Schecter C-1 XXX

Set neck, bound neck a and body, through body bridge with tune o matic, jumbo frets, dual humbuckers, black finsih and sweet stripper inlays.

I won this guitar on an ebay auction new from a store in Utah. For some reason, this guitar came stock with genuine Seymour Duncans. I bought this after my gibson was stolen. I have to say, I'll never buy another gibson. This guitar smokes. I use Line 6 flextone through a carvin 4x12. Absolutely no complaints on any sound coming from this beast. You want a guitar that sounds as good, if not better than any Gibson, for way cheap, grab one of these. Not sure for those with the duncan designed, but with the real thing, can't sound any better than this. My band plays a mix of metal, funk, alternative and heavy reggae hardcore. Whatever you need, here it is.

Came in a gib bag from salt lake city to Flint Mi. Was in tune and ready to go. No adjustments, nada. Took it out of the bag, plugged it in and played it for the first time on stage and never looked back. Exremely comfortable. Super fast and easily accesible neck. Low action, perfect for what I wanted. Didn't need to do anything with it.

I rock on stage as hard as they come. I have knocked my singer with it multiple times, still in tune, still ragin. Broke one string after about 30 sets. This is the real deal.

I have been playing for 15 years and I have found a new line of guitar that I will solely use. Was a Gibson fan, not anymore. If anyone has any complaints with this ax, throw some seymours in it. Nuff said. If these came stock with the real seymours, it would be all 10's from everyone. If someone stole this guitar, I would break their neck if I found them. Will prolly buy a couple more of these and that is what I'll continue playing on. Thanks for a great guitar Schecter

This guitar features string-thru-body, a set neck, and cool stripper inlays.

The overall sound of the guitar is very good, although I believe that the Duncan Designed pickups do not have a wide enough frequency response, and the guitar is overall very noisy even at moderately low volumes. I think possibly it needs better shielding. I didn't like the setup of a volume knob for each pickup, so I rewired it for one volume, and one tone. I will most likely buy new pickups soon, but not sure which type to get yet.

The action of the guitar was set up too low, in my opinion. I raised the bridge, and adjusted the neck, but still could not quite get a good setup. The main problem I'm having is that due to the extreme angle of the strings over the bridge going thru the body, the tension on the strings is uneven, and extremely high. My fingers are in shreds, even after putting on a lighter gauge. I am now either going to modify the guitar by putting on a tailpiece so I can adjust the tension, or routing it out and putting in a Floyd Rose.
The finish on the guitar and the binding are absolutely perfect. This guitar is physically a work of art. It's a shame I'm going to have to modify it because of the string tension issue.

I have not played live with this guitar yet, but I'm sure that it will do fine once I've finished modifying it. I'll probably eventually change the tuners to some Sperzels. The strap buttons are solid so far, but I will definitely get straplocks soon too. I would not use it without a backup, but that goes for ANY guitar.

I've only contacted the company once, to get the original wiring schematic. Although it was hand drawn, and not very accurate, they did get it to me quickly.

I've been playing for almost 20 years, and own many other guitars. I think this guitar is a fine addition to my collection. Like all my guitars, I'll modify it to my liking. Until I can afford to have them custom built for me, I'll have to keep doing that! The main thing I like about this guitar is it's look, and the inlays, but it's definitely more that just a looker.

I bought the guitar for 489 plus tax. I love the inlays, who wouldn't. It has a nice construction with the set neck. The tone pros locking bridge gives it good sustain. The turners weren't great but I swaped them out for All Parts locking tuners to give it more sustain. The coil tapping is pretty cool but it doesn't make it sound like a true single coil like a strat. It came with stock duncon designs witch I had to change. They sound "ok" and alot better than most stock pick ups but not good enough for me. I switched them out for PRS tremonti pick ups, they sound great. The jumbo frets are good and it has a good black finish to it.

I'm using it on a crate 2x12 combo. It sounds really good. The mahogany body gives it that warm sound to it. It's great for hard rock and metal. Soft rock too with the coil tapping. The clean tones are nice but it sound awesome with distortion.

