Schecter PT Custom

This is an update to my post from 2006, where I said that the Duncan designed pickups were ok. what an idiot.

After playing this guitar for a year, I realized it had no mids, muddied up the bass, and didn't even "buck the hum" all that well. I got a set of real duncan something or others, had them installed, and now I've really got something
I will try not to make this a review of the pickups, but here goes-
They are way hotter than the DD pickups, actually way hotter than I really care to have them. The way they were installed, I can only split the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup unsplit on this guitar is amazing. Split its still not a tele, but my new favorite position is bridge and neck with the bridge split, which is a very pleasant, versatile tone. "Stock with character" is the best way I can describe it.

So the moral of the story is PT custom for $5 hundred something plus better pickups for around $100 (mine were used)= amazing jaw dropping gorgeous guitar with perfect neck that you could do anything except Floyd Rose tricks on for a little over $600. Hell yes I recommend it!
I saw another one on ebay that had some sort of soapbar pickups in it. I'd like to hear that one...

i cant tell what wood it is but its got this mahogany/amber type wood with a quilt top finish. its got tons of mother of pearl all around the outline, volume and tone knobs, trapezoid fret dots, and more on the headstock. It has a telecaster body shape and two gold Semour Duncan pickups and gold hardware. An absolutely stunning guitar

It has a relatively rich sounds. The Duncan pickups just don't do it for me. When distorted it sounds pretty good. I like the tone, but when its clean, its got this irritating bass, and is only somewhat good when you set the switch to treble.

The action on this guitar is pretty average. I've played many guitars with the same action, its just as low as any other guitar. But the pickups are awfully close to the strings. If you don't pick carefully there is a 100% chance your going to scratch the pickups, so you're almost forced to pick between them, depending on how long your arms are. This is NOT guitar for fingerstyle guitarists
And the bridge seems closer in than usual. When i try to mute, my palm ends up hitting the bridge head-on, rather than the strings. It gets pretty annoying, but its easy to fix.

This guitar does look great, and sounds pretty good, so I would use it anywhere. This is a guitar that I plan on keeping for a while so I'm going to try my best to take good care of it. All the hardware is gold, so its pretty obvious that will wear away soon.

I'm only a little kid, at 14 years old. I will say that I am a very exception guitarist for my age. I've been playing for 4 or 5 years and this is not one of the best guitars I have played. Easily the prettiest.
The action is a few millimeters to high. And theres something about the fretboard. I'm not exactly sure what, but it slows me down, and it gets a little annoying. But I can't get over its looks. I've never seen anything like it, but looks aren't anything. I wouldnt get this insured, and if someone stole it, i would probably get a real tele instead. I wouldn't recommend this guitar because generally, it is not a great guitar. But I wouldnt advise you not to buy it because most of it's flaws are fixable.

Described elsewhere, 2 humbuckers, etc., but with extra-fancy trim everywhere; beautiful-LOOKING guitar!

The "Duncan Designed" humbuckers may be the worst sounding humbucking pickups I've ever heard. Scratchy, irritating, unpleasant, unmusical ??? bleccch. It's a shame, too, because it's such a pretty guitar. IF you changed out the pickups, it could be a sweet (and affordable!) instrument, but the pickups ruin it. It might okay "as is" for some applications ??? but none of them would involve playing music.

Stunningly gorgeous, especially at the price. They really went all out to make this a "looker": gold hardware, abalone trim, super-flamey maple top, yummy finish colors, etc. Fit and finish were very good, too. Mine had a slight flaw in the top, but was sold as a "factory 2nd" because of that, hence it was cheap ??? always a plus. The edges of the nut were a little rough as well, but that's a minor and easily-correctible point.

I think you could use this guitar for years ??? if you didn't wind up throwing it across the room first because it sounds so bad. Gold hardware is maybe a tad on the cheap side, but serviceable. Switches and knobs are all fine, good quality. It would be PERFECT to use for posing for band pictures ??? it really LOOKS like a very fancy, expensive guitar. You just can't use it for actually playing music because the pickups are so crappy.

Never tried to get it serviced. Bought as a "2nd" as mentioned, so no warranty.

