Schecter C-1 E/A

Most features have been described here already. Mine has been upgraded with Seymour Duncan pickups. 3-way switch for magnetic pickups, also 3 way toggle to switch between piezos, mags, and mix the them both. Push/pull coil tap pots.
The quilted finish is beautiful but thick.
The neck is noticeably fatter than other C-1s, with super jumbo frets. This could be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on your personal taste.

I use this guitar for a wide variety of styles; sounds great for clean reggae, jazz. I use it with a Carvin MTS-3200 all tube head. Cleans are amazing, very full. Sound with piezos only is reminiscent of an Ovation.
Not as good for punk/metal/rock; tends to feedback if used with a high gain amp or distortion pedals; especially if using piezos.

As previously mentioned, large frets and fat neck; can be good or bad. Not conducive to shredding or metal playing. Pretty much anything else though works great.

The electronics on this guitar are kind of specialized due to the piezos and pickup setup. Mags are wired through the 3-way switch. Make sure your tech knows what he is doing if you take it to anyone else.
PC board inside can come loose and destroy the signal. A bit difficukt to repair b/c you have to go in through the F-holes.
9-volt battery compartment is tricky to get open also.
I would not use this at a gig without a backup due to this and potential for feeding back uncontrollably with the wrong PA/sound guy.

Schecter is always pretty helpful. Was able to get wiring diagram from them.

This guitar is a mixed bag depending on the style you like to play. Very unique and for the price nothing comes close. Excellent for jazz, blues. Doesn't lend itself well to heavier distortion.
Would advise playing one before buying one online if possible to make sure you know what you are getting.
I have been playing for 15+ years, play mainly Schecters; my main axe is a C-1 XXX w/ active EMGs so between it and the E/A all my needs are met.

I couldn't belive the sound was so good

It is beautiful the pickup selecter ia a little loud

The strap button is loose but other then that I don't need any other guitar

I compared it to a Gibson Les Paul & a fender strat & I love mine more

I have a schecter c-1 a/e (acoustic/electric) made in Korea. not sure o the manufacture date but I'm putting it between 02-04. It has 22 large frets with a plastic nut and stop tailpiece. It is has q quilted maple top and headstock that I find quite attractive. It has a neck through body design and both the neck and body are mahogany. With a three way pickup selector and volume and tone control design as many guitars do. One thing that sets this instrument apart to me is the active piezo pickup built into the bridge. Each saddle has its own dedicated piezo that runs to ends up in a second 1/4 inch output after going through another volume and tone control. It came with quality grover tuners. One thing that has disappointed me some is the "duncan designed" pickups, they are a cheaper version of the seymour duncan pickup and they really could have taken this instrument to the next level with a high quality pickup, but if you have the time and effort to spend on it this can easily be done yourself. I gigged with this guitar for quite some time and it proved to be fairly solid, although after about 2 yrs the piezo began to give me trouble.

for the price this guitar was a good fit. I wouldn't put it in the front lines but is a great stepping stone while on your way to something better. Originally I was using this instrument for jazz combo and big band settings at college and for this it was great. I also recorded a demo recording with a psychobilly/ outlaw country band and it came out quite nice. This guitar definitely imparts a unique tone. Kinda Les Paulish but it also has a good bite if you need it. The piezo setup gave me a great tone while rolling off the some of the tone pot created a somewhat classic jazz tone. For quite some time I played it through a roland cube 30 and was about as pleased as I could be through a solid state amp, then I switched to an Ampeg reverborocket 2 12 reissue. This amp really screams with this guitar! With the piezo and double humbucker combination you can achieve anywhere from classic to more driven rock genres, jazz, blues, etc.

I bought this guitar used and with a little adjusting of the saddle it has played wonderfully. No it doesn't have ridiculously low action, but I use 11's and prefer it off the fretboard a little. Visibly I found no flaws in the finish or anything else for that matter. this is a very well made guitar.

This is where the guitar failed a little. After about a year and a half of steady playing I noticed that one of the piezo's in the saddle stopped working, then another, then another. This is a very strong feature for this guitar and once this happened it pretty much just hung on the wall. If not using the piezo to gig with this guitar would probably not give you any problems.

I have been playing for almost 20 yrs. I own a Gretsch electromatic with TV Jones pups, a Martin D-18, a Kramer aluminum neck, a myriad of other instruments and the schechter holds its own in some respects. As far as amplifiers just the Ampeg Reverborocket, and a Roland cube 30 for practice. Running this guitar through my effects chain (route 66 overdrive/compressor, maxon delay, eh pulsar) did impart quite a bit more interesting tidbits. The piezo is really what drew me to this instrument, you really can achieve a nice acoustic tone if the piezo holds up. If you would like to hear this guitar you can listen to it on my myspace at /thefholes

Pretty sure the features have been well documented here. Loads of features though: 2 magnetic pickups, 1 piezo pickup w/on board preamp, quilted maple finish, etc...

Mine is the transparent black version, and its quite lovely, but it feels like the whole thing was triple dipped into a vat of urethane. Its not bad, but it makes it feel a little plasticy and thus cheap though you can tell it really isn't. Though I wonder how much impact that might have on the sound. Someone else here mentioned not being able to damage their Schecter despite dropping it numerous times, and I can see why, its got WAY too much "finish" on it.

The tuners are fantastic, the thing hardly goes out of tune. In fact all of the hardware is fantastic and well put together.

The binding on the body seems a bit thick in my opinion and adds weight and thus must change its resonance, but I feel like the lamination has just as big of an effect.

Stock pickups are crap, everyone has mentioned it more or less. Whether or not people like them is a different story, I did not.

Straight through set neck. Very nice. In fact, the body, neck and headstock are also of fantastic quality. Designed more for durability than sound from the feel of it, but that is of course subjective.

Frets seem like SUPER jumbo and its a matter of taste. Its taking me some time to getting used to and I tend to play a touch sloppier on this guitar compared to my others.

The features of this guitar should be a solid 9, but the poor quality of the electronics and over lamination really takes away from it and makes it feel cheap.

Now mine has a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a '59 in the neck, so I can't really talk about the sound of a stock guitar, though those Duncan Design pickups are just horrid. I've played on them before, and there is really no good justification for them. Why Seymour Duncan puts his name on them... I guess everyone has a price. That said, this review will be of one with the modified pickups.

So how does it sound? Incredible. It seriously has a tone that instantly reminds me of classic Gibson semi-hollows with stunning BB King-esque cleans and a beautiful dirty sound that has harmonics and round tone that my other JB equipped guitar could never hope to achieve. It does make the guitar something of a specialist to a certain extent in that it won't make a great metal guitar (fine by me) but seriously versatile for most kinds of rock, country, blues, you name it. Maybe not jazz, but even then, it would probably work.

I'm actually less impressed with the piezo than most people here, but it does the job adequately. Not as good as some higher end guitars with the same feature, but good enough. It adds a dimension to the guitar that allows for a biting clean that you just don't get any other way. Combined with the magnetic pickups it sounds smooth with a bite to it that shines particularly with some mod effects. Nice stuff.

I've really only used it with tube amps (Marshall and Fender) and it shines with those amps. The feedback doesn't get out of control (again the binding and finish probably play a role here) and its a good thing, yet it still sounds like a hollow body.

The tone knobs are utter crap and don't do much for the sound. I know, most people just top out their tone knobs and go, but I tend to use mine at a "darker" setting since my amps are generally bright. Generally this means the sound is overly bright, though the highs tend to either overly dominate or get lost in the sound with overdriven sounds and its hard to get under control with the tone knobs. Its not the end of the world, but questionable again from a quality standpoint. I intend to replace the pots at some point, I assume that will make a difference.

I'm giving it a 10 for sound, but remember its modified with better pickups. Without the better pickups, I'd probably give it a 6 or 7.

Action is good and all of the non-electric hardware is outstanding.

The finish is a tad dark and its hard to see how well bookmatched the top is. Seems ok, and the trans-black looks nice. I didn't care for the brown sunburst version.

