent Black model so I'd have one of each.
I love this guitar and if it were stolen I'd do my best to get another one.

2004 Korean made Schecter C1 EA. You know the details. Color: DVS.

Pros: Standard features but props for the F-holes and Piezo system.
Cons: ANY semi-hollow body should come with a case and although most don't - I'll still ding any of them for that fact.

This is where this guitar lost me.

I expected all the versatility Schecter, and many reviewers here promote. (Although as of this writing, many of said reviewers have admittedly written their reviews before they've had a chance to fully exploit the instrument.) I came up empty handed.

In the guitar's defense, maybe I was looking for something it couldn't deliver. I wanted to supplement my Strat with a thicker, humbucker sound. The humbuckers in the C1 EA seem to be installed purely for aesthetics. They lack ANY of the punch and drive of standard hummers. I realize they are "Duncan Designed" and technically not the "real thing" but they should have SOME balls. If you picked up the EA blind, you'd swear it wore single coils.

It sounded tinny, thin and exceedintly bright. Even unplugged.

The other surprise to me was it's lack of tonal range. The piezo system was supposed to add scope. With the dual outputs, you would expect tremendous versatility. I was stunned to find so little. Tweaking the volume and tone between all pup selections seemed to do little if anything. Weird. I halfway expected to open the back, look in and see no wires coming from the pots. ;-)

This guitar would be extremely well-suited for country. I honestly can't imagine trying to play anything else with it. I'll give it a 3 since the one tone it was able to produce, it did exceedinly well.

Was setup extremely well from the factory. Action and intonation were satisfactory. Slight fret buzz on the Low E which could've been fixed with a minor adjustment, no big deal. Pickups were mounted solid and at appropriate height.

There were a couple small scratches in the finish around the upper F-hole. Unclear whether it came from the factory this way as I purchased a third party HSC with it and guitar was unboxed and put in the case.

There was paint-over on the binding at the neck joint. Not a big deal but noticeable and sloppy looking especially for an instrument that is as aesthetically pleasing as this.

Flaws were minor but I strongly disagree with those who say that these things should be "tolerable." I've seen absolutely flawless guitars at less than half the price of this one.

I was surprised at how light (2-3 pounds lighter than your average Strat) yet solid this guitar was. I expected it to be ultra fragile but it seemed surprisingly durable. The pup switch and knobs seem solid as well.

All in all an extremely well built albeit poorly finished instrument.

I've been playing for over 20 years. Metal, reggae, goth, punk, folk - you name it. I've owned mostly Strats a few Jacksons, Ibanez and Washburns.

The finish flaws and lack of tonal range detract too much from this guitar. Considering the C1 EA's faults and the alternatives in this price range, it is simply not worth the price.

I've long since returned the guitar but I put off writing this review because it was such a disappointment. The C1 EA fell far short of my expectations, partly because of me, mostly because of Schecter.

All this said, I've always heard good things about Schecter and wouldn't hesitate to consider a different model.

this is some imported guitar. korea i think but really, who cares. not american made so the rest are about the same. it has 22 fret and the cut out is amazingly well done - allowing very easy access all the way up the neck. Also the set neck is perfect. no ridges or blocks like in many other set necks or bolt ons. It is a semi-hollow body guitar with f-holes. if you really care about the woods used or the design go to www.schecterguitars.com and look at the picture. The guitar however is very light for its thickness (hollow). It has two duncan design humbuckers and a piezo humbucker in the bridge so you cant see it. the duncans are passive but the piezo is by necessity active. It has two jacks. The top jack only takes feed from the duncans so if the piezo battery dies this should still work. the bottom jack (located on the side of the guitar much like on jacksons) takes feed from both the piezo and or the duncans. To use only the piezo or only the ducncans you have to roll volume off the other. This would be better if it had a switch built into the toggle switch or something. So it loses a features point for this. The other point is lost due to the location fo the toggle switch. The problem with this point on the guitar is it often hits your right (assuming you are arighty) forearm when tapping.

Absolutely the most amazing sound i have ever heard. Electric sound is beautiful and the piezo system is second to none. I could not love this sound any more.