I've been playing for about 40 years, have owned everything under the sun. If it were stolen, I would hope the theif would have sense enough to change out the pickups. I chose it because it looked like a real "deal" ??? and it would have been, except for the Duncan Designed Humsuckers. Did I mention they sound as sweet as fingernails on a blackboard?

quilted maple on top of mahogony body, telecaster type shape, 3 piece Korean made guitar,maple neck, rosewood fretboard, , seymour duncan designed H-102 pickups, 3 way pickup selector, recessed pots with coil tap providing single coil/humbucker sounds, tone-pros bridge with through body stringing, grover tuners, 22 frets, abalone inlays, abalone binding on neck and headstock, scale length of 24 3/4, 1 volume and 1 tone pot. String spacing is a little bit narrow for my liking, neck shape not as comfortable as fender strat, nor my gibson nighthawk, but definitely playable, good intonation, great string balance, good clarity and well defined sound.

Hmm? Very unusual sound in that it sounds (to me anyways) crappy through a fender deluxe reverb but gives rich sound through my old roland jazz chorus 120. The single coil sounds are much lower in volume output than the humbucker. Schecter has deleted this model, their newer guitars have 24 frets. Very good sustain, through the roland amp it seems to have some kind of mild modulation as though the sound has been processed. It is kind of a joke that Schecter marketed this guitar for metal bangers, it is anything but a metal guitar. Guitar sounds great for appregios (through Roland), guitar wears 10-46 guage comfortably, no apparent dead spots. I have owned this guitar for about a year, neck settled in within a few months. I have had no tuning problems with it. It has no cluck, twang, spank like a strat. People either love or hate the orange pumpkin color. Some call it gorgeous, I am not too crazy about the abalone, under stage lights it is disconcerting to see the glow like some ghost from another planet. Through other tube amps sounds gross, reminds me of a sound you might hear from an entertainer visiting an intensive ward in a hospital. Pots do not have full range in that there are only a few distinct settings.

Well set up, though I had it intonated. No buzzing, no discernible flaws. Store had 3 of these guitars, 2 of them had flaws in the finish but not mine. I am not a big fan of Korean guitars in general but this one is above average.

I have gigged with it many times with no problems. Push/pull single coil/humbucker pot works flawlessly, ditto for pickup selector switch.

crap, Schecter has no contact email address, they use a form on their website which has bugs, inquiries never answered.

I wouldn't buy it again as I prefer my gibson nighthawk which has more lows, more highs, a darker moodier sound that I prefer. I am not a big fan of the P/T custom neck shape, nor the apparent narrow string spacing. Without my roland amp this guitar would not be worth considering. However if you want a polished, refined sound, and have a roland jazz chorus 120 like I do, then I would check it out, ie if you can find one. Unlikely to find this guitar in a guitar store though it is available used. The price is low - I think they were selling for $550 US without case/gig bag. I paid $900CAD including hard shell case which is about $250 more than it it should have been sold for. This partially because I live in Vancouver Canada, the black hole of music with outrageous prices. The same guitar sells on the east coast for approximately $300 less! Also the store where I bought it from , West Coast Music, a very small store, has very high prices, no return policy. I would not recommend buying gear from this place unless you are sure that you are going to keep the instrument.

This guitar's features are described ad nauseum elsewhere on this page. Mine's no different, Honey Amber finish or whatever they call it, made in 2003. They are absolutely gorgeous, stunning, jaw dropping instruments

This is a very good sounding guitar. It has the Duncan Designed pickups in it (and really, they could be made anywhere) and they're not bad.
In single coil mode, it sure doesn't hold a candle to the Fralins in my Tele, but you really wouldn't expect it to. Just on a tangent, if you're wondering if this guitar would work for country, I have seen some smoking country licks come out of some far out guitars, so I don't think it has as much to do with the guitar as the player. But if you had a Tele handy, you would use that I guess (how in the hell did I get on this subject?) or drink beer til it sounds like a Tele.
In humbucker mode, it rocks. This is the first humbucker guitar I've owned, so I'm sure they make better humbuckers, but the difference might be neglible to a guy like me. At any rate, if the pickups are not exactly a 10, then the rest of the guitar must be an 11. Growl, punch, clarity, sustain, you name the "tone word" it's there.
And of course,there's the 6 configurations, so you have the tonal variety thing going on.
Hell yeah!