I already mentioned the heavy finish...

The electric hardware is universally crap. The stock pickups are poor,but the tone pots are just as bad and the internal wiring seems suspect. Sometimes I occasionally have the sound just go to static and I have to smack the top of the guitar a few times until the sound comes back. Probably from poor wiring. The wiring is obviously difficult to get to since there is no back plate and everything is done through the f holes. The selector switch seems ok but feels chincey.

I had one tone pot fail altogether and the other one (for the piezo pickup)has a weird impedance level as it doesn't do much to the tone after turning it a quarter turn and before that its too dark.

I already mentioned the wiring. Ugh.

I mentioned before all the other hardware is great.

Have never dealt with them.

I play modern rock (e.g. The Killers) and OLD retro sounding (e.g. Portishead). I've been playing for 20 years and own 4 electric guitars and 2 acoustic guitars.

As an overall guitar its an oddity. A well built body with a solid design marred by weak electronics and shoddy wiring. Those poor design decisions have left this guitar in the yet another cheap also ran in the minds of many and thus Schecter guitars aren't really taken seriously. In my honest opinion, its a diamond in the rough and with a few changes to the electronics, you get an outstanding guitar, and for today's second hand prices, its an amazing value, getting you a guitar that costs half of its playable value or even more. Its just a shame you have to make those changes yourself, but c'est la vie.

Amongst my guitars, its my number 2 behind an American built Washburn Mercury with Seymour Duncan custom custom, '59 and Texas special pickups. Its hard to compare the two because they serve different roles in my music. The versatility and hollow tone of the Schecter, leave it in a class alone for what I use. Its a fun guitar to play too.

If lost, I would replace it, but perhaps reluctantly. It requires a lot of work to get it right so to speak.

All in all, if you're willing to put the work into making into the guitar Schecter should have made, then it will be a fantastic instrument that will serve you well. Its versatility and classic tones (once modded) make it a worthwhile addition to anyone's guitar collection or even as the lone instrument of choice for anyone, EXCEPT metalheads.

Schecter C-1E/A, 2 hb's & piezo, semi hollow, etc. Beautiful dark burst finish, great neck - wide but not too thin, jumbo frets make finding a chord in the dark easier and the neck is very fast. Medium weight, great balance, perfect balance, feels like the headstock could be bigger. The switches and knobs are good, but no coil tap. The pickups are knock off SD's knocked off by SD for Schecter. Higher output than the quasi pafs that come standard in almost everything under a thousand dollars, and again, with a sonic maximizer you may not want to swap your Pus out.

I play a lot of styles and sounds and this is the first instrument that could be my last instrument. I play Vox Ac15, 30, VTX 120 and Fender Blues Junior (15)powerful beautiful little tube amp. Petals.

The HBs are fine, the piezo is strong and as good as you can get in a semi hollowbody and you have a couple of choices if you want to make this a perfect instrument. Swap out the Pups or spend a hundred bucks and buy a sonic maximizer (you should have at least one anyway)you won''t have to swap your pickups out and the piezo will be perfectly balanced with the humbuckers. Unbelievable. Then if you want to swap them out, it'll just sound better.

Set up was okay but I always fiddle around anyway. The action was a bit too low but everything was in balance and the neck was flat. The top was perfectly bookmarked, I actually had to look hard to see if I got lucky.

The guitar is really a beautiful piece of furniture. I don't want to jinx myself but, really really nice.

I'm playing live with it and it's had a few rough moments but it's built very strongly. It has a large block under the bridge, another at the throat and relatively thick side walls and even thicker back. The neck is set and sculpted into the body and it makes getting access to the stratosphere as easy as shaking hands. The neck is super fast and enjoyable. Strap buttons are fine.

No idea yet.

Bought my first guitar in 1965. I cut lawns and shoveled snow off of driveways for 2 winters to buy it, a Silvertone strat knockoff. I've been playing a while. I will buy one if it disappears.

Comparing this instrument to others can't be subjective, they all have their attributes. The C-1E/A is a hybrid instrument with some of the characteristics of a metal axe, and a sweet down-home quality on the other end. With a Sonic Maximizer this guitar is unbelievable. It sounds as good as anything, ever.

My Schecter has two output jacks, one for the active piezo, and one for the passives. This Schecter is finished in a transparent black with Grover tuners. I'm not sure how old it is because I bought it used, but it is in brand new condition. The nice feature here is that I can play the guitar without the 9 volt battery.

This guitar sounds great through the Seymour Duncan designed pickups. It gives a crunchy tone that sounds great both dirty or clean. Flip to the neck pickup for some creamy leads, or go to the bridge position for cutting rythyms.

Although it has a tendency to give a little feed back from the hollowbody design at high gain situations (at practice for example), on stage, when the amps are miced, this guitar is all tone.

The active piezo gives a really good acoustic sound as well and sounds great recorded. I give it a 9 just because of the feed back at practice.

Since I bought this used and it's not a new guitar, I have to tell you that the finish and electronics have held up nicely. The finish is beautiful, the trans black is awesome. I didn't know they made a trans black C1-a/e.

I play live shows all the time. This guitar holds up very well. Grovers tuners keep the strings in tune. The strap buttons where okay, but never take a chance. Straplocks are a must on any guitar you want to keep from hitting the floor.

Dependability? Without a doubt, this guitar will last. And since I have five other guitars I play on stage, including another Schecter, I'm not worried about a back up. But this guitar gives me no reason to think that it would leave me during a set.

Never dealt with the company for repairs, which is a good thing.

I've been playing since I was 16. I'm 38 now, you do the math. lol. I own an Ibanez that I absolutely love, a Schecter Omen 6 that is an awesome stage guitar, a V (not a Gibson) that I rebuilt and play on stage, and an ESP ltd that is used only in an emergency. I have others, but I value the C1 as one of my top favorites because it plays so well.

If it was lost or stolen, I would be crushed because I've never seen another guitar like this one in this finish. Outside of the slight feed back I get occasionally at practice, this guitar plays effortlessly, and looks great.

I purchased the tobacco sunburst model a little over a year ago (JAN 2006) and have kept it stock thus far. I bought this guitar because of its features and it has yet to give me any troubles.

Before I bought it, I was able to play it on the amps I typically used: Fender Blues Jr., Marshall JCM DSL 2000 combo amp, and the Marshall AS50D (for acoustic blends). Each combination gave me what I was looking for from everything to nice mellow blues to high gain distortion and even a few decent piezo acoustic blends. I bought this guitar knowing what it sounded like and bought the one I demoed in the store. Once I paired it with my PODxt and A-B Y switch at home, I have been able sound they way I want and have it dialed in easily. Live & studio, this guitar gives the sounds I want.

My action was a little high, as sre most guitars already, and I did tweak that a bit. The intonation was fine. I wish it wasn't a high gloss neck when I got it, it slows the hand a little but I have used a fine grit to give it a more "satin" feel so that I can work better on the neck. The pickups have yet to be moved, I liked where they are for now. I haven't had any troubles with the "Duncan Designed," as mentioned by other reviews. I get what I want out of them. The overall appearance of the guitar is great, the finish had no blemishes and the quilt top had a great appearance.

I have used it in studio & live, I have had no hardware issues, the finish has shown no wear other than the occasional "love taps," you see on any used guitar. I always swap out the strap buttons with straplocks so those never stay on the guitar for long. I have used this as my one and only guitar on stage with no backups. No string breaks, partially because I don't mash on the guitar (and because a guitar doesn't need to be beat to make quality sound). However, I have had it on backup / alternate to swap between my Les Paul Standard for when I need a more piezo/acoustic sound.

I have had no issues with the guitar. Owned for almost two years. I'd imagine Schecter has decent support. They probably have the Whirpool man working there to keep busy.