4 months is not long enough to tell but so far so good.

havent delt with em

I have been playing avidly for 5 years now. Many of my friends have there own favorite guitars and i have tried many of em including ibanez, esp, and prs. The ibanez and esp's dont even compare. Further more if you have never played a hollow or semi- hollow body guitar get off your ass and go play one. I prefer the sound to my friends solid body prs. I play mostly classical and melodic metal. I occasion to play some pop music or punk if need arise. If this guitar is even a consideration for you, i would say unless you are forking out considerably more money for a prs (i think their version of a semi-hollow humbucker / piezo system is supposed to be very nice) or an abyss guitar this is by far the best guitar you can get. The questionaire asks if it were stolen if i would get another one. Well i would buy a second one just to have one of each color i love it that much. Stolen would just be an excuse to get another.

2003 Diamond Series, Semi-hollowbody, Made in Korea, but set up in California. 22 frets, 25 1/2" scale, Quilted maple over mahogany, vintage sunburst, 2 H-102 Duncan Designed Humbuckers, RMC piezzo bridge pickup, with onboard preamp and mag/piezzo mixer. Maple neck, mahogany fingerboard, Grover Tuners (I replaced them with Grover Locking Tuners, perfect match). Tune a matic bridge and stop tailpiece, Jumbo frets. No case or gig bag.

I use this guitar with a crate combo for practice and a custom rack component amp with ART, Digitech, and Alesis processors as well as 24 band eq for live stuff. The guitar is virtually noiseless. The mags are very dull, and I'll probably replace them, but combined with the piezo, you can get an awesome range of sounds out of this instrument. This guitar has great sustain for a semi-H.

Couldn't be much better. The finish is gorgeous!

I've always had a backup with me when I play out. If that wasn't habit, I would say that I could use this one on a gig without a backup. It seems well constructed and solid. The top and back are thicker than most SHB's that I've owned, so it should hold up fine.

Very friendly and responsive to my questions, although it is a bit difficult to get their phone number.

I've been playing for over 35 years, with breaks here and there. I own a GMP pawnshop special and a Schecter Jazz. I've sold all my other instruments. If this guitar would were stolen I'd have a new one in my hands before the thief left town. I love the feel of the neck and the way the piezzo mixes so easily with the mags. I only wish that it had better mags on it, but I'll be taking care of that soon enough.

2003 Vintage Sunburst, Standard configuration

I bought this instrument for the sound, and it is without doubt the best sounding and most verstatile sounding guitar I've owned. The only way this could be improved would be better magnetic pickups. The Duncan Designed pickups are good, but a comparable intstrument, the Hamer Duotone has a better sound when played through the mags.

My third instrument was perfect. Worth the wait.

Too new to tell, but it looks like it should hold up well.

This is my third E/A. The first two were purchased from a different online dealer and I had to send them both back due to imperfections. (in one case, the piezos did not work at all.) Schecter does not post a telephone number on their website, and they never responded to several emails. Customer support is left entirely up to the vendor.

The fact that I was persistant in my attempts to get a good C-1 E/A should tell you that I think this guitar is a good value. At half the price of a Hamer Duo-tone USA (I haven't played one of the new Korean Hamer's), and less than a third of a PRS, it's a bargain. I love the feel of the neck much more than the PRS, but that is a personal choice.

See posts below. They seem to cover it.

I got the sunburst model and it took almost 11 months to get.

700 bux and not even a gig bag. It would be a 10, but just for that it gets an 8.

I play this into boss pedals and a peavey XXX amp. This thing is a tone factory. I generally keep it on the bridge pickup, blending the piezzo in just a bit to warm up the sound. I really cant blend it too much or I get a ton of feedback. Thats for my dist channel.

Clean tone didnt really impress me that much. It sounds very twangy and seems to break up. Im sure it has alot to do w/ the terrible clean channel on the xxx.

I play hard rock and this guitar is my main one now. I use to play a studio les paul. The LP doesnt match up in the tone dept.

Action was high and the A string buzzed on any note past the fith fret. Not a big deal but its worth being noted.

Overall build quality is excellent. The quilt top is amazing.

Seems like a solid guitar to me. Only thing that worries me is someone crushing it, being a hollowbody and all.

This is where Schecter lacks.

I ordered one in Feb of 03, was told it would be in a month later. Didnt get the guitar till June 03. When I received it it was damaged so I sent it back. I got the run around for 5 months. Finally got my guitar back in Dec 03.

Schecter LIED to me several times and said "its on the way" when it wasnt. I would give them a one but they did replace the guitar.

I've been playing for about 13 years. I am a gear slut and own about 12 guitars. This is by far my favorite guitar. Best tone, best feel, best look. I could go on all day. I would most definelty replace this guitar if it was stolen.

This guitar straight kicks ass.