Schecter C-1 Hellraiser

Features??? It has everything I need.

I have the red one so I suppose I have quilted maple on top of mahogany.

I like the stings behind the bridge as I can play some weird stuff there.

I love the push-pull pots as they let me get some really nice hollow clean sounds similar to a strat. I wish they had a 5 way switch; that is all.

The pickups are amazing both distorted and clean. I can???t go back now. Only thing is mine came with Grover tuners (still very good) rather than the Schecter locking they advertise on website.

The finish is absolutely beautiful though that is not why I bought it.

This is the second Schecter that I???ve owned (first being C-7 Blackjack). I have noticed that both Schecter???s I???ve owned have a hollow or rather scooped sound. I don???t know how to better describe it. You can hear all strings distinctly even on neck pickup. This is a great guitar.

Pinch harmonics are mean. I play this through a Digitech Bad Monkey, Boss Me-50, Dunlop 535Q Wah, and Digitech Whammy to a B-52 AT-100 with match 4 x 12" cabinet. The sound is huge and mean on distortion. On clean it sounds like the Carvin demo from the Knucklehead 2 tones on Rivera's website. very cool. a little bit of buzz on the low E, I like it.

I play this thing on stage at very very high volumes and it is very quiet; no microphonic sounds. It sounds so mean I can see how envious some people are in the crowd.

With the push-pull pots I can go from ???Leave that thing Alone??? by Rush to our originals in no time flat. I used to play rhythm on a les paul bridge pickup to get some dirty Adam Jonesie style squeals but on this one I can do the same thing on the neck with squeals and it sounds bigger, brighter, and not like everyone else.

By the way, I tried just about every type of guitar at Guitar Center (4 hours) and A/B???d it to this one. Chose this one every time either by sound or by its feel. Money was no object. I needed a better stage guitar. I put this thing up against: Ibanez, Epiphone, Gibson, Fender, Jackson, and yes PRS. This one seemed to call me out and reach to my soul and grab it.

I like this guitar.

How well was the guitar set-up at the factory? (How was the action?) - excellent no adjustment needed.

How well were the pickups adjusted? -perfect

Properly bookmatched top? Properly routed bridge? -two words. persian rug.. Your "flaws" make you who you are.. my guitar is the same. it is perfect to me.

Only thing about active pickups.. keep some spare batteries at ALL times. just in case. maybe change them out every couple weeks if you play a lot like me. and very elementary.. leave it unplugged if you are not playing.

I have not dealt with them, though I have the guitar center extra warranty in case someone pees on it or something. I am alse getting it insured. so in case someone steals it and then pees on it; i get a new one.

I have been playing for 10 years and am self taught. I totally suck at the guitar and am in no way exceptional. I???ve gone through several stages of ???G.A.S.??? in my life and at once owned 21 guitars.

By the way, not a good idea when you are in the ARMY. I had a lot of stuff stolen. I have owned a 1950???s Yamaha acoustic, a 1960???s Gretsch solid body electric with big fat hum-BUCK-YOU-ers and many others. I have been stationed in Korea and have had a special les paul style guitar hand built just for me.
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you can contact me if you want more information: Brandon@turnerworld.com

I have had this guitar for almost a year and i love everything about it. The solid body construction is excellent except I have had one problem with the top strap screw (closer to the neck and head) coming loose somtimes. I just tighten the screw with a normal philips head screwdriver once every month or so and it is fine.The EMG pickups are amazing. I play mostly metal and metalcore type music and these pickups make the distortion clean and the clean crystal sounding. It has a beautiful sharp sound with great settings. The active pickups make all the difference. This guitar stays in tune very well. I play everyday and i keep it in the case when im not using it and i occasionaly have to fix the G string tuning but other than that it is virtally in tune all the time. The neck is smooth and easy to move on when playing all over the place. it is great.

The EMG pickups are amazing. I play mostly metal and metalcore type music and these pickups make the distortion clean and the clean crystal sounding. It has a beautiful sharp sound with great settings.