Being a guitarist / bassist of over thirteen years, I feel that Schecter has been able to make the best out-of-the-box deal. I would replace this guitar if it were taken from me. I probably would end up using it as a backup for either my Les Paul and / or the Taylor T5 (when I can afford one) for larger gigs and have it for a main for smaller ones, again, without a back-up.

I am sure you have read what this guitar looks like and what it is made of. I reviewing a 2007 tobacco sunburst model with the togle switch to switch between the piezo pickups and the humbuckers. It also has a single line out that can be split with a Y cable so that a signal for the Piezo can be sent to one amp and the humbuckers to another. The older versions did not have this switch and they also had a dual jack port line outs instead.


The only thing I wish was that this was a 24 and 3/4 scale. I also wish they would make a version of this guitar that looke like a ES335 or a Gretish.......ohhh I would snatch that up in a second. I also wonder if it is possible to put a bigsby on this guitar and not mess up the piezos?

The sound of the instrument is VERY versatile. I can get anything I want out of it. The only gripe I have is the "Duncan Designed" pickups, they do leave a lot to be desired. I will be replacing these sometime in the future. I really wish Schecter had just added 50 dollars to the price and put top line pickups on this guitar. But for some reason almost all of their guitars use "Duncan Designed". But on a positive note, I can overcome their muddiness by blending in the piezo. The piezo pickup is what makes this guitar so much more. I now want to add one to my other guitars. It is not a perfect acoustic sound, but I don't expect it to be. It provides a great treble warmth that is hard to imitate with other guitars. So that leads me to a question. I have to wonder if Schecter purposely chose muddy pickups for that bluesy sound knowing the piezos could overcome "duncan designed" sound loss. Hmmmm?

I purchased this from a private individual on Ebay. He woned it but decided he wanted a different guitar. HE said the body was too big for his small frame. Seems to fit me perfectly. It is important to note the person I purchased this from was a guitar lutherier. He did some modifications to the guitar to improve it. He also so kind to do somethings I requested. Here is what he did to improve this guitar. He opened up the guitar and further shielded the wires with copper shielding to cancel hum. He also had to ground the strings. I was told by him that Schecter did not ground the strings correctly on this guitar. I was told they were grounded to the bridge alone. But the piezos are non conducting. So the strings were not grounded at all. What he did to fix this is, he grounded them to the tail stop. He also was very kind to add a push pull pot to the guitar to split the humbuckers. Something I think Schecter should have done. They do it for almost all their guitars. As it is now. I can hear a BIG difference between my guitar and the others I have played at the store. There is very little hum and more tone now with the push pull coil tap.

Also the seller also recommended that I put a piece of foam in front of the tail stop between that and the bridge. He did this to silence the extra ping that can be picked up by the piezo pickups from that short length of strings between the bridge and the tail stop. I took the foam out and he was right. Crank up your amp real high and you can hear that extra sound. Just put a small piece of dampening foam in there and it goes away.

Now the rest of the guitar is PURE heaven. I don't really have any gripe about the above things. Really they were just improving on near perfection. I list them so you can try to improve your guitar too. For the price of the guitar, what do you expect? The piezo setup alone would cost me almost 400 if I had to reproduce it.

The tuners are perfect, this guitar never loses tune. The finish is perfect. The neck joint is almost nonexistent, its that smooth. All of the parts look and work perfect. I have yet to scratch it, but that is because it is so resilient.

I have no issues with reliability durability so far.

The only thing I wish is, I could play this guitar without a 9 volt battery. As it is, you MUST have a 9 volt in it. I suggest keeping an extra handy if you perform. Better yet, buy yourself a rechargeable 9 volt setup. Over time those 9 volts will add up to a lot of money. And if you leave this guitar plugged in, it will eat the batteries real fast.

The strap buttons are pretty good for stock. They were real deep with sharp edges to hold a strap in place. But to be honest, I love this guitar too much not to spend the money on strap locks. No worse feeling than watching it hit the floor and knowing you could have prevented that with a set of strap locks.

The switches and pots work great so far.

The setup was golden when I got it. But I got it from a professional luthier.

As it is.........I would not hesitate to gig with this guitar. But I would definitely have a extra 9 volt battery handy.

I have no clue on customer service I have never had a need to contact them. That to me, is the best type of customer service.

I have been playing for a long time. I own several guitars. I tend to look for the "diamonds in the rough." I really don't want to spend 3000 dollars on a guitar if I don't have to. That is a lot of beer money and I am not made of money. I like to find the ones that cost a fraction and are better than those high priced guitar snob favorites. The Schecter C1 EA does just that. If this guitar was produced under a big "nostalgic" brand name, it would sell for at least 3000. AND, this guitar would be worth it too.

What I wish it had, well, I went over that already. Same with the, what I hate part.

If this guitar was lost or stolen, I would get another. But I would be pissed that I would have to do all the work over again.


To give you an idea of what I value for guitars.

I have another Schecter, a TSH12 diamond series 12 string electric. Its is a great 12 string it suffers from the Duncan Designed flaw too. But none the less. There are few affordable 12 string electrics out there and this is a great one for the money. I plan on moding this to my personal tastes too. I just can't afford a 3000 dollar Rickenbacker. But this is the next best thing. It is a very pretty orange flame top with a semi hollow body that looks like a Charvel Surfcaster or some other surf guitar.

I also have a Vantage Avenger 312 (I LOVE THIS GUITAR!!!) I paid 130 dollars for it. You will have to pry it from my cold dead hands. It has a premium birds eye maple neck, flame maple fretboard, solid ash body, and dimarzio pickups. This guitar is unique to say the least. There is a single coil in the bridge position and a humbucker in the neck position. There is a coil tap stock too. The sound is like heaven. This is the deal of the century. But you brand name snobs just don't get it.

I also have a Fender (squire) Jagmaster. Once again this guitar fell victim the the guitar snobs. The problem with real Jaguars, the trem SUCKS. The Jagmaster came from the factory with a Stratocaster style 6 bolt trem that stays in tune. It came with humbucker pickups and a 3 way switch instead of the mess a Jaguar has. Find a old vista series and you have yourself a better guitar than a thousand dollar Jaguar for only 250 dollars. But people don't buy it because its a squire. The Japanese versions have the EXACT same body as the Jazzmaster and the EXACT same neck taken from the Jaguar. All the did was rebadge it as a squire. The modern Chinese ones are not as good as the Japanese, but they are still a kick ass guitar considering what you pay and what you get.

Mine has the single jack, some models I have seen have two. One is plenty. mine also has the swicth for the piezo, some ones do not. Made in 2006 in North Korea by Kim Il-Jung. No case or gig bag. I would give it a 9 if it came with a gig bag. BTW, what's up "gig bag?" No one in their right mine mind that plays out would use a soft case for an $800 guitar, so I deduct 3 points just for not including some type of case. This forces you to buy a hard case at inflated prices at the store becuase they got you by the ball$.

I play mostly clean, some blues, and rock. This guitar has the worst sounding, muddy, low output, crappy pickups I have ever head in 30 teays of playing. My amp is a 1964 Princeton. No hinding the tone here, just plain awfull. Duncan designed? What the hell is that suppsoed to mean? trust me, If real Seymour Duncans are an American Deluxe strat (yes I have one), then Duncan Desinged are the Squire of pickups. 95% of the tone? I think maybe 5%. Fat, dull, lifeless, pure garbage. I only give it a 3 because the piezo sounds surprizingly good through my Genz-Benz. I will relace the thin sounding lifeless rubbish pickups with Gibson '57s ASAP, or take this back if I can find the reciept. It actually sounds much worse than any axe I have ever played. I have owned every major brand/model out there, so I know good tone when I hear it. This is bad. Very, very bad tone. I have also used this with a '65 Deluxe Reverb, 1962 Bassman, and 1964 Vibroverb blackface. Same results, garbage in, garbage out. Even tons of reverb can not mask this horrible dull tone. If it were not for the piezo, I would give it a one, only becuase they will not accept zero as a score here.

