Schecter Tempest Custom

Mahogany body, rosewood fretboard and set neck
2 duncan designed humbuckers
LP/SG type body
Grover Tuners
24 Frets
1 tone, 2 volume pts, coil taps.

I play this into a blackheart Little Giant Combo with a variety of effects pedals. With the stock pickups it sounds pretty good. The pickups are an imitation of a Duncan JB style pickup and offer very nice cleans and desent overdriven sounds. If the gain gets too high, the pickups do get very muddy. This is something that I have noticed using a variety of amps. Overall, out of the box the guitar will easily produce a good rock, hard rock, and blues tone and will passibly pull off early metal tones. I swapped out the pickups with two SD 59s and since then I've been very happy with the result

The volume nobs are functional and work to clean up the sound without having to mess with your amp settings. The tone nob, however, doesn't do much. There is no noticeable effect on the tone until you roll the nob down to about 2, at which point almost all the treble is cut out. I might swap the tone pot and see if that helps. Oh, I dont really use the coil taps much, but its nice to know that its there.

I bought this second hand, so I can't speak to its origional condition. The neck, along with the rest of the guitar, has almost and identical feel to my epi '57 reissue. The only difference is down at the neck joint the Shecter is much clunkier and, despite the quasi double cutaway, makes reaching the higher frets a bit cumbersom. Could just be my guitar, but lowering the profile at the neck joint would make this vastly more playable. However, despite the fact taht the necks have similar profiles, I find that my shechter plays a little faster than my epi. Might be that I've just done a better job keeping the shecter oiled and clean...who knows. But any way, the neck joint and the tone pot are really my only gripes with the guitar, hence the 8 rating.

The finish is pretty impressive. Even for getting it second hand, i couldn't find any major flaws in the finish. Even the guts of it are well taken care of. Its a beautiful guitar with the added benifit of being something other than an lp or sg. Its also a very comfortable guitar to play. The neck is a tad heavy, but genearlly I'd say its easier to play both sitting and standing thatn an LP.

No issues...the tuners are fantastic; i've never had an issue with it going out of tune. Also, the output jack has stayed securely fastened and I dont see any potential for the tone/volume pots to break any time soon. Its a very solid guitar and has been gigged heavily with no issues.

no idea

Overall, I've been very please with this guitar. For the price, you will get a solid, toneful and reliable axe that deosn't look like what everyone else is playing. Its increadibly versitile and at the price you can probably afford to give it some upgrades. It does have some room for improvement, most of which you can do yourself.

I won't go so far as to say that I've played even many of the guitars in this price range, but the ones I have played don't can't keep up with this. I'd strongly recommend it for anyone needing a good gutiar to gig with or looking to move up from the entry level guitar.

This is not a review.

Although I would like to know if this guitar is only for Metal?
Could it handle Classic Rock, Indie, Modern Rock, Pop Rock?

Would the clean/dirty sound Muddy?

x

* Mahogany/maple body
* 3-piece mahogany/maple neck
* Rosewood fretboard
* 24-3/4" scale
* 22 jumbo frets
* Split crown inlays
* Duncan Designed HB-102 pickups
* Volume/volume/tone controls with coil tapping
* 3-way pickup switch
* TonePros bridge
* Grover tuners
* Multi-ply binding

the one i played at the guitar shop had a crimson red finish, very nice.

this is good for hard rock and heavy metal. i was running this through a peavey valveking 112, and it was just beautiful. metallica, sepultura, riffs are just SCREAMING to get out of this guitar. the cleans sounded alright to me, but i guess they could've been a little better. might've been the amp's problem, not the guitar's.

this thing is dripping with tone. you can use the coil pot to get or lose some gain.

the guitar at the guitar shop was perfect. i fiddled around with it for a solid hour and a half and it was just great. the action was nice, the finish was flawless, the body was immaculate, and it stayed in tune pretty well with a really high turn ratio.

crud, even though i didn't have the money to buy this thing, i'd make it my #1 guitar if i was in a band. i've heard of schecter's legendary quality, so no big deal.

no opinion, i never bought the thing so no need to call.

if you're looking for a great guitar for the money, look no further. looks great, sounds great, plays great, shoot, if you got the money what are you waiting for? i've tried ibanez and ESP-LTD (brand names common to metal musicians) compared to schecter and they just don't stand up to a schecter very well. they feel too fake, but a schecter just feels alive in my hands.