This is made to perfection. The body is a solid construction that i have never had a problem with. There is a smooth mahagony finish that is excellent and comfortable for playing. The action is set just right, i've never had to adjust it once. The pickup selector is silent and it was made at the factory beautifully.

The only problem i have ever had with the durability is the strap peg coming loose but it is an easy fix. I can see myself having this guitar for years.

This guitar is incredible. I would definitely reccomend this to someone who was looking for a step up from a $300-$400 guitar. I would have to say you cant get anything better for this price range. There is always the step up from this but Schecter is a great company.

The Hellraiser C-1 was made in South Korea. It came with 24 frets, with a maple cap on the Black Cherry finish. This is the hard-tail version with EMG pickups 81 and 85. Personally, I would have liked passive pickups, but the EMGs get the job done.

This guitar has as much beefy tone as a Gibson Les Paul, but is slightly brighter. As a response, I needed to boost the bass on the amp to get an even sound. The EMGs are sterile and flat, but they give ZERO hum. With the EMGs, this guitar can pretty much only play high-gain music, but I suspect you could get more versatility with passive pickups and this guitar isn't marketed as anything but a metal guitar.

The action was perfect, the finish was nice. The guitar is pretty heavy, and every pieced seemed to fit well, but the tune-o-matic bridge has become discolored from my palm muting. This hasn't affected the reliability of the bridge, but it might be a little annoying. The intonation has been spot on for a year.

I have had the guitar for a year and it hasn't needed a set-up since the factory one. I would gig with this guitar, but I would have a back-up (of course, even the best guitars act up at gigs.) The finish has lasted beautifully and it has been my main guitar for about 10 months on a daily basis.

I wrote an e-mail about string breakage, and I got a phone call from the company, which is pretty rare these days. They were nice and helped me with my problem.

If this guitar were stolen, I would buy the same guitar, but the 7 string version.
I've been playing for about 2 years now and it was my main guitar about 10 months. I own (or have owned) an Ibanez Xiphos, Epiphone Flying V, Epiphone Les Paul Silverburst, and a Yamaha cheapo guitar. This is tied with the Ibanez as my favorite guitar I have played. The only thing aside from the EMG pickups are that this guitar has a beefy neck. It feels like it's two times as thick as the Wizard 2 neck on my Ibanez.
I suggest, if you can handle the thick neck and replace the pick ups, you have a great guitar at a great price.

Just got yesterday- 2008 Black Schecter C-1 Hellraiser with binding the whole way around body and head.String-thru body Tonepros- Comes with the new EMG81 t/w and EMG89 t/w (Coil-Tap). Grover tuners-hasn't gone out of tune once!!!!. 2 volume/1 tone. SUPER LIGHT! its like a feather. Everything is perfect. Get the rest on Schecter's site.
Only thing i dont like is not getting a case with the purchase- kind of bs in my opinion

First off I use a Mesa boogie dual rect. 3 channel. Which is amazing, i still have my gibson les paul classic which is pretty gainy itself. The schecter though it absolutely stunning. No matter how much gain i have when ringing chords out/palm muting you can hear EVERY note so well. When playing lead this guitar is soo clear real mid range style but everything cuts through beautifully. With the new pickups it does come with Coil-Tap, didnt think i'd be a fan but damn was i wrong. Sounds actually just like my strat, it makes such a difference being my amp isn't the clean in the first place. And no matter what harmonic u want to hit it comes through perfect. Got this to be my back up for my LP, doubt it. I'll probly have my les paul be my backup now and i paid 2k for it haha

It came right out of the box still in tune just shows how good the grovers are. Action was a tide bit high for me so i had someone lower it. Definitely suggest you lower it alittle it makes all the difference. Pickups came at perfect height too, so i didnt have to dick with that. No buzz at all

Everything seems great, only thing that kind of worries me is the toggle switch, very flimsy soo i dont know if that will break in the future i hope not. other then that its wonderful for only having it one day haha

Didn't deal with them-and it kind of pisses me off no case are included with Schecter guitars.