Set up poorly, action is high, pups too low. BTW, I did raise them for more output, just made it sound a little louder, but not better. Looks can be decieving. I have a guitar made by ESp buit the same year, in the same factory with real Duncans. I can not understand why the ESP (which cost the same as the POS Shecter) is such a nice guitar and this won't stay even stay in tune.

I have heard nothing but complaints about the pots. Watch out.

My first Schecter, and last.

Been playing since the 70's. Old fart. Certifed tube snob. Studio techno-geek. My amps are mostly Fender Brownface/blackface/silverface. I can not recommend this to any one who has ears for tone. My wife thinks it's pretty, sounds great. She is deaf in one ear, and can't hear out of the other one. I think this axe is worth, i dunno maybe $300? Look for them in the flea market nearest you. I always wondered why sooo many of these are sound on ebay as "blems" or factory seconds. Now I know. Mine was purchaed brand new but I made a horrible mistake in using a solid state amp to check it with. I can not say enough bad things about this guitar. What's with the white pickup rings? They should be black. One more thing - this guitar will distort easily when your amp is cranked. Why don't they just use Duncan JB's on this? ANY pickup you use will be better than these POS pups. I just saw a PAIR of them sell on ebay for $1.14 - that's right, one dollar and fourteen cents! - nuff said.

The most versatile guitar I own. I play predominantly metal with shades of other styles, and this guitar can keep up. A nice albeit somewhat bass-heavy tone for the full-on metal stuff, and beautiful clean tones, including the piezo, which I use on occasion for the really quiet parts. Also, you can set it up to get any combination of pickups you want to really explore some unique tones. I like to have to pichup selector in the middle position with the piezo activated for an awesome solo tone, very full bodied, but still has bite and definition.

Well, Im not a guitar repairman, but I can say that after adjusting the intonation for the tuning I play in (C#), I didnt need to do anything else with it. After I got it home I noticed a very small ding in the finish on the back, but Im not sure that it wasnt me who did it, as I did not buy a case for it then.

Thus far I have hd no problems with it at all, other than the battery for the active electronis seems to drain a bit faster than I would like, at least compared to EMG-equipped instruments. I wind up replacing it every couple of months. Not bad though. It still looks and feels as beautiful as the day I got it, though it was only about six months ago. But its been put to work in that time as I am in two bands. It doesnt even go out of tune, and I tend to pick and bend pretty aggressively.

I havent needed them yet.

I have been playing for 10 years and this is the most versatile instrument I own, and I have owned or at least played a lot of different guitars (Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, BC Rich, Epiphone, ESP, etc...). I would be devastated if it got stolen or destroyed somehow and would immediately replace it.

I bought this guitar on ebay for $400 bones with a damaged neck (finish only). I have to say I have been mostly satisfied with this instrument. I bought it to use in the Jazz band at school and the piezo system helped me get a nice mellow tone blended with the humbuckers. I'm a little sad that the pickups are only Duncan "Designed" and plan to replace them soon. I find now that I only use the humbuckers as I play mostly alt. country and psychobilly/rock.

THe sound is good... but not great. As far as being a semi-hollow body guitar it doesn't really have any volume when not plugged in. This tells me not much actual resonance is going on in the acoustic sense. It is moderately varied in tonal possibilities when coupled with the piezo.

I have been playing for 16 years through many varied styles and I definitely enjoy owning this guitar. I have owned Hamer, fender, epiphone, and washburn. I like this guitar, however if it were stolen I would not buy another. I would buy a Gretsch.

Great, great features. The Piezo bridge is wonderful. The humbuckers are wonderful.

I play mostly indie music, and this guitar is so perfect for what I need. It has great tonal versatility. Sounds thick and warm. I run it through a Marshall AVT150 half stack, and about 14 pedals. It's a nice, quiet guitar. I don't hate anything about.

It is so wonderfully set up that I tweaked for the first time after owning it for a year... and I only changed the intonation. The action is superb.

The guitar is balanced perfectly. It feels so good to wear, which is impressive, considering it doesn't have any comfort contours. Everyone who has played it tells me how comfortable it is. I agree.

I love the finish. I have the... darker finish... it doesn't look much like a "burst", although I think it was called "tobacco burst".

The only thing wrong is that the humbucker volume pot makes scratchy noises now. However, I use a volume pedal anyway, so this is of absolutely no concern to me. Also, it only scratches when there are notes ringing. It is quiet as can be when everything is muted.

This guitar withstands intense live playing. I bought straplocks the day I bought the guitar (sorry Dunlop, love those Schallers). I have bumped this guitar so often on various surrounding objects, and it still looks great (no paint chips whatesover). In fact, most of the time when I bump it my guitar friends will bite their lip or say "ouch!", and I forget that they don't know how much this thing can handle. It's not much about "how much it can handle", though. I just basically never care about keeping a guitar looking new. The problem is, if I want this guitar to look old and abused, I'm going to have to try REALLY hard (power tools, maybe). Anyway, the finish is great quality. I'm VERY impressed with how well the headstock handles abuse. It has no dings whatsoever, and I consider that to be unfathomable.

I also gig regularly without a backup. Says a lot.

I haven't dealt with them.

When I bought this guitar, I was excited because I'd found my "perfect" guitar. I wanted something classy looking, with great action, and two humbuckers with a three-way switch up top. The Piezo bridge was a wonderful bonus... wonderful indeed. A year later now, and I still maintain this is my perfect guitar. I love how it feels, I love how warm it sounds, I love the tonal variations... I love it.

Electric thinline hollowbody with piezo pickups and more!!
You know the features if you are reading these reviews by now!

Acoustic feature sounds Excellent!! Does not sound like my best dreadnaught miked up close, but better than a crappy sound hole pickup!!
Mags sound ok, not terrible. Website says they sound 95% the JB/59 combo they are supposed to be mimicking, but they are not close in output and not quite 75% the sound(especially the neck) I know this because this is my third schecter and ive scrapped them in all three!
I put the real deals in(parallell/series push pull pot for the jb!) and this thig sings. With liberal amp settings I get metal out of it. Play cemetary gates using the piezos for the clean part and it shines!!Then WHAM chug chug chug chug chug !!! I opted to run it into my whirlwhind a/b/y box in lieu of a y cable, so its one click to switch, mags to the boss gt-8, piezo to the pa! Not perfect for it, but does metal awesome!! only reason I still bring the C1+ is because it's tuned 1 step low!! the e/a is standard

I also own a C1-plus. Reason this is relavent is..I went to guitar center with 2000$ one day to purchase my new les paul. I love gibson, idolize Jimmy page, and even had a couple gibson shirts already. While the salesman was getting me another lp standard(a string broke on thge first one, and i didnt even play it hard!!), the vintage burst c1+ caught my eye. I plugged it into the marshall, and played "over the hills and far away"...WHAT ACTION!! It felt god-damn great! The spacing and scale are perfect(for me, at least..)the tonepros is in a perfect spot for a pivot point for my right hand, and my is it beautiful!! Then i played mouth for war(pantera) and i was hooked. It sounded awesome. Long story short, I saved 1300$ and got the c1. Its mahogany and maple, beautiful, and only $549!! After i had it a year the pots went, but I put emgs(89 with coil split and an 85 in the bridge) and that replaced electronics. But now I own all schecters (with new electronics) and convinced my band to switch also(well, my other guit player had one before me, but it was only an omen6) These guitars are amazing, play like instruments priced 5x higher, and with the abalone, flamed maple tops, and bindings, truly look the part. (no matter what the guy i know who paid 3600$ for a prs says about my "fake les paul doublecut!")