I like the c-1 shape. it feels nice and the action is better than my gibson sg! It has very easy to play because of it. the finish is great just the typical problems with owning a black guitar, you can't keep it clean! when it is you can use it as a mirror though.

the strap buttons are solid, and nothing is coming loose. I haven't giged with it yet so I'll have to get back to you.

schecter= no customer support. you can't get anything from them. it's like this guitar doesn't exist! You ask them something and they say "I can't find it on the computer" or "are you sure this is the model you have? I can't find anything on it." schecter train your people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm 18 Ive been playing for three years. I teach and I'm in a band. I own a schecter c-1+, a gibson sg, and a les paul, the xxx is clearly my favorite guitar. sounds better and looks cooler. I highly suggest this guitar if you want pro sound and pay less. To get an awesome sound you do have to switch out the pick ups, but that's no big deal considering that it sounds twice as good as my les paul. I don't suggest it to some one who wants to play it out of the box. overall it's an awesome guitar and I love it.

I believe it was made in 2003 based on what I've been told by the salesman and others on the internet. 24 frets. Mahogany body I would guess. 2 volume, 1 tone, coil tap in tone pot controls. Duncan Designed humbucker pickups. TonePros bridge. Grover tuners. I'm guessing that it's based around the Schecter C-1 Plus model as it has the same tone control set-up, and binding. But I think it also has some features of the C-1 Elite such as the scale lenght and color. So therefore I'm basing much of my "guessing" off those 2 models. Why do I have to guess? Because Schecter doesn't list this model anywhere. Nor do they answer email about it! But I digress. It has jumbo frets, rosewood fingerboard and of course those "stripper" inlays and xxx etched into the truss rod cover.

I'm 37 years old. I've been a guitar player for several years but I'm self taught. I've been buying, playing, selling off, and collecting guitars since I was around 21 years old. I know alot of things about electric guitars in particular. Like the way different woods should sound, yadda yadda, etc.. What I know most of all is the way a guitar should sound to each individual. That is that it should sound great (or bad) according to each person based on personal likes and dis-likes. Tone IS very subjective in many ways. Sure we can agree on certain basics of tone, but it doesn't mean two people can agree whether it is what they like, for that is a different matter.

Having said that, I like lots of music styles from jazz to extreme metal.

When I walked into my local Guitar Center and seen it (along with the other Schecters) I was intrigued by the inlays. There I admit it! I had to play it. I had no intention of buying ANY guitar that day. I plugged it in...and I'm usually shy in a guitar store to crank up the amps and annoy anyone but this guitar made ME sound pretty respectable. I played it through what I have at home which is a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4 x 10. Right away the guitar had this lush, deep, rich bass response in bridge humbucker mode. I was taken back by this to be honest. I wasn't expecting that kind of tone. The middle and neck positions sounded warm and deep but I kept going back to the bridge in humbucker mode. Clean and distorted it sounded "alive" and made me keep playing it...loud and proud! heh That's the thing about it is that I kept playing it for the sound.

It sustains out of this world.

I don't like the single coil tones however. Sounded way too "off" for my tastes in single coil. I understand it's not going to sound like a Fender or anything but it didn't sound good regardless to my ears.

All humbucker modes are very usable for a wide range of styles IMO. Although I caution that the neck pickup falls a little short of "woman tone" like a Les Paul can do so well. Still it's got a great sound still just not that "wide" if you will.

I liked most of the tones as you can see but it still had a certain inherent snappiness and bite that I found to sometimes become overbearing after a long while with it. It also isn't the most responsive to subtle playing dynamics like my favorite Tele does so well. Different animal in that regard.

I think this guitar is at the top of it's game as a Metal or hard rock guitar. It excels in fact in this area. Nothing wrong with that I say. I rated it an 7 overall but if your playing metal or hard rock then it gets a 9 easily.

Wow! The action was perfect of the rack at the store. As were all the Schecter guitars I tried so far since then. I did find some small flaws on the edges of the binding in places (black lines, maybe overspray?). The gloss black paint is nearly perfect. Showing no scratches, or other small imperfections. This is awesome on a shiny black object to have no naked eye problems...except for on the binding in places as I noted.

There is some crakling noises when I move around the tone knob. I also noticed that there is alot of roll on the tone knob before it rather suddenly cuts out the highs. I wished it were smoother and offered more subtle goodies throughout the range. Both volumes seemed fine when rolling up and down.