This is a mahogany body with a maple top. Mine is finished in vintage White with chrome hardware. For all the rest of the details you can go to Schecter's website, or read some of the other reviews( Which I suggest).

I play in a Progressive metal/ melodic Metalcore band and this thing rips. I love the sound I get from this guitar. The HB102's aren't bad, but Im an EMG fan so an 81/85 set is in the works. I have gigged this guitar many times and always get complements on its tone, and I play through a crappy Line6 Spider 2 HD 150 Head, the saving grace is the Fender FM4x12 cab. It rocks. All in all I have played numerous guitars in the 500 to 1000 dollar price range, and few instruments even come close.

The action was a little high for me, as I like to really fly across the neck. One little adjustment and this thing became My favorite axe. It is really put together well. When you pick it up it feels solid, not like some other guitars that feel like a stiff breeze would blow them apart.

This guitar is a rock. I have gigged with this guitar many many times, It has been straight from a gig to the studio with no problems at all. I would gig this without a backup without even thinking about it, as unless I broke a string, Im confident that nothing else would give me any trouble. The finish is real strong, I have bumped into things, including my bandmates while getting crazy at shows and their is neither a ding nor scratch to be found.

Never had to deal with them so I have no Idea.

I have had this guitar about 6 months now, and If it were stolen I would hunt down the person who did it and slaughter them and their entire bloodline. I love this guitar. The other guitarist in my band has a Kramer Vanguard Fr404s, with a set of EMG 81/85's in it and this guitar is neck and neck with it as it comes from the factory. This is a solid machine from the get go. Don't let the reviews deter you if you play anything other than punk or emo crap. I have DR hi voltage 52-10 gauge strings on mine and our band plays in c standard tuning and this thing kills. It is perfect for heavy ass metal. All in all A great Rig and I am glad every time I open that case and see it in all its glory.

Mahogany Body with maple top (i think). 2 Duncan designed humbucker pickups. 2 volume and one tone knob. 3 way selector switch. 22 frets. Tap Pu single coil r humbucker sound selecter. Split crown inlays. Set neck. Grover tuners. TonePros Locking bridge system nd all that... check the website for full stats

It suits my music style perfectly as i play all genres and this guitar can play all genres. Im using it with a Marshall MG50 DFX and its fine. Great selection of sounds. People say the pickups are rubbish but i thibk theyre fine but if i had more money i would probably upgrade.

i think its great quality for ??500! well actually it was in the sale for ??400 but the guy at soundcontrol gave me it for ??350. evrythings been fine for me!

this guitar is solid the finnish looks lyk it will last and its good quality. i would gig with it without backup maybe. the strap buttons seem fine just now.

never had to contact the company and soundcontrol gave it a one year guarentee so if anything breaks theyll fix it for free.

ive been playin for quite a while now and have some pretty good gear. if it gt stolen or lost i would buy it again. i love all of it. i have it in crimson red and its sooo nice. its got a classy cream bit round the edge as well. Its alot lyk a les paul kinda.

Mines black with gold hardware, duncan designed pickups and grover tuners. this guitar has an original look. i do not know one other person who has this guitar. i dont use the coil tap on it, but it sounds exactly like single coils. i also plan on switching the humbuckers. they aren't bad, i just want this thing to sound AMAZING since its my only guitar. this guitar has a nice neck, and really cool fretboard inlays. the only downside is that since its black, there is fingerprints all over the thing in ever picture of me onstage!

this thing sounds great! it is in no way thin sounding, nor muffled. i play with a good amount of distortion on original songs, but if im jamming at home, i play anything from third eye blind to escape the fate on this thing. versatile!!

the actions okay, i've never messed with it. i adjusted the pickups to my own liking. someone else said something about tuning to drop d and having that string pop out. they are right! it even happens in standard tuning. you've gotta do something about that, it's happened at every show i've played. its not good when you have to stop playing and snap your string back into place on the bridge. not that big of a deal to fix, though.