The pots went on every schecter I know(eveybody i know who owns one had theirs go too). They srcatch then just cut in and out. Had to resolder my input jack a few times too(it just wouldnt stay tight then spun and snapped the solder joint)Other than that these things are tanks!! I replace the pickups anyway, so i just replace the pots(under 10 $, funny they dont pur better ones in, not really a $$saver, id pay $749 instead of $699 to not have to worry) The tuners are rock, once the strings are broken in this thing dont budge, even if i smack the headstock off something!! Also, I have strings last for months, even over 1 year, and I beat it up when I play. This is a testament to the tonepros saddles and a nicely set up stop piece. This thing actually has graphtech saddles, which are self lubricating, and wont kill strings. Knobs have set screws, so wont pull off. I put strap locks on all my guitars, but the strap buttons are sturdy by the looks of em. once the pots are changed, you can depend on these things . I always use on gigs without a backup, i cant afford two of every guitar! But then again if i break a string i pay someone in the bar to restring it(hopefully someone knows how) and play another guit for a few min!!

n/a, i'm my own guitar tech, i build em for fun!!

I've been playing only 5 years, but play every single day.
My rig
(keep in mind I am proud of the budget of this setup and how well it performs)
Schecters
.C1E/A with duncan 59/jb
.C1 Plus with EMG 85/89 and expander(tuned low)
.ibanez artcore(jazz box)
.Seagull acoustic(LOVE IT!!)
.Seagull 12 string electric acoustic(like the godin with 4 sliders for the preamp up top)
.Crate Blue Voodoo 120watt head(tubes for clean, dont use its crunch channel)
.Crate cab, with 4 eminence Black Powders from their patriot line..300watt 8 ohm, HOLY CRAP!!(think marshall 1960A!)
.Boss GT-8 guitar slab.(multifx, 44 amps, exp pedal, its like having a guitar center full of gear on stage at once!!
.BBE 882i maximizer..wow what a difference
.run the e/a into a whirlwind a/b/y box, one to p/a, one to gt8, can use the both pickups function ant the y option to have both signals on at onec for lush cleans!(almost 3d)

Wish this had the jb/59 combo, but thats not for everyone, also better pots thats it though!!

10 At this point you all know the features, but the one outstanding feature is the piezo pickup in the bridge. It really gives a lot of versatility and very sparkling clean sound

I play a lot of funk and black gospel music and R&B, with a very broad background in rock, so I needed a guitar that could get a very bright, crystal clear sound but that had a thick and full distortion when it was needed. This guitar has it all. The piezo does not really sound like a true acoustic but it still sounds awesome. It is a really clean funky tone that works well in a number of settings. It sounds fantastic

This guitar was made very well. There really isn't a thing wrong with it. I had an issue with the first C1 E/A that I ordered but it was not the guitar's fault, it was the fault of the dealer. I must warn anyone searching the internet for a guitar-----DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM ADIRONDACK GUITAR AND PRO AUDIO!! This is truly the worst shopping expreience I have ever had. I was sent a Schecter C1 E/A that was broken (when I plugged it in all you heard was a loud sort of white noise hum). I was pissed off and I sent it back to the owner, Dennis Monihan, expecting a new guitar, which is what I was promised. Two weeks later I recieved THE SAME GUITAR, STILL BROKEN! I could not believe it. It was like a sick joke. And the owner acted like an incredible asshole throughout the process, trying to blame me for the damaged guitar. And to top it all off, when he refunded my money, he took off $25 for "damage" that I did to it! Unbelievabe! By far one of the biggest New York assholes you'll ever deal with, I highly recommend that if a Schecter is what you want, go to Drum City Guitarland in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. They sent me a pristine guitar in three days that looked, sounded, and felt phenomenal right away and were a pleasure to deal with. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM ADIRONDACK GUITAR AND PRO AUDIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've only had it for a little while so it's hard to say. It feels great and seems very well built and put together.

Once you get Schecter's phone number, they're great to talk to. I haven't had to deal with them and hopefully I never will

I've been playing for about 1o years, professionally for about 4, and this guitar is bangin! I play it throug a Fender Cyber Deluxe for gigs and it sounds crystal clean and perfect with clean tone, and it gets creamy and thick distortion. I also play through a Fender Concert Amp, and the tubes really like the clean piezo sound as well. It looks awesome, sounds kick ass, it's light, it stays in tune and the intonation is excellent. It is a very good guitar, bottom line. Just don't buy one from Adirondack Guitar and Pro Audio!

I have the newer version with the 3 way toggle for piezo/piezo-humbuckers/humbuckers. Featurewise, everything else has been covered pretty much.

It is the burst finish. Beautiful axe.

For the price, I only got the guitar - no case, or anything else.

I play many genres. Mostly smooth jazz through heavy rock (not so much metal). This guitar gives me a few extra tonal options that I don't have yet. The piezo/humbucker mix is kinda nice.

I use this with: Boss GT8, Behringer V-Amp Pro, Line 6 Flextone 3XL, and a Behringer KX1200. It works great with all of these.

The guitar is as quiet as could be expected. The piezo is very sensitive and picks up a LOT. Have to be a little more graceful with your axe when using it.

I like the Duncan Designed humbuckers - they compliment the piezo well. They aren't as bright or mid-heavy as the Duncan '59/Jazz combo (in my C-1 BlackJack), and are warm and smooth toned. I can get great tones just fine. It may not be suited to metal because of the hollowbody tonality.

Speaking of which, the hollowbody, lower-mid punch is very nice on this guitar. It isn't as pronounced as my AS83 jazzbox, but it is there. You can get a nice thumpy chug out of it if you like.

The overall tone is full and smooth. There is the typical level jump when going to piezo so I recommend rolling the piezo volume off a bit so it's more level matched.

The tone pot (as on my BlackJack) isn't very good. It's pretty much either on or off. I need to replace it on both guitars for more tone control. The volume pot works great.

There is a wide variety of tones with this guitar. Combining the piezo and humbuckers is a really nice tone shaping feature.

I had to set it up to lower the action and all the basic "new guitar" stuff. It wasn't badly setup at all from the factory, but I use 9-42s and it had 10's on it... and I like the action pretty low.

The finish is basically flawless and everything else is as high quality as I could ask for a guitar at this price point.

The figuring on the quilted maple is beautiful - although I'd like to have found one with even more dramatic quilt (this is still VERY nice).

It's a sturdy instrument - as hollowbodies go.

I would use it without a backup - but WITH a backup 9volt battery and some strings... you never know. :)

I do not have experience with Schecter support. I expect the instrument will be great and reliable.

N/A as above.

I've been playing for a few years now and have actually gone through a large number of guitars. I've found Schecter to consistently be an exceptional value for a midrange guitar.

I also have a Schecter C-1 BlackJack, Ibanez AS83, and MiM Standard Strat. I've had many many other guitars and so on.

I love the flexibility of this guitar. I love the price point on it. The piezo is great and responsive, but a little bright in some cases.

I've had my eye on the C-1 E/A for a couple of years. I am VERY happy now that I finally have one.

Hard tail strat with Grover tuners. Duncan Design pickups, Tone Pros bridge with a crazy magnetic buckle piezo system that'll cost $300+labor to replace. Split outputs to enable separating piezo channel from humbucking channel.

Gibson/Epiphone style round neck, jumbo pickups.

Les paul type controls. 1/1-2/2 Switch for humbuckers, volume and tone for humbucking channel, volume and tone controls for the piezo channel.

This is a high maintenance marvel. It features an exceptionally bright piezo and an exceptionally muddy humbucking system that, if played as a single channel, balance into a very full bodied sound. The split outputs make this an excellent guitar for experimentation. Two 1/4 outputs separate the piezo system from the double humbuckers, allowing any combination of sounds. It's also especially useful when practicing with layered effects, permitting you a clean channel to hear your fingers while hearing effects in the other channel.

The Duncan design pickups are the muckiest, murkiest, DEATH Metaliest darned things I've ever encountered. The low end emitted from these guys (when playing without distortion) is obscenely fat and muddy. Challenging to play through if you prefer a clean sound. If metal's your thing, though... these pickups were engineered with you in mind.

Don't fall for the acoustic in A/E. It's a simulated acoustic, active, system and they should be ashamed for marketing it otherwise. The piezo pickups are magnetic, on string, buckles that only pick up on the physical vibrations of the strings. Although there are 'f' holes, they aren't capable of absorbing enough sound to echo any back (super tiny and shallow) and there are no pickups in, or near, either sound hole even if they could.