Overall- Get this guitar for 700 bucks, its great. Within a couple years you will see the prices of schecter sky rocket- Not one thing wrong with this guitar. any questions hit me up email dlm5051@psu.edu or check my band out to hear us/it. www.myspace.com/slackertheorymusic

Tone pros, emg's, grovers, Solid

It may be designed for hard rock, metal etc., but it works fine for other music too. Very clean in my opinion, it actually is a really good jazz guitar. As for blues, blues is in the hands not in the pickup. The output is not nearly as hairy or high output as a lot of hot rod guitars with seymoures or dimarzio's in them. It makes a great recording guitar, low noise, all strings ring the same, very even and balanced tone, the mahogany helps with this too, not a bright sounding guitar, it is more midrange to dark sound. Too me these pickups sing more than scream, My jeff becks and dimarzio's scream. Biggest gripe is lack of harmonics, overall great tone though. But if your all about wailing leads, check out the c1 classic with the real seymoure duncans.

Good set up. A little high for my taste at first, but instead of adjusting the height I just played a little while and came to like it a little higher. Pretty guitar really, I have the cherry, not the greatest quilt top in history, but really nice for a guitar of this price. Nice neck, I am used to thin wide 80's shredder necks. But this one just felt right the first time I played it at guitar center. It does not seem like it would be a super fast neck, but one can really fly around on it.

I have waited almost a year before doing this. I like the honeymoon phase to be over with before I am really sure. I have tried to replace my 85 charvel for years as my number 1 guitar. I have owned les pauls, explorers, strats, Ibanez, most all end up on the auction block or locked away and I go back to the charvel after a while. The hellraiser seems to have made the cut, and for a third of the price I have paid for other guitars. I do not know if it is my favorite yet, but it has joined the family and will not be sold, and will get plenty of play. Seems built to last, I will update in 20 years.

I have been playing since 1985. I have owned and still own some really nice high end guitars. As far as playability and sound the hellraiser holds its own. Nothing in its price range really compares. I went to the store to check out a les paul and walked out with the hellraiser, sadly the workmanship was of higher quality on the korean built guitar than the U.S.A built guitar from the mighty Gibson. I never thought I would play a korean guitar, I am somewhat of a gear snob and really prefer to buy made in the U.S. stuff. But my next purchase will probably be the schecter c-1 classic. Schecter makes great guitars for a wonderfull price.

The Schecter C-1 Hellraiser (No FR) has 81 and 85 Emg Pickups that sound amazing. They give a huge massive grunge sound and work well with drop D tunning. The hellraiser's 2 volume and 1 tone work good. The set neck feels great with easy EASY EASY! access to the 24 fret.
I own a black cherry version although at the moment they are ridiculously hard to find. I'm pretty sure that Schecter is making a new version of the Hellraiser with an 81 and 89 EMG that splits the coil. Even though mine may not have that, it is still one hell of a guitar.

This guitar is a 'one trick pony'. Meaning that it does one sound really well. The hard rock, grunge sound, sounds perfect. Amazing.
Everything else though, falls short. The clean is muffled. But the distortion sounds awesome. And for only $650 just that one sound is worth it. I give it a 9 because I wish mine had a split coil feature but yours could have one.

The finish is done very well. It looks great. As good as a PRS finish. The black version though does not look very good at all.
It has a curved body that looks nice. The diamond binding is good looking. Everything is sturdy. A well set up guitar.

I think this guitar is well dependable. It's put together well,
everything is sturdy. It may be a cheaper brand than PRS or Gibson,
but it's still dependable.

Not the best. It took me a Long time to find a schecter C-1 Hellraiser in Black cherry and schecter did not help much on that. I finally found a very good shape used one at pro music. No help from Schecter.

I've been playing for about 7 years now and I must say that if you are a big time Hard rock player, this is worth a buy. It feels great, plays great ( I would use 10 guage strings on it ) looks great, sounds great and is really worth the $650.