Every other inch of the guitar from all scrutiny appears to me to be mint condition. Strings line up over the pickup polepieces, frets are all set perfectly, nut is cut perfectly, tuning keys work great but MAYBE could be tighter as they turn before catching on.

Oh and those inlays look great with no shoddiness to them around the edges either.

I don't play out live but bang around with friends here and there so I can't really answer that except to say that the guitar while light isn't too too light and feels rigid and sturdy enough to me. Remember I've had many a guitar and have seen ones that have held up and those that didn't for what it's worth. But as with much hardware (volume knobs, input jack, toggle switch) these items tend to loosen over the years. No biggie in the grand scope of things I suppose. That's why the replacement market is out there.


Strap buttons are nicely enlarged to hold a strap without the need for a locking strap.

I think the paint is thick enough to hold up over time very well but it does show surface scratches soon as a pick hits it. Buffs out.

I've emailed Schecter with the expressed desire to know all about this guitar but to no avail...yet. I'm still hoping but will not try again. That's no my job it's theirs. I believe this guitar was only made to be sold at Guitar Center's from what the salesman told me and from what I've seen as to others and that all were purchased from Guitar Center.

Would be nice to know just how limited this thing really is cause after all every guitar is limited in some way. ;-D

I gave them the benefit of the doubt and rated them a 5.

I own and have owned many nice guitars such as Fender Teles (various models), an '82 baseball bat Strat (my first!), G & L Interceptor, a couple Paul Reed Smith's (earlier versions), Gibson SG, 1960 Les Paul, Ibanez JEM's, etc.

What I love about it most would be the tone of the bridge pickup cranking through distortion on my amp. It sustains like crazy, single note solo stuff sounds full and really projects out, and it crushes with it's bottom end in palm muted chugging mode!

What I dislike most about it would be that when holding it and playing anything else I feel less inspired considering all the other cool things like coil tapping and dual independent volume controls should be bringing to my party. It falls way short for my tastes here.

My favorite feature is the inlays by far. But when I first bought it I thought it was gonna be the coil tapping...not!

I wish it had a tremolo but then again it would totally change the sound cause the TonePro bridge really helps make this thing sustain like crazy. Looking at it like that I wouldn't want a trem system.

I can honestly say that this guitar made me buy it when I didn't even want to. Why? Good question considering that I didn't like the single coil tones, or the tone knob's abilities, or the messed up binding. But the reason was that right now I'm in a Metal mood more so than anything else. In this regard the triple X marked the spot...well tone wise it did...but not in regards to the way the guitar felt after...well after I compared it to another guitar a couple days later...

...you see a couple days later I thought it best (since I had a 30 day guarantee) to go back to the store, compare it with some more Schecters. I did. I compared it to a couple C-1 classics (with "real" Duncan pickups), to a couple C-1 Elites, a 006 Elite, a Jerry Horton model, and last but not least a S-1 Elite.

After much playing and having a couple other guys in the store play them for me to listen to from afar it came down to 2 guitars. The XXX and the S-1 Elite in Black Cherry quilt top. I asked the opinion of two of my friends, the salesman, another customer who was playing some righteous metal riffs which guitar sounded and felt best to them. Each one with the exception of one friend thought that while the S-1 Elite certainly looked much better that the XXX sounded a little better and played better.

Now here's the kicker. When I played 'em both I thought the S-1 Elite easily played easier (for my own hands of course and they don't to me right?). My chording fell into place easier on the S-1 Elite as did the whole flow of the neck. It may just be me but the S-1 Elite felt faster and a little thinner. It felt like a Gibson SG neck only better!

The next thing I noticed with MY ears was that while the S-1 Elite suffers some of the same lame single coil tones as the XXX, I found that it's humbucker tones were more creamy and overall much more inspiring in different settings. Where the XXX had more snap and punch, the S-1 Elite had an elusive earthiness and depth about it. The pinch harmonics, playing dynamics, chords, single note scale work overall sounded pleasant and musical while the XXX sounded stiff and "by the numbers" in comparison.