Forget about playing it unplugged. The f holes are nothing more than pretty. The volume of this guitar as an acoustic is about double the volume of an electric guitar played acoustic. Speaking will overpower the sound.

It's still the most versatile guitar I've found, offering the widest spectrum of electric sounds. Splitting them into two separate processors and amps is where you hear the true quality in this guitar.

Guitar arrived in playable condition. Higher tension than anyone would want, but good enough action with good strings. It was tune-able if you didn't bend anything. The humbuckers were pushed as far upward as the springs would permit. The 7th, 11th, 22nd and 23rd frets had to be tapped in after the tension was lowered. The finish, although with minor imperfections in the painted trim, is great. I have the black one and the finish is a richly textured smokey grey.

The intonation on this guitar is very sensitive to movement. It's best used for recording and private jamming. I've had it set up professionally several times and both of the luthiers I've worked with have been somewhat frustrated by setting this thing up. If you tune it while leaning forward and then lean back to play, you will notice. If you tune it while sitting and then stand up, you will notice. If you swing the guitar around too much, you will notice. I don't move much while playing and I don't play out, so this hasn't been much of an issue. It's the piezo system combined with the flexible nature of any standard electric guitar string... It's too sensitive for it's own good.

Also, there is NO access to any of the internal workings of the guitar. You will find it difficult to customize this instrument, and will likely require the services of a luthier for any maintenance more intensive than changing strings.

I recently had a problem with one of the piezo buckles. I emailed Schecter directly... Twice. No responses.

I've been playing for around 15 years. Initially as a metal player, now finger picking jazz and bluegrass. My other guitars are a Fender 'Fat' Strat (Custom locking system and EMG humbucker) and a standard single coil Strat. I've previously owned Ibanez, Washburn, Aria, Yamaha and Vester strats. Fender guitars just make me happy.

If the Schecter were stolen or lost, I would be disappointed, but I would not purchase another. The piezo system on this guitar is just too sensitive to motion.

For it's price, you won't likely find a more versatile guitar. Unfortunately it's also a high maintenance instrument, requiring near constant attention.

If you're a patient player who doesn't do a lot of bends or power strumming, this guitar can be a lot of fun.

I just got one of the new models as a replacement for my old schecter c-1 e/a as a warantee swap out. The FAAS Ghost pick-up is a great update for this model. I was always torn between the system on the hamer duotone, which is switchable but not blendable, and the system on the schecter which was blendable but not switchable. The new "ghost" piezo system seems like the perfect compromise - a stereo output that can be split to go to a PA & amp but that is also blendable and switchable through a single amp with a mono cable.

The next update to be made should be active EQ! With EQ on the piezo's this guitar would be perfect as far as features go.

Oh yeah - and the volume and tone pots on the mags go in the trash along with the pups. The are both more on/off switches than trim pots. Controls on the piezos are a little better, although the tone control is still lacking (EQ!).

I play a mix - mostly jam oriented music (phish, panic, dead, disco biscuits, etc...) but also some jazz, blues, and classic rock. This guitar is very appropriate for all of the above.

The Duncan-Designed pickups have to go. I replaced them on my previous C-1 E/A and had forgotten how bad they sounded. After playing duncans, they sound clumsy and blah to me. The usual '59/JB combo will be going in shortly.

Assuming this guitar will sound the same as my previous model once the pickups are updated the sound is great - pretty much what you would expect from a semi-hollow. Richer and fuller than a solid-body, but not quite as round as a full hollow-body. Versitle enough to be suitable for pretty much anything other than death metal (although why not try it and come up with a new sound?).

The piezo system sounds fantastic. Plugged straight into a PA or a full range amp it sounds as good or better than any mid-priced accoustic i've heard plugged in. Blended with the mags through a normal guitar amp you can come up with lots of interesting sounds. While i still have the duncan-designed pups in, i've been blending in a little of the piezo's to add some harmonics and liven them up a little - works pretty good for the clean tones.

My rating for the sound (7) is for as it is sold. With new pickups its definately a 9.5.

Action was pretty good - impressive for a factory setup. A little high but all guitars need a second setup a couple of months off the shelf anyways (once the wood learns it isn't a tree anymore) - i'll get this corrected then.

Finish is where this guitar is a little lacking compared to the one i returned. The one i returned had a very nice quilted/flamed maple grain showing through a very muted sunburst, where on this one the sunburst is much brighter and the grain pattern not as prevelant. If the look is important to you pick one off the shelf, don't order from online - there seems to be some variation (to be expected, especially for a guitar this price)

I replaced most of the electronics on my last c-1 e/a, so i can't really speak for those.

All in all this guitar is not a strat and can't be treated as such. I don't think it is any more fragile than any other semi-hollow but that isn't saying a whole lot.

I felt the customer service was outstanding. I contacted them about the problem with my old c-1 e/a, and after some (very reasonable) questioning they agreed to switch it out with a brand new one.

I would call them instead of emailing them, though - save the emails for once you've already established a relationship with customer rep there.

After all the upgrades and everything you should be spending less than $1000 and there is just no way you'll find anything anywhere near that price range that sounds this good, looks this good, and has this many features. I absolutely love this guitar and would buy another in a heartbeat. The ability to mix in the piezo's in so many different ways just opens up so many possibilities. And the convience of being able to get an accoustic tone without having to switch guitars is hard to argue with.

I know all of my other ratings were below 10 but when you consider the price of this guitar (you'll probably be able to get if for close to $600 after the rush is over for the new model) it has to be a 10.

Since I've got some time I'll try to give a nice detailed review here. I bought the new 2005 version which differs a bit from the older versions. First of all, the RMC piezo was replaced with the graph tech "ghost" model piezo but it's still installed on the tonepros locking bridge. With the gragh tech system you get the "ghost" 3-way switch which changes from mag pickups only, blended piezo and mag, and piezo pickup only. Then of course we've got grover tuners, the duncan designed pickups, 22 jumbo frets, mahogany with quilted maple body, and mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard. Also the guitar jack can be split with the given Y cable to send the piezo output and electric output to seperate amps or PA or whatever. Made with tender loving care in Korea.

I won't be much help reviewing the pickups here becuase I ordered the guitar with a seymour duncan JB in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck. The Schecter site states that the duncan designs are 95% like the real duncans, but I personally don't share their confidence. However the piezo is great. My usual main setup is a hot rodded standard strat, through a podxt Live (used mainly for the effects), into a Fender Deville and even through just the Deville I can get a very true acoustic tone from my new Schecter. I would imagine great things could be done running it through an acoustic amp or PA. The only problem I had was a bit of squeal playing loud, with pretty heavy distortion, and standing pretty close to the amp but I doubt it would be a concern for anyone but the most dedicated death metalists. The sound of the guitar is pretty bright, possibly becuase of the graph tech saddles, but with some pickup height adjustment the sound becomes perfectly balanced. The range of tone isn't incredible but with the ability to mix the piezo with the magnetic p'ups there are plenty of very usable possibilities. I play mostly classic rock with a bit of reggea on the side among other styles and I can coax any sound I need out of this guitar.

The guitar came perfectly set up...but thats because I ordered from Drum City who kindly set it up to my exact specifications. If you're ordering a Schecter definitely check out Drum City guitarland, the guitar I got plays great, is entirely flawless, and they perfectly installed some real Seymour Duncans and strap locks for me. The finish of the guitar was flawless, even the binding was pristine, I searched the whole guitar over for about 20 minutes and really couldn't find a single thing wrong with it.

The guitar has a nice solid feel and has got some heft to it but is by no means heavy. It's even got a nice balance to it. If I had to I would use this guitar without a backup, but I really abuse my guitars..maybe not SRV style but I do like the same heave gauge strings...I'd definitely put my faith in it.

Haven't dealt with them, but Drum City was extremely helpfull.