I couldn't find any glaring finish flaws in this goddess of a guitar. I got it used off of ebay(YEAH EBAY!) And I particularly like her neck.
a couple of things, if you push/pull the coil tap with the thing live, she makes a little noise. Maybe that's something everyone knows and ol' Captain Obvious just discovered.
She doesn't stay in tune any better than anything else I own/have owned, which means I have to tune before I play. I'm still looking for the mythical guitar I don't have to tune, I guess.
But the big one is the input jack. 1952-2006, 54 years of this shit, and we still haven't got that one right? Come on guys!
Still though, I'll periodically tighten an input jack and be happy with the rest of the guitar.

I don't and wouldn't treat this guitar any differenter than I treat the other ones. She's awful pretty, but she ain't just fer lookin' at.
you do need some way to tighten the input jack...
I don't (yet) play in a band, so thats that.
Oh yeah, she's got Schaller straplocks, courtesy of her ex.

ebay is a very helpful place lol

I've been playing for three years left handed (14 years wasted previously trying to play right handed)
I was looking for a "Les Tele" guitar, kind of had my heart set on a G&L (the model name escapes me) but I couldnt be happier that I got this one. I think the G&L has real Duncans, but it also has a Fendery neck as opposed to Schecters Gibsony neck, and I wouldnt have discovered that I love Gibsony necks. I am really in love with this guitar a lot. I play her as much as my MIJ Tele (with the Fralins) and my Washburn Custom Shop supposedly-ordered-for-Paul-Mccartney dreadnaught.
As for buying a Fender "Les Tele," lefties will tell you, forget it. If a lefty wants a Fender, he gets a Taco Tele or Taco Strat, in black, or he pays out the ass. It's a fricking racket.
If it were stolen or lost, I would have hell finding another one, but I would try. True love, doncha know?
Oh, and those Koreans have their shit in a hill. Go Korea!
Does anyone want to hear about my amp? and my pedals? no? ok

I love this guitar. The stock pickups sounded good. I liked the push/pull pot. The tuning machines didn't impress me, but that was about the only thing i didn't like. Just me being picky. Everything else was great. Gorgeous looking guitar.

I loved this guitar's sound when I had the duncan designed pickups in it. It has a fat, full sound. But it can still sound like a strat with a yank on the push/pull pot. Very Versatile. I had EMGs installed in it (81/85), and now it sounds even better.

I bought this guitar off Ebay used. Everything seems to be holding together. There's one minor flaw in the finish. Right around the lower (I guess the only) bout, there is a spot where you the mahogany show through the black cherry finish. Not a big deal. I've seen this on Gibsons.

So far so good. The guitars been through a couple of gigs and has never failed on me.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing guitar for about five years. This is my third electric guitar. My first was a fender standard strat. Then a fender HM Strat (basically and RG made by fender) that I still own. Not much of a comparison. The schecter blows it away. It looks great, plays great, and sounds great. I like this guitar more than many guitars I've played. Not to mention the price. Amazing price for such a nice guitar. I would recommend a schecter to anyone looking for a new guitar. If My PT was stolen, I would definately by another schecter (i don't think they make the PT custom anymore).

This guitar has been described well in other reviews. I have a lefty Honey-Amber finish, gold hardware. It has a phenominal quilted maple cap on top of a mahogany body. Set neck, which is mahogany, also. Two "Duncan Designed" Humbuckers, and in a word, this guitar is stunningly gorgeous, with bound body, neck and headstock, and the binding is the standard, but with a beautiful layer of abalone -- REAL abalone, and the inlays on the fretboard -- Abalone and Mother of Pearl. Unbelievable. Tone and Volume, with a pull switch for coil splitting. Three-way switch, also.

This guitar sounds so good, it gives the player that "natural smile" that just happens when perfection is encountered. It suits all styles of music, from surf to thrash metal. It is played through a Line 6 Spider 212, a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 401, and a Vox 60 Watt Modeling amp. I use a Pod xt and a Digitech 2101 effect box.

There is absolutely nothing to complain about here. The guitar was set up perfectly, with low action and a real fast playing neck. Pickups were adjusted very well, and the stunning quilted maple top was flawless, the gold finish on the hardware looked thick and rich, the finish had no flaws. and remember -- this is a Korean-Built instrument. I would like to meet their luthiers to shake their hands and let them know just how masterful they are...