I'm not sure what the XXX Duncan Desinged pickup designation is but in the catalog the S-1 Elite uses Duncan Designed hb 102 pickups. Others use hb 103 and I believe these may be in XXX. I say that thinking that the 103's are a hotter wound pickup than the 102's. I wish Schecter would answer my email as I'm still curious as to the specs on the XXX still.

Here's another VERY important thing I discovered between the two that is important to note. Sitting down with each guitar it is clear that the XXX sits in my lap more comfy. The S-1 elite's short horn barely sits on my lap. BUT standing up with a strap on the S-1 Elite was for me personally a much better fit than the XXX. This may have something to do with the number of frets bein

2003, 24 frets with excellent cut-away. 3 controls. 1 for neck volumn, 1 for overall volumn, and the 1 for tone is a pull-up. Brushed grey knobs. Duncan designed pickups. They sound a little light for the crunch I try to get. I've replaced the pick-ups in my other 3 guitars with Invaders.

It suits the metal I play for now until I replace the bridge pick-up.
I use it with 3 amp set-ups. My 10 watt Marshall practice amp for home, a Hughes & Kettner 212 Warp 7 100 watt Combo for one of my bands and a rack mounted 200 watt Randall for my other band. I use a Digitech RP-100 for practice and with the Warp 7 with cab emulation and the detune effect to add thickness. Almost sounds like a flanger effect. It's very quiet. My rack has the Randall head after a Peavey TubeFex pre-amp, BBE 411 Maximizer, Rocktron Hush Super C, Ross EQ and a Sabine-1602 tuner. It needs a little more crunch out of the box for my sound. it is able to produce a wide variety of tones.

I played this guitar for a few months every time I convinced myself to go in our Guitar Center, it played so smooth. It was set-up well, I lowered the bridge just a little bit when I took mine home. The tuning machines needed to be tightened and I needed to adjust the input jack and volumn knob(but that could've been from the people playing it before I bought it).

It holds up for the most part. i'll be replacing the tuners with Sperzels soon. It comes out of tune pretty easily unless I pay attention to my picking POWER, which is hard to do when I'm rocking...I've replaced the strap buttons on all my guitars with Dunlop strap-locks. I can't do with out them. I'd never play a gig without a back-up.

Played for 21 years, have another Schecter Omen 6, my main guitar is a Kramer Beretta that i've done alot of work on, an early Charvel I don't play much(needs a new neck), and a Heartfield bass. This XXX looks fantastic and plays very well. It feels good when I play. Balanced nicely. I can't wait to replace the bridge pick-up though.

I've owned 5 Schecters over the years but the C-1 series has really impressed me.
As far as features its got it all,set neck,Tone Pros ,solid construction and an excellent finish !
The Duncan designed pickups were good they were a bit thin sounding for my taste so I replaced them with Dimarzios for a fatter more LP sound.

The XXX has simplified things for me I no longer carry 2 Strats and 2 Les Pauls I carry 2 Schecters a XXX and A C1 plus both loaded with Dimarzios w/coil tap so I get both sounds from the same guitar.
I'm currently using a Line 6 Spider II head and cab ,this is a nice rig but it lacks enough bottom end for me thats where the Dimarzios come in ,DP 103 in the neck and Air Zones in the bridge and its perfect.
When I go to the single coil sound in the middle position and crank up the volume on the plexi setting I can get that gritty Ritchie Blackmore sound.
The Humbucker side of the tap is great while I don't get the same bottom end as with my Les Paul I simply add some bass on the Spider and its perfect.
The Sustain is just as good as my Gibsons which is surprising because the XXX is like a feather compared to the LP,must be the Tone Pros .

Perfect Prefect Perfect ! Right out of the box but so was my C1,Schecter sets these bad boys up before they leave the factory and they stay that way.
The finish is perfect and with black guitars you can see the smallest imperfections but not here its flawless !

Never had a problem with any of the Schecters I've owned even the Pick guard assembly I bought in the 80's which is now in my Fender Classic 50's Strat has been in several different Strats over the years and its never failed me.

Schecter is sometimes a bit slow to respond but the few times I've had to contact them the problem was quickly rectified.
Baci in the late 90's they replaced a PT tele for me that had some recurring minor problems,try getting Gibson to do that,LOL !