Overall its a great guitar especially for the price. For me it had everything from looks, to playability, to versatility...pretty much everything I need from a new gigging guitar. The first time I has it home I spent 10 minutes dialing in my amps tone and then from there I spent the next 5 hourse playing the thing, getting different sounds out of it and testing its limits. One of the best guitars I've played especially in the price range. If it were lost or stolen I'd purchase a new one as soon as possible.

Just received my Schecter C1 e/a after waiting for months. Zzounds disspointed me with their constant updates of "another two weeks" so I went back to Musicians Friend who had it to me in three days. I wanted the Tranparent Black, but settled for the Vintage Sunburst just to get the instrument. This is made in Korea, but made extremely well and much better than some of the original Fender Squire line. This was made in 2004. All the features are as advertised, expected, and were all perfectly acceptable.

I am currently playing a lot of "straight ahead" jazz, but throw in some classic rock. The neck pickup seems to have a pretty good sound running direct into my 25 year old Boogie, but I warmed it up a bit more through my Boss 7 slider equalizer in my pedal board. Unfortunately the bridge pickup was a disappointment. I don't care much about different crunch sounds. To me I only want clean and distortion with sustain. The bridge pickup won't drive my Ibanez distortion pedal hard enough to get the sustain I require. I will most likely swap out both the pickups for ones that are warmer and hotter, but I could live with the neck pickup. The piezo I'm still working with. I get a better sound out of the acoustic medley available on my Line 6 Variax, but this is usable throught the PA board.

The factory setup was pretty much set to Gibson specs per my Dan Erlewine setup book. I lowered the action to his specs which was not a lot lower than factory. I also lifted the bridge pickup closer to the strings. It was not giving me the punch I required and getting it within 3/64" helped quite a bit. The finish was flawless unlike some others who have written. The only thing I've noticed that was poor was that both pickups were slightly aligned to the bottom of the guitar so that the strings are not directly over the pole pieces. Actually even if they were aligned properly the string spacing would not match up with the pole pieces. I don't seem to be having any drop outs on individual strings and I'm nit picking here.

This guitar is solid. I've been playing mostly solid bodies the past several years, but I've owned hollow bodies and semi-hollow bodies. This thing is much more durable than most solid body players realize. I've seen negative comments about no strap locks, but the placement of the strap buttons with a good strap should make it secure unless you're Steve Vai.

I wrote to them via their website to ask some technical questions this morning. Every time I tried to send I kept getting an error message. I don't know how responsive they are, but it's difficult to get a read on that when you cannot get your questions to them.

I have been playing professionally for 40 years. I have had a collection of guitars over the years and try not to get too attached to them. I make my living playing diverse styles of music convincingly and buy the "right ax for the gig" every time I make a musical shift. This one is pretty versatile for commercial work, but until I swap the pickups I wouldn't use it on a full-time rock gig. I currently own a Jackson Soloist, Gibson ES-165, Taylor 910, Line 6 Variax, and a Gibson Chet Atkins/solid body, classical. I am currently running through a 65 watt, 25 years old Boogie or a new Fender Princeton. I run through an old pedal board with all the standard stuff from Ibanez and Boss. Occasionally I've been running through a Pod XT, but I haven't tried this instrument through that setup yet. Could help with the lack of sustain from my pedal board though. I don't know if I would replace this guitar, but not because I don't like it. I would lean in the same direction, but custom order from Ed Roman. I just didn't want to spend 3K on an ax right now.

The only feature I'd talk about that i did not see listed so much was the pickup selector switch or Ghost switch. Allows you to turn on the peizo or the mag. or both. real handy in my setup. The reason i did not give it a ten is i think there should be 2 mono jacks or the stereo y calbe should have female ends. it is no where near long enough.

I play Rock and contemparay Christain Worship music. Prior to this I played (and still have) an Ibanez s2020ax. The magnetics go to my Digitech Rp 7 to a yamaha 01v digital mixer. the Peizo goes to direct to the board. The mag. p'ups don't have the same volume level my Ibanez does, but the have a phatter sound like a Les Paul. I happy with the sound the harmonics really com through on the bridge p'up I non't think it as a teribly wide range of sounds, but it is a good range. The peizo was a real nice surprise. I know it is not an acoustic, but it is ten times better than my ibanez peizo and still much better than the parker fly classic's peizo that my freind has. Sounds nice. you can hear (breifly) the peizo of this guitar in our song "you are" at our site www . anaudienceofone . com listen to it some place past halfway through.

Action was good even with the neck perfectly straight. I add some releife and lowered the bridge and made it even better. I'd say 1.25mm at the 12th fret high E about 2 mm on the low e with no buzz cept poor fingering. :-)

Better fit than i expected from the company.

Finish was really good very happy with this

As you tune the strings the the g and the b strings tend to hang in the nut alitte

Seems Good I just Got it though, but I will be using it with out back up, cept for string break issues

n/a

I have tried 2 or three other schechters before this one and I assumed I would never buy one. But this one seemed to play really good so I i lost this one I'd would only get another if I could play it first. Wish it had a tremolo system on it

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.

See the other reviews.... nice feature layout... nothing fancy or different.

What makes this (and other piezo-electric hybrid guitars) so unique is the ability to plug into an acoustic amp (I have a Marshall AS50R) and a regular electric amp (I use a Fender Deluxe) at the same time. The result is astounding. You can (with the guitar knobs) control the amount of "acoustic" sound you get and the amount of "electric" sound you get at the very same time. Its AWSOME.... BETTER than two guitarists. SO full, so rich. When on full (or mostly) acoustic setting its actually a weird feeling to begin with. I said to myself - "WOW, was that ME making that sound?"... the acoustic sound I get from the Schecter through the Marshall amy is much better than what I get from a quality Epiphone 12-string with a good Fishman pickup. Very clean. If you want an acoustic, then buy and acoustic. If you want an electric, then get an electric. But you if want to get into that hybrid 2-amp world then you wont go wrong with this guitar.

Excellent. Even the intonation was pretty good right out of the box. Action was fairly low with no buzz.

Its a semi-hollowbody, so you cant expect to run over with a truck. But its a quality built guitar. Very nice feel and very nice balance.

dont know

Worth more $.... excellent value. I was (and still am) so excited about the possibilities this hybrid guitar brings to the band.

I'm now looking at a Carvin AE185-12 for the 12-string version of this type of piezo-electric guitar. General reviews for the Carvin AE185 have been similar to the Schecter so you might want to look into that before you buy. Main difference seems to be the body styling. For a lower priced guitar, look at the Hamer DuoTone. NOTE: Personally, I've only played the Schecter.... BUT ...... stop being a cheapskate! Either get this, or one of the other hybrids I mentioned. You wont be disappointed. This hybrid thang is a whole word in and of itself.

ps: I finally gave up waiting for the sunburst version (its backordered at Musicians Friend) and went for the "black" and I'm glad I did. Its not jet black like a strat, but semi-transparent with some wood grain showing through.... almost lie a very very dark gray. With the cream binding, its a nice looking guitar.

Mahogany body and neck with quilted maple top on the body and headstock. Rosewood fretboard. Very nice contoured neck joint makes playing up in the high register a breeze. I had to look real close to see the neck joint. Thought for a minute that it was all one peice. Nice weight and balance. Duncan "designed" humbuckers.
Active RMC Piezo bridge with Tone Pros bridge set up. Volume and tone for piezo and volume and tone for humbuckers. Toggle switch for humbuckers. Wish it had a toggle switch for going between the peizo and humbuckers. Would be much easier than turning one down and the other up. If not for this I would give it a "10".
Two output jacks enable you to mix the piezo/electric signals through one, or send each through a different jack. This way, you can send the piezo signal to the PA or acoustic amp, and the humbuchers to your guitar amp.
Grover tuners and could be a graphite nut(?)