This guitar is made for playing. It would last, even though I'd have a backup or two. It should, with some cosmetic care, stay beautiful and hearty for a lifetime.

Never used customer support, but they have a full-featured, easily navigated website, which is colorful and friendly.

I own three fenders, a MIM, an american standard and an american deluxe strat, a Les Paul, and a Taylor acoustic. This Schecter PT Custom is at the TOP of my favorite list!

I think that mine is the korean made model, as my local music shop had one for 550.
22 frets
solid top
2 humbuckers
Quilt top
Tone pros bridge
Grover tuners
24 3/4 scale
Came with a bag
Coil tap

Sounds great for my smooth jazz soloing/blues/rock.
Use a peavey classic 50 410
Rich and fat tone from the 2 semouyr duncan desingned humbuckers
All likes, No dislikes

Mine was set up just how I like it Low action and 9's, Plays like butter.
No flaws.
The fininsh Is gorgeous.

I think It will last a long time
Hardware might wear off its gold finish in time, But I willl then replace it I love this guitar so much

This guitar plays like a dream.
The perfect guitar In my opinion.
By the way I own 4 electrics, ! acoustic, and 2 large peavey amps, And this is my favorite out of all of it.

An Update to my 2/24/04 review of this guitar: Upon closer inspection, I found that the body is of 3-piece construction, not 4 as I had originally thought.
Another minor flaw concerns the input jack mounting. While the curve of the body is slightly flattened on the side to mount the input jack ( which is normal on this guitar,) the square mounting plate has a slight curve in it, and so it doesn't fit flush against the body.

2003 Model, made in Korea, 22 frets. Antique Amber finish. Mahogany Tele-style body with a nice book-matched maple top. 3 piece mahogany set neck with rosewood board. 1 volume control, 1 tone control, which you pull to split the coils. Seymour Duncan Design H-102 pick-ups, 3-way toggle selector switch.
Tone-pros bridge, with thru body string mounting. Grover tuners, neck has a 14" radius. Neck is a little fatter than my Fenders, but still has a nice feel. The inlays are triple ply (mop-abalone-mop) crown shaped. Body, neck, and headstock ( also flamed maple) are bound, and body and headstock ( which is also flamed maple) have abalone purfling.
The mahogany pary of the body is of 4 piece construction.

Well, I'm a Fender man, but wanted something with a warmer tone, and that's exactly what I got. The pick-ups sound warm, but still maintain a reasonable amount of clarity. The coil tap feature is very nice, and while the pick-ups aren't single coil bell-like clear, they sound pretty damn good in the single coil mode! Not noisy at all, even in single coil mode. I play a lot of jazz, and this guitar sounds great for this style. You can play rock as well, as this guitar does indeed have a les paul kind of tone to it. The bridge pick-up does have a noticeable mid range sound to it, and it blends in well with the neck pick-up. Hey, sound is very subjective anyway, it's really all about what you like.

O.k., here we go. I have sharp vision, and can find a flaw in any guitar, if it exists. The guitar was set up perfectly when I got it, In fact when I checked the relief, I was surprised to find that no adjustment was necessary! WOW! The action was just as I like it, medium. A very nice book-matched maple top. While the claim it's supposed to be curly maple, mine looks more loke flame than curly. Anyway, I didn't expect it to look like the curly maple top that the Schecter website shows, which is absolutely gorgeous. The binding and purfling were both perfectly done. Fretwork is outstanding, especially for a guitar in this price range.The nut was well cut, as the strings aren't buried deep in the slots.
The Flaws: well, when I plug it in, it was as if the tone control was on full, and everything sounded muddy, even using the coil-tap. I played with it, and then it started working properly, then started farting out again. Well, nothing is simpler than guitar electronics, and I took off the control cavity cover, and squirted contact cleaner in the tone pot. Problem solved! I won't deduct points for this, since moisture and dirt can affect any guitar, and is an easy fix.
The control cavity cover doesn't fit very snuggly, as there is about a 1/16" gap on one side. A minor flaw.