I have been playing for over 30 years and I own alot of guitars and now I will probably begin to sell off some them.
I have another XXX in the box along with the 2 I am currently using those 3 along with the 2 50's strats and my newest LP standard will stay around the rest will go away,I need the room !
I would definately buy another XXX if mine were lost or stolen .
I love the fact that its a very versatile guitar sound wise and yet its a very light guitar,those Pauls weigh a ton!

2003 Schecter C-1 XXX. Headstock says Diamond series but the other reviews state this as a C-1 so so be it. Great features: dual Seymour Duncan designed humbuckers, 24 frets, painted neck (sanded necks are for self-masturbatory guitar shredders), single-coil tapping pot, tonepros bridge, smooth Grover tuners and AWESOME stripper pearl inlays. I wish I knew the wood type, but after seeing the graphics, I probably wouldn't have cared and bought this guitar anyway.

Sounds fantastic. It conforms to either heavy chunky riffs slung low or played high with leads. The versatility of this guitar is nearly unmatched within ANY price range. The Seymour Duncan designed PUPs sound great. I am contemplating changing them to "real" SDs but am happy with them and the probably small difference in tone would not justify the $$$ to buy and change them. The sound is as rich and full as my Les Paul but I get a clarity in clean and distortion that the Les Paul can't touch. Granted the Les Paul is a bit "darker" sounding, but I play progressive metal and need the clarity of a 5 note chord in heavy distortion whereas the Les Paul gets a bit too muddy. And a good sparkling clean tone is hard to get from a Paul, especially when you can coil tap with the XXX. The clean on the XXX is out of this world!

Was set-up VERY well from the factory, however, it was set according to strings that felt like .009s and when I put on my .012s and tuned down to "C", it fell way out of whack. Which, of course, any guitar would do. So unfortunately, I will have to professionally set it up for my standards. Finish is absolutely immpeccable. I have two other Les Pauls and they have at least one minute flaw and I have not found even the slighest flaw on the XXX yet.

I admit I am a little wary of the reliability of the wood and durability. I baby my guitars in the studio and while rehearsing but play pretty damn hard on my guitars live. The neck is thinner than I like, maybe because I am so used to Les Pauls, but I would have preferred a slightly thicker neck and body. The XXX is VERY light and that's what scares me a bit. Sometimes I feel like I could snap it if it dropped or some other catostrophic live event that maybe a Les Paul could take. But I'll take the chance as this guitar is A) beautiful, B) sounds fantastic and C) is worth every penny I paid. It gets a "7" because I'm a little iffy. In ten years I'll get back to you on it!

NEVER PLAY A GIG WITHOUT A BACKUP!

Haven't needed them so far.

I have been playing for 19 years, and still have a lot to learn, but I do know guitar quality and this thing is a great guitar, except for the apparent "thinness". Easy to play, great sounding and looks killer and the price is very down to earth. Unless it gets stolen or breaks in half for some unforeseen reason, I will own it for the rest of my life. Since I have been playing Les Pauls for years, it took some getting used to. The first week I was about to return it to Guitar Center because I just couldn't get comfortable with the thin neck and body. Nothing wrong about that, just that I like a heavy thick guitar in my hands, especially when playing heavy drop-C chords. But the versatility of GREAT tones and killer looks made me keep playing it until I overcame my aversion to the thinness. I can truly say that this will probably be the first guitar I pick up every time I play.

Great playing guitar. Very light and easy to play. The cut-away and access of the upper frets actually confused me at first since I has so much more access than on my Ibanez (actually went to wrong frets thinking I was at the end). The pickup/switch/tone arrangement is extermely versitile, comparable to much more expensive instruments. Oh yea, the stripper inlays are totally cool and unlike any other guitar I've ever seen!! Standing ovation to who ever thought of that!

This guitar has a tone setting for virtually any style or type of music that you could want. High quality controls, althought one of the volume controls dropped out a couple of times at the stop. I play 80's to current rock/ pop and the pickup combination is excellent for what I play. I did get in touch with JP at the factory and found out that they install Duncan Design (Korean) JB and JB Jazz pickups.

Guitar was set up near perfect, probably the best I've ever purchased. I probably will tweak the intonation a little since we tune down 1/2 step, but it is very close even at that. Pickups were set very well also. No string buzzing, or weird pickup interference, great job Schecter.