this guitar has been my only for well over a year now. i traded an esp ec 50 for it, and i have never regretted it for a second. i changed the strap buttons for the dimarzio straplock system. you can NEVER go wrong with that. the only thing you might want to do when you first get this guitar is take of the nut where you plug the cable in and put some thread lock on it, because otherwise its going to come loose all the time. thats a probelem with alot of guitars though. i would definetly gig this thing with no backup, i have never had ANY problems, except for the string popping off of the bridge. keep your hardware clean because mine got really dirty and the nasty stuff wont come off!

i have never had to have it repaired, but i believe there is a limited lifetime warranty.

i've been playing about four years, and i am not playing through a korg toneworks effects board and a peavey 5150. this thing ROCKS. if this guitar were stolen or lost, i would want another one REALLY bad, because since i've bought it, i can seem to find another guitar that i like as much as i like mine. this schecter will do anything you need it to and its reliable not to mention well built. do yourself a favor and check one out!

Pretty much the same as a les paul with one less tone

This guitar is one of my favorites. I have played many different guitars from les pauls to fender strats and this thing is just as good as any especially for its price. I changed the pickups to seymour duncan 59's so I could get that vintage les paul sound. I play mostly blues and classic rock but this thing can do any style.

From the factory the setup is just ok. But I have a friend at a local music store who can make anything play great and this thing is awsome after he set it up for me.

I had a lot of problems with the electronics to start with so I completely rewired it and now no problems.

Pretty standard rock machine, two humbuckers, 3 way switch, but this has minus one tone knob, and a coil tap. Although I have no use for it with the style i play, it was a pretty cool feature that I have seen very little of since the Gibson Nighthawk was around. (i'm sure PRS has them, but honestly, who can afford that!)

A lot of people spit on these pick-ups. They are Duncan Design, which is the under brand of Seymour Duncan. Think Squier to Fender. But for the genre I play, hardcore/indie/ very Refused rock, it works wonderfully. I ran mine through an Orange AD30htc head and an Orange 2x12 cab, and it was AWESOME! It is not a CRISP sound, and a little muddy, but not so bad that I instantly wanted to change the pickups. In fact, unless i had something better laying around I wouldn't change them.

Action: pretty decent, but you will need to file the saddles down if you play in drop D, that D string won't stay put to save your life! Last gig it popped out 4 times. Unless you play like a statue, this is a problem.
Fit: great, or crap, depending on how hard you move, this guitar gives you guitar burn like NO OTHER! In fact that is why I'm getting rid of it, because I tear up my arm when I want to move around on stage.
Finsh: two words... bullet proof. This finish is solid, and doesn't seem to scratch easily (i.e. your guitar pic )

No problems at all, I've even dropped it a few times. Solid! The tuners are pretty weak though. But if you're out of tune, then you are sunk

n/a, never called them

Overall it is a pretty decent guitar for the money, but I think you can do better if you find something used in that price range. Great sounds, solid body. But it will hurt you, and it will drop tune. And the saddle issue.

The saddles really piss me off, because that would have been very easy to fix on the production level. But hey, what are you going to do?

check out schecters website for them.

My setup goes tempest to planet wave pedal tuner to tremonti wha to maxon od 9 to a single rec with a boss eq in the loop. The tone on this guitar is nice, very thick les paulish territory, I'm not big on the coil tapped tone, but I never really use that anyway so whatever. I have an extra jb bridge and breed neck pickup laying around and to be honest when I bought this I had full intentions of swapping the pups out right away. However I took it to a band practice(metal and hardrock, from GNR to Godsmack to Megadeth) and it sounded fantastic, thick but not muddy, my lead tone is amazing to me, just what I have in my head. And the cleans are crystal. It might be that I'm just playing through pretty good gear but the the pickups are staying in for now. Everyone in the band complemented it's tone.

This is where this guitar really shines. I just got a gig in a local popular metal cover band that pays pretty well. I also have my own original project going(more rock oriented but still heavy). I was going into the store with the idea of buying one really nice high end guitar that could be my number one stage axe. I already have a few charvels, and explorer and a esp, that all play "nice" but aren't really perfect. I tried out some high end prs's les pauls and the such and while some were really gorgeous none really stuck out to me. I saw this tempest on the wall, it was the same build in woods that I wanted, mahogany maple body, mahogany rosewood neck, 24 3/4 inch scale, same control lay out as my explorer, so I figured I'd mess with it for a couple of minutes. I was floored with how well it played! It seriously smoked every other guitar there. I don't know if I got a good one or what but this guitar has the lowest action I've ever played on with out it fretting out or buzzing. Plays waaayyyyy to good for it's price, or any price for that matter. I did put on strap locks but every guitarist that gigs should have them, when are some builders just going to have them stock...