I found one very small "pock" mark in the clear coat on the front of the guitar, and one on the back. You really have to look to find these. There were a couple of small nicks in the clear coat by the control cavity cover. Also, by an edge of the heel of the neck, it looks as if either a very small spot was either buffed to much, or not enough. Being so small and on the edge, it's no big deal.

My main gripe is with the inlays on the neck. The materials are nice ( mother-of pearl and abalone) but the fit isn't that good. I can see the gaps, which are then filled in with some sort of dark synthetic material. I put the quality of the in-lays, on par with an Epiphone gold-top Les Paul I had a few years ago, which also had noticeable filler. Also, one of the in-lays isn't cut perfectly, and one side slants instead of being straight.
The gold plating on the tuners ( the part that comes in contact with your fingers) looks thin in some spots, and year can see metal that wasn't plated.
Having bought this guitar on-line, it's possible that this is a guitar that someone else had and returned, and that might explain some of the flaws.
I would give the set-up and fret work on this guitar a 10, and cosmetics I would give a 7.

I'm sure the guitar is as durable as any set neck guitar. I know the gold will wear in a short time, but the Grover Tuners, Tone-Pros Bridge, and Duncan-Pick-ups are certainly as durable as anything out there. I'd depend on this guitar. AS I've only had this guitar a few days, I won't give it an official rating for this category, but unofficially, I'd give it a 9.

I've been playing guitar for over 30 years, and I own a Fat Tele, and a Stratocaster. I have owned more guitars over the years than I can count. If it were lost or stolen, I definitely would get a replacement. From the 1st time I played it, the guitar felt just right, as if I had been palying it a long time. It's very light in weight. My only real complaint is about the gold hardware. I know it's going to wear. It would be nice if the used gold anodized hardware instead, so wear wouldn't be such a big problem. I compared this guitar with an ESP LTD H-202, which had the same pick-ups. That guitar had quality control issues, and I returned 2 of them. I payed a little more for this guitar, but I got top of the line hardware and a set neck for the extra money. Definitely worth it.Again, the best thing I like about the guitar is the feel of it, it plays GREAT!

My guitar is a 2003 model, made in Korea. It is a maple top, mahogany back solid body, with mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. It has 22 frets, with abalone/MOP inlays, to match the abalone binding on the body and headstock, both of which are finished in Transparent Honey. It has a Les Paul scale length of 24.5". The "duncan designed" pickups are dual humbuckers, with a 3-way selector, a single volume and single tone control, and a push/pull tone pot, which cuts the pickups to single coil. It has gold hardware, including Grover tuners, Tonepros bridge and string through body ferrules. The incredible tubular quilted maple top is a telecaster shape. The neck is solid with some diameter to it, but not a big baseball bat. Very comfortable, with enough meat to not be anemic.

The neck is fast and comfortable. It is close to a Tom Anderson Cobra standard neck. The nut width may be a little smaller, but the shape of the neck is about right. The width of the nut and size of the fretboard seem a little smaller than my TA Hollow T, and the radius certainly is a larger diameter, but not huge. I found it comfortable, and it matched my recollection of the Cobra neck shape. Strings are easy to bend, it holds tune and intonated perfectly. It weighs more than my Alder Hollow T, which is about 6 pounds (featherweight). It is not as heavy as a Les Paul by any means. If my memory is reasonable, I think it weighs between a Hollow Cobra and a Cobra, around 8 pounds is my guess.

I would love to have a separate volume control for each pickup, and that is about the only thing missing in the way of features. Buzz Feiten tuning system would be nice, but considering the price point of the guitar, they had to cut costs somewhere. They chose tonepros bridge and Grover pegs, which also are high quality.

Basically, this is like a Tom Anderson Cobra, a Les Paul style guitar with a telecaster shaped body.

I bought the optional hardshell case, which is a plastic ABS type case, which won't hold up in gigging and touring situations.

For a tele style Les Paul, the added features of coil taps and tonepros bridge, outweigh the lack of a second volume control, so I will give it a 10 in this category.

I was looking for a Les Paul type guitar, a maple/mahogany solidbody with dual humbuckers. I play Andersons, and would have liked a TA Cobra. However, I didn't have the extra cash around for one. My main guitar is a TA Hollow T Classic played through a Mesa Boogie Road King head and pair of 2x12 cabinets, with a Lexicon MPX-200 and Korg rackmount tuner completing the FX set up. I read the March '03 Guitar Player review of this guitar, and the PT Custom came across as close to a Cobra as you can get at a quarter of the price. So, I decided to give it a try.