Mahogany body with quilted maple top
Black Cherry Finish
Set, 3-piece mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard
24 X-jumbo frets
25-1/2" scale
Ultra-access cutaway
EMG active 81/85 pickups
Volume/volume/tone controls
3-way pickup switch
Grover tuners
Abalone binding and gothic cross fretboard inlays
TonePros tune-o-matic bridge with thru-body design

I play mostly metal and classic rock and this guitar is so perfect for these styles. This thing can scream for solos. You can also get a thick rythym sound as well. Currently I am using a Boss GT-8 through a Peavy amp and I also record direct to a digial multitrack recorder.

I have NEVER had a guitar setup so wonderfully right out of the box. It was even perfectly in tune. I will give this a 9 since the action was a little high but other than that it was perfect.

This baby is built to last and that is only typical of Schecter.

Haven't had to used CS.

I have been playing on and off for several years and I have had my share of guitars. This one is the best I have ever owned and for the price its truly a steal. I love the feel of the guitar. The neck is so easily playable. I have never owned a guitar that I felt so confortable soloing on. It just seems to fly. Since it does not have a FR I will likely purchase a whammy pedal for that effect.

First of all most of the people don't know the difference between the "Schecter C-1 FR model" and "Schecter C-1 Hellraiser FR" models. Although they look same from a distance, there are big differences between these guitars.

"C-1 FR" has Duncan Designed active pickups (quite poor!), maple 24 frets neck (bolt-on), dot inlays and tremolo is licenced (see a picture at http://www.schecterguitars.com/hr.asp?id=178). RRP is 649$

"C-1 Hellraiser FR" (please see a picture at http://www.schecterguitars.com/hr.asp?id=141) has 24 frets w/ cross inlays, mahogany body and set mahogany neck, beautiful abalone binding on the body, an original Floyd Rose tremolo (not licensed) and 2 EMG 81/60 active humbuckers. RRP is 1149$

My C-1 Hellraiser FR came in black (there is also black cherry version available). Made in South Korea (2006), but do not let this fool you, this is not one of the usual crappy import guitars you see everywhere (especially not like Chinese Dean guitars!). This guitar is built with an exceptional workmanship. I bought this by pure chance (saw in a shop, fell in love and bought it), it was one of my best decisions ever. Frets are probably Dunlop (or very similar in quality), they are jumbo. Neck is straight as an arrow and the action is low without any rattles. This is an excellent neck if you are into lead guitar, I can easily say it is one of the best necks that I've ever seen.

I give 8/10 because of a personal dislike, I really don't fancy cross inlays. Maybe if they were all white that would be cool but I think they look ugly like this. Playability of the neck is 100%, I just don't like the look of the inlays.

Guitar has two properly fitted and adjusted active EMG pickups. How does it sound? It sounds great as it should be. These are the hottest heavy metal pickups (after Seymour Duncan Dimebuckers). They are very silent and very strong at the same time. Full bright tones on bridge and the typical sharp tele sound on neck. Excellent shred tones.

Top of the guitar is gorgeous. Abalone bindings are high quality and fitted very carefully. I am looking at it right now and I cannot see even one flaw on the guitar. Everything fitted and finished properly.

Guitar looks stable, but it would not be fair if I write here something because this will be bedroom guitar for at least another 2 months. But it looks very solid.

There is no tuning problem as it has original Floyd and top locking nuts.

never dealt with them

I mainly use an Dean USA Razorback but since I am not 18 years old anymore, I cannot carry the fucking Razorback, it is heavy as hell. That was the reason; I was looking for an "usual" guitar, alder or mahogany, lightweight but good sound. I found this Schecter by pure chance, while passing a guitar shop in LA. I never had a Schecter before, because I was always after reverse headstocked Ibanez guitars, V Dean's or explorer ESP guitars. I play guitar since 1992 and this is my first "real" super strat. I had 2 Korean Ibanez super strats before but this Schecter is really something else.

I am really impressed by the overall quality of this monster. It has an incredible sustain, sounds extraordinarily good, all components are very high quality and great workmanship. If there was an ESP name on the headstock, that guitar would easily sell for 2500$.