The Duncan Designed humbuckers sound good to me. I'm not an expert on humbucking pickups, however. I've played single coils for years, so this is taking some getting used to. The piezo played through the acoustic simulator patch on my Digitech RP2000 sounds killer. No different from my Fender acoustic played through the same setup. maybe even better. The Tone Pros bridge gives this thing sustain for days. Good balance between the volume of the electric and acoustic sounds.

I found the action to be a little high out of the box, but the overall setup was good. I believe it was strung with 10s, which I changed to my preferred 9-46 set. A little tweak on the neck and bridge adjustment and I got it right where I like it.
I must say that I am amazed with the quality of this instrument for being a Korean import. You might think you are playing on an expensive US made guitar. If ever I've played a guitar that feels like it "plays itself" this is it. The neck shape and size are pretty close to my Strat. Maybe a shade narrower. It feels just right in my hand and is truly a pleasure to play. I got the See Through Black finish. Absoulutely georgeous. Double check the tightness of the allen screws on the bridge and tailpiece as this is what helps give you that wonderful sustain.

Seems to be a sturdy, well constructed guitar. Hardware and components all seem high quality. Only time will tell how the finish will hold up.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 35+ years and I would have to say this is the nicest guitar I've ever had. Almost everythig I've owned has been imported though, so I can't say It's going to stack up to a PRS or something similar. The line seems to be getting more blurred between the production US and Korean instruments, and this is a great example.
I would buy this guitar again if I had to do it over. I bought it mainly because I wanted an electric/acoustic hybrid. This covers both bases extremly well. Even though it is a semi hollow, it does not have problems with unwanted feedback. It does, however enable you to get that nice controlled feedback though, due to the wonderful sustain you get from the Tone Pros bridge system. If you're thinking about buying a hybrid type guitar, this is a great one. An excellent value.

made 2003 in korea.
CONSTRUCTION:
Set In
BODY:
Mahogony w/Quilted Maple
NECK:
Maple
FINGERBOARD:
3pc Mahogany
FRETS:
22 Jumbo
SCALE:
25 1/2"
INLAYS:
Split Crown
BRIDGE:
TonePros System w/RMC Piezo
BINDING:
Creme
TUNERS:
Grover
HARDWARE:
Chrome
PICKUPS:
Duncan Design HB-102
ELECTRONICS:
Master Vol / Tone / 3-way / Piezo Vol / Piezo Tone
FINISH:
Dark Vintage Sunburst

included allen wrenches and a couple of cheap 1/4" cables

great features, exactly what i was looking for in one guitar. i was looking for something that most of my other guitars don't have, i.e. set neck, peizo, hard tail, etc.

I play rock mostly thru a marshall dsl 401, avatar 2x12 cab or peavey classic 30, dg stomp effects or digitech gsp21. the guitar has a great sound, rich and warm in the neck position and hard n heavy in the bridge. ran the Piezo thru a PA system with a little reverb, sounds great! combining the Piezo and a clean patch (or even overdriven) with the humbuckers thru the amp really gives alot of variety in sound, which is what i was looking for. so far i like it alot, sounds great and plays great. i havent played it enough yet to say what i dont like about it, i'll follow up if i find anything wrong.

the guitar came setup pretty good. i think they were 9's or 10's which is what im used to. the guitar was even pretty much in tune when it arrived, heh! the action was slightly higher than i'm used to but that's easily adjusted. all the controls seemed well put together and tight, this is a well made guitar, solid. the only cosmetic thing i noticed was that the binding was slightly unconnected on the headstock. you only notice it if you look closely but the finish on top of it was smooth and not broken, so, not a big deal.

i have yet to play out with this guitar but i plan on it soon. i think it will be just fine. the hardware, finish, strap buttons seems solid too, it will last. seems like a dependable guitar.

re:Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
i dont think i'd ever not have a backup for any guitar playing live. if you break a string you need to have something to grab right away.

havent had to deal with them yet, and i hope i dont ever have to.

this is an extrememly nice guitar, i dont give 10's in any category because that's perfection and i dont think i'll ever find that, hah! but this is a damn fine guitar, made me want to play.

i've been playing for over 23 years, i've got lots of equipment, guitars, etc.

the guitar is a little small for me but i'm a very big guy, not a big deal to me.

if it were stolen or lost i'd definitely get another one, although the vintage sunburst is very difficult to get these days. i had to wait like a month to get this one.

i love the overall look of the guitar and it's features, it's just a great guitar.

i compared it to a prs hollobody and archtop (which is one the extreme high end and next to impossible to find) and a dean boca (which is on the low end but no piezo). i choose this one because of it's look, price and features.

only thing i wish was different about it is it's size, if it was a little bit bigger that would be better for me. but i can live with it.

Wow - I'm the first to review this model, which is new for 2003. I've been playing mostly acoustic guitar for about 25 years, but occasionally venture into the electric world usually buying Fender US Strats and Gibson LPs. The piezo pickup and semi-hollow body of this Schecter appealed to me though, so I thought I'd roll the dice on this new model. Features include: Set In maple neck, Mahogony body w/Quilted Maple Top, 3pc Mahgany fingerboard, 22 Jumbo frets, 25.5" scale, split crown inlays,
bound body, neck and headstock, TonePros Bridge System w/RMC Piezo pickup, chrome Grover tuners, Duncan Design HB-102 pickups, 3-way toggle, 2 volumes + 2 tones controls (one each for the magnetic pickups and the piezo). Hard tail (no trem).

The main feature of the guitar is the ability to blend or split the two pickup systems. It has two MONO output jacks -- one is blended, so you can dial in as much piezo or magnetic pickup tone as you want and the other is magnetic output only. It would be possible, for example, to run the piezo straight out to a PA while sending the magnetic tone out through effects and an amp. There's a lot of room for experimentation here, and I like that a lot. Feature-wise, I'd give the guitar a 10 for that, but I've got to gig them at least a point for not supplying a case with such a beautiful guitar.

I play mostly blues in three distinct styles (Clapton, SRV and BB King). With this guitar and a VAMP-2 amp simulator, I can nail all three sounds. It's hard to tell how much that success is based on the guitar or the VAMP, but I'm very satisfied with the guitar sound. As a semi-hollow, it isn't very loud played unplugged, but I think it helps shape the sound, especially when going for BB's tone.

Aside from being able to get the sounds that I was hoping for out of this guitar, it's a lot of fun just goofing around with blending the piezo (or sending just the piezo tone) through the VAMP with some weird effects. You can get some decent acoustic simulation when you throw in some chorus and reverb. Add ping-pong delays and such and it gets really spacy, but again, that has more to do with the VAMP (also a terrific product).

I think the Duncan "designed" pickups are more than adequate for most people in this price range, though I admit I tend to trick out my electrics with hotter pickups at some point. Again, the guitar has a lot of versatility. I can still get (indistinguishably close -- for me at least) to a strat sound without splitting coils, so I'm happy.

I'm amazed at the quality of this guitar. The setup from the factory was a little high for my liking, but that's almost always the case. The quilted top is stunning and I could detect no finish flaws at all. I got the Vintage Sunburst which is not as red as the Schecter site shows (more brown), but it's still an amazing look.

The fretboard feels like a Strat, while the body feels like a LP (heavy). All the controls were tight out of the box and nothing was loose or poorly joined. I have no complaints about the construction of this guitar. When I put it away, I feel like I should be putting into a nice plush hardshell case like you'd get with a $2000 guitar. I guess for under $700 you get to buy your own case.

I don't gig, so I won't put a rating here, but this guitar feels as reliable and solid as any I've owned.

Never had to deal with them (and hope I never have to), so I dunno.

I've been playing over 25 years and have owned some very nice (and many expensive) guitars from Gibson, Fender, Martin, Taylor and other lesser brands. This is my first Schecter and I'm very impressed with the looks, build quality and sound of this axe. There is nothing that I don't like about this guitar. It is extremely versatile and really encourages experimentation, which is a good thing as we tend to get into playing ruts from time to time.

I wish it had a case, but hey, for $699 delivered (I later found one for $619+shipping), I guess I can afford to buy my own.