These Duncan Designed pickups are hotter than stock SD PAF style pickups. We A/B'd them with a guitar with a '59 in the neck and a JB in the bridge. The neck pickup was full and rich, but not muddy and overly deep. The bridge pickup had a good bite to it, plenty of midrange and treble sizzle. This is a rocker, no doubt, but not a metal machine. It has good punch and bite to it. I would estimate it is on the slightly "bright" side of a Les Paul, which to me is a good thing. ZZ Top sounds come to mind. I was very pleased with the coil split push/pull. Certainly, the split humbuckers aren't Fender single coils, but the sounds were good and very usable and slinky. I was having a lot of fun playing little funk patterns, ska rhythms and chicken pickin' squeezes and runs with the coils split. I have no illusions that this is a Fender, but the split sounds were darn good and certainly usable. I like having the three extra sounds that the coil split push/pull adds. The pickups are silent as humbuckers; with the coils split they have appropriate hum, but nothing out of th ordinary. The tapped pickups are a really nice additional set of sounds that make the guitar very versatile.

As to playability, my wife asked if it was a hollowbody when I was strumming it unamplified. It resonates and is fully of sustain and distinct note clarity when not plugged in. I tapped the top to see if it had hollow chambers as it sure sounded too loud and good to be a solid body, but it is solid. It sounded very good not even plugged in.

I have a natural bias that custom made American guitars are the height of quality. My last several guitars have been Andersons, Bakers, McInturff, and PRS. I did buy a Korean made Washburn HB-35 (ES-335 clone) which blew me away with its quality and construction, so I figured I would take another chance on this Korean made solidbody.

It amazes me the quality that can be had in this price range (list $925, $640 out the door delivered with hard case). Clearly, the Koreans have upped the ante. This guitar is comparable in overall construction to all my high end custom shop American guitars. The differences are in some very minute details and cosmetics, as opposed to overall construction. I guess I would say that if Anderson sold a "factory second" Cobra guitar with slight cosmetic blemishes, this Schecter would be one of those. In my experience the construction and quality is much better than anything Fender or Gibson is making in the US, in prices from $750 to $2500. I really wanted to be able to say "it is well made for the money and considering it is made in Korea" but the fact of the matter is that it is well made by any standard and could easily be priced at $1500-$2000 and be a fair value.

It looked like the back was a single piece of mahogany. A very nice piece at that. I knew intellectually that it couldn't be, so I spent a long time looking for the seams. I did find them eventually, but it is so well book matched and glued that the seams are hard to find. One of the ways they save money is that it is a 4 piece back. Nonetheless. the construction is superb and this seems to have no effect on resonance, sustain or sound (discussed above). The maple top is damn near perfectly book matched. It sure looks like they used a quarter sawn top and used the two halves to book match, as opposed to different pieces of wood. Impressive. They spent money on the important stuff- tonepros bridge, Grover tuners. The control cavity is very clean, well shielded, well soldered, a perfect fit on the cover plate. They saved a little money by making a slight "straight cut" where the output jack is, rather than keeping the curve of the body. That way, the jack plate is flat rather than curved. There is no belly contour cut, so it is a "slab" back like a traditional Tele. Minor design decisions which probably are labor and cost savings. The neck is straight, the bound fretboard is very clean. The frets are well shaped and rounded and the edges smooth. Very clean fretwork, very playable. Nice!!!! Mahogany neck , continuing up to the headstock with the same wood, so they didn't glue a separate headstock onto the neck. Again, quality construction. No filler in the neck inlays, and they are well set and aligned. The neck joint is great. It is a set neck not a bolt on. I would have expected for this price range not to get this type of construction quality and choices.