Go find one and shred.

Mine came in black satin finish. Body is mahogany without any maple topping (red ones have maple top), there is black pearloid binding on the body. Guitar is set 3pc mahogany/rosewood neck, 24 frets, black plastic binding, cross inlays, good quality jumbo frets. Headstock has block Grover tuners, plus a string retainer bar and top locking nuts.

Guitar has very well fitted EMG 81 (bridge) and EMG 85 (neck) active humbuckers, 2 volume knobs and a tone knob. Selector is 3 way. The tremolo unit is an all original Floyd Rose (not a licensed one) and works great.

All hardware is black. To me, guitar looks really cool.

Out of this world. Guitar is definitely made for heavy style music, it handles nearly everything that a metal-head like me could ever wanted. I really don't see a point making comments for these pickups, everybody knows how EMG 81/85 brotherhood can create totally destructive sound and these pickups are really fitted well on the guitar, so they work great. No background garbage at all, very silent and response you get from the pickups is amazing.

Absolutely fantastic sound, supported by very long-live sustain, thanks to set neck construction.

If you like 70's rock or blues or that kinda shit where you will need some moderate pickups, look elsewhere. This guitar is made for heavy metal.

Action was perfect when it came. 12th fret action is still 1.3mm for treble and 1.8mm for bass, I did not change anything because it plays very good. I am really happy with the fast low action on this one. It is not as good as my Jackson soloist but it is OK. Low enough.

Only 2 flaws that I can see and they are both on the neck. 24th fret has a little extra glue and one of the cross inlays is little out of it's place. But honestly they are not big flaws and they don't effect the playability anyway.

Finish is flawless. I am looking at the guitar right now and I cannot see even one flaw on the body.

This is brand new, according to the serial, it is made in 03/07. So, we will see. But overall, it looks like a tank and finish looks good too. Also it has original Floyd Rose so it stays in tune 24/7.

I bought this from Strings And Things. They were very friendly and guitar is under warranty for 1 year...

I am playing since 1991 and honestly, I have never seen an import guitar like this, I am really impressed by the quality and the playability of this Schecter. Workmanship is great.

Sound/sustain is exceptional. Finish is totally flawless. Playability is %99 with very smooth low action. If this guitar had a 'made in USA' stamped, it would easily sell for 2000$.

I give 9/10 because I really did not like the cross inlays, I really don't know why they put thse nasty inlays ona beautiful guitar like this. Plus body binding material could be something else, white/black pearloid is such a bad idea on a black guitar like this.

Good points:
- Good set neck construction and seamless body/neck joint
- Playability of the neck
- High quality frets
- EMG 81/85 active pickups
- Original Floyd Rose tremolo
- Easy access to higher frets

Bad points:
- Body binding material (although binding is flawless, pearloid doesn't look good)
- Cross inlays

Features are already laid out in detail by others. I bought the guitar because I wanted to be able to quickly swap in and out various types of emg pickups using the quick connectors.

Right now I have an HA (alnico single coil) in the neck with the 85 in the bridge. This for me is a much better combination than the 85/81. I couldn't get much of a feel for the 81 but then I am not into metal. HA is GREAT for cleans on this guitar.

I am thinking about setting it up with two single coils H abd HA.

I can get a range of different sounds by using different emg's. The original sound was too heavy metal for me but I knew that going in. As I said my purpose in buying this was to be able to change to a wide variety of emg's.

Good frets and finish. The action was a tad bit high for my tastes but that easily remedied.

Seems pretty solid though the finish scratches easily.

Don't know.

I have been playing for more than 20 years. I play alt-rock, post punk type stuff.

I wish this came with the spc and exg options that give emg pickups a greater range of tones.

This is a really solid well-built guitar for the money and I like the emg's with the quick change connector. It is great to be able to set this up with such a wide range of sounds.

I have to admit to not being crazy about the abalone binding. I bought this on the internet and that was more pronounced than I expected....of course you buy the guitar for sound and quality not primarily for looks.

I would certainly buy this again.