Too early to tell but I think the overall construction is excellent. Have noticed finish scraching from my pic but I attribute some of this to the black finish which will show everything. I think the overall construction however is very durable, probably comparable to my 70' Les Paul (that I sadly don't have anymore) with 1/2 the weight.

Called the factory in Burbank CA. After a couple of calls got in touch with JP and he was very helpful in answering my questions. Like anything, persistance is the key.

Have been in bands for 36 years. This is an excellent instrument. I really didn't plan on getting a guitar when I went in the store but after I played this I had to have it. The only thing I would have done differently was I probably would have put on American Duncans (maybe a Duncan Distortion bridge and 59' at the neck) but otherwise would not change a thing.

It has to be a 2003 model. I have to agree with the other reviewer on the specs, except, I don't see where there's a laminate on the top. I appears to be solid mahogany to me. Regardless, she's stunning and the pup's are very hot indeed. I can get from an almost Strat type quack to a nice bluesy crunch on a clean channel. The sustain is out of this world. Top quality construction. The TonePros bridge and Grover tuners speak for themselves.

This is a relatively versatile guitar. It can go from a clean Jazz to a very heavily distorted metal in a second.

I have 7 different amps at the moment, so the amps aren't the question... the guitar is.

The pickups are hot, so they can squeal (undesirable feedback) if you don't watch it! I quickly grabbed a noise gate, so that isn't a problem anymore.

FWIW, pinch harmonics are a breeze on this guitar.

The action was a little off for my tastes, but that's me. It wasn't too far off though. The intonation was only slightly off too, but it was also easily remedied.

The fit and finish of the guitar are siply great. No unsightly blemishes and everthing is where it should be.

I like the shallow heel... let's me make it to that 24th fret with ease.

The finish, although aesthetically pleasing, seems to be somewhat easily scratched. I noticed small scratches appearing just from me examining it. Thet buffed right out and I put a good thick coat of "heavy" polish on it. I haven't had any problems since.

Everything else about this guitar is rock solid. The strap buttons are oversized, so I have no problems there. It'll outlast me.

I've emailed Schecter 3 times in as many weeks to get exact information on this guitar and have yet to receive any reply, other than their cheesy advertisements. I just wanted info on this model, not what some marketing freak wants me to know about some other model. I guess that someone must not be watching, or either they don't want to let out any info on this model??? Hell if I know why, but I would surely love to know more about this guitar from the manufacturer.

I've been playing almost 32 years now and I know enough to be dangerous. I own a ton of gear and that has nothing at all to do with a review of this guitar.

If it were stolen, I would buy another in a heartbeat. I still don't understand the lost guitar thing. If you lose a guitar, then you didn't deserve it in the first place.

I love everything about this guitar... there's nothing to hate about it.

I can't think of anything I would add to it... except maybe replacing the Korean Duncan copies with rean Duncan's! Maybe Schecter should have given me the option of real Duncan's or the Designed ones. I would have paid a little more for the real McCoy.

If you see one... most of you would want one. Be warned though... do not expect any information from Schecter on this model. I don't know why, but I can't get any reply, answer or even a reaction out of them. If I do, I'll post a retraction and gladly share any information I get on this guitar.

I think the first person to review this hit it pretty much on the head it took me a while to figure out that it had the coil splitter which i use all the time now...

The tone is amazing go from incredibly low to earbleeding highs with the stock pickups & pull out the tone knob for the cingle coil response that gives you a very clean & somewhat acoustic sound...

This guitar was perfect when i bought it & it's still perfect pegs are tight frets are smoothe & i tune to drop b so i'm supprised this has held up so well...

The only problem i've had is the strap peg has come loose but i havn't found a guitar that hasn't done that with my playing style being the way it is, but it's a very solid & durrable guitar, dings don't come easy to this guitar, set neck blends nicely with the sound although if i could customize it i'de go with a neck thru...

Havn't really used it, don't plan on it with schecter being the way they are...

I've owned a vintage guitar, an ibanez RG470 an epiphone les paul ltd ed & this is by far my favorite & most used the sound is incredible & the looks can kill, very sleek...this will not be my last schecter by any means, thanx for making such good guitars...