What are the flaws? Well, I found that there was a tiny indent near one of the string ferrules on the back, like someone slipped with a small file slightly. Very tiny, very insignificant. Likewise, I found one tiny spot where the abalone purfling meets the creme body binding which isn't as smooth as everywhere else. It seems like they missed a final sanding before finishing in that one small spot. Very minute, maybe 1/16" or so at most. I found a very tiny spot on the binding of the neck up near the 20th fret, where the stain from the finish of the body spilled just onto the edge of the neck binding. Again 1/16" maybe. I admit it, you have to be anal retentive with a magnifying glass to find these things, and I expect damn near any high end guitar has one or two miniscule little niggles like these if you look close enough. But, I was hell bound to find something to criticize.

I can reach no other conclusion that the Koreans have incorporated CNC construction quality with attention to detail

This guitar is solid and will withstand live playing. I have been playing live for 20+ years,and have owned most major and custom shop brand guitars. This baby is tough. The hardware will last, but I predict the finish on the pickups will wear off. The strap buttons are the oversized kind, that make putting a strap on very very hard, but make it nearly impossible to lose a strap on stage.

You could play this guitar without a backup, but I use several different guitars on stage and always have extras no matter what.

I believe the guitar has a limited lifetime warranty. I have never owned a Schecter product, so I have no idea how they will be if I need them. I did get a letter and email after sending in the warranty card, which was nice customer service, but I don't know about support in a problem situation.

I've been playing for over 30 years, and performing live and in the studio for 25 or so of those. I own an Anderson Hollow T, a Washburn HB-35, Taylor K20-c, custom built Wingert Model FVC acoustic. Over the years, I have owned Baker, PRS, several Anderson Drop Tops and Cobras, McInturff, Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, vintage Epiphone, etc... I have played Mesa Boogie amps exclusively for over 20 years, and switched a year ago from a Mark IV to a Road King. I think I am a pretty good judge of quality and musical gear.

I would have loved an Anderson Cobra. This guitar is a third of the price of a used Cobra and damn near every bit as good in most respects. Plus, it has cosmetic sex appeal, with the abalone inlay and binding, the great quilt top, etc.... It is everything I wanted in a dual hum maple/mahog guitar, and a fraction of what I expected to have to spend for top flight quality. I would replace it in a hearbeat if lost or stolen.

I have been corresponding with a guitar player in Florida for a while, as we both are Anderson players and were both looking for a Cobra. He collects vintage Fenders and Gibsons and Andersons. he bought a Cobra about the same time as I bought this Schecter. I wrote a review of the Schecter in an email, saying many of the things I said in this review. Based on my comments, he bought one online from Musicians Friend, sight unseen. Scared the hell out of me that he would disagree with my assessment. He got it last week and gigged with it this weekend. he wrote to me today and said, "I think you pretty much covered everything about the Schecter in your
review. A good quality instrument at a great price. Hard to believe they can make a guitar that nice for under $550." I think that pretty much sums it up. If you are looking for this type of guitar, the PT Custom is flat out a total bargain and a great guitar at any price.

This guitar is new for 2003. It is a Korean-made guitar with a tele body and a Les Paul sound.

Body CONSTRUCTION:
Set-Neck

BODY:
Mahogany w/Quilted Maple

NECK:
3pc Mahogany

FINGERBOARD:
Rosewood

FRETS:
22 Jumbo

SCALE:
24 1/2"

INLAYS:
3 Ply Crown

BRIDGE:
TonePros w/Thru Bocy
BINDING:
Abalone

TUNERS:
Grover

HARDWARE:
Gold

PICKUPS:
Duncan Design HB102

ELECTRONICS:
Vol / Tone / 3-way

FINISHES:
Transparent Honey (HNY), Antique Amber (ANTQ)
CASE:
SGR-1C

I play jazz, rock, blues, and classical and this instrument will handle it all. I play this through a few different Crates and a TubeWorks 7100 and I consistently get a full, balanced, rich sound. I would recommend this instrument over a Epi LP for its sound and versatility. The only thing that bugs me is that the gold finish on the pickup shield has faded after only 3 weeks. I've learned that this is the case with most gold pickup shields, so it is no big deal.

The factory setup was close to flawless. It came with 10s, but I put 11s on it, took some relief out of the neck, and raised the action a bit. Perfect sound! The finish is amazing. The antique amber is stunning, and even the headstock matches the body finish.

I've only had it 3 weeks, but it has been incredibly dependable.

No need.

If it were stolen I'd buy another one. Actually I might even try a different Schecter.