Seems just as sturdy as any other high end guitar I've played, pots aren't scratchy hardware seems reliable. I've only had it for about 4 weeks now, but I don't think it'll let me down. I gig with 4-5 guitars all the time so I can't comment about not having a back up.

no idea

I've been playing 11 years. Have played well over 50-60 shows, some in big clubs and some have been opening for national bands. I have a lot of other nice guitars as stated above, and had other higher end gibsons in the past that ended up getting sold. Bottom line this thing is a keeper. It plays better then any guitar I've ever owend and sounds great. I might still switch the pickups to see if it can even get better, but I'm gonna stick with aint broke dont fix it policy for now. I'm past the honeymoon period with this and am not a schecter fanboy (I was actually kind of biased against them prior to this one) but this is not a great guitar for the money, it's simply just a great guitar.

Vintage white finish, tonepros tune-o-matic bridge with tailpiece, grover tuners, 24.75" scale 3 piece mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard, split crown inlays (think Gibson trapezoids cut in two down the center). Mahogany body, maple top, two humbuckers, two volume control, one tone control, three way switch, coil tap, set neck.

This guitar fits my playing style very well. I play an instrumental post-rock band, along the lines of Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Pelican, Floor, etc. On my own time I like playing anything from BB King to 80's Metallica, John Frusciante, Mastodon, and all points in between.

I'm playing this guitar through an Ernie Ball VP Jr. and Ibanez Tube screamer into a Carvin Legacy half-stack, with a Boss Chorus, Voodoo Lab Tremolo, and Digitech X series digidelay in the effects loop.

The guitar is only noisy on the split coil settings, but that's to be expected from single coils. This guitar is definitely capable of getting the rich, warm tones of a Les Paul, but it suffers a bit due to the stock Duncan Designed HB-102 pickups.

The pickups aren't all that bad, but they definitely aren't all that great either. They sound very muddy and lifeless to me, as I also have a Schecter C-1 with real Duncans, a JB/'59 set which sound much better. I'm sure this guitar will give me just what I'm looking for tonally after I replace the stock pickups.

As for the variety of tones, the neck is warm, deep, and fat, the bridge is warm and full with a good midrange bite. This will only improve with real Duncans. The split coil settings are OK, but nothing amazing.

I was looking for a Les Paul like guitar, and this is the best I could find in my price range. Once the pickups are replaced, I'll be set. Even with the stock pickups, this guitar walks all over an Epiphone Les Paul.

Just for the lame pickups, I'm only giving this guitars sound a 7 for now. If this had come with real Seymour Duncans, I would rate it higher.

The guitar was set up well from the factory, although this is a hard thing to judge since everyone like their guitar set up a little differently. The intonation was spot-on, no fret buzz, straight neck, but the action was a little high for my taste. Not a big deal as I can adjust all of this to my liking.

There are a few minor flaws, all cosmetic. There are a few sloppy spots on the binding, but you have to really look it over to see them. The truss rod cover doesn't fit properly either, it just misses the nut by enough so that it moves around a bit and looks sloppy.

The finish, however, is excellent.

These are pretty small things that I can live with though, chances are no one other than me will ever notice them. It's a mass produced, mid-priced Korean made guitar, so you really can't expect absolute perfection.

It seems pretty solid and reliable, the tone-pros bridge and grover tuners are good hardware and should last a long time. Strap buttons are pretty solid, but I immediately replaced them with Schaller strap locks. I like all of my guitars to have strap locks just in case. I've had bad experiences without them.

I haven't had the guitar long enough to judge its reliability, but Schecters are reliable and well made so I'm not worried. I would use it without a backup if I had to, but it's good to have a backup weather you're playing a $200 Squier or a $4,000 Gibson just because you never know.

Don't know, I've never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for about 14 and a half years. I've tried out countles guitars. Gibson, Fender, Prs, Ibanez, ESP, etc. This is really a great guitar, and a great value. For a guitar between $500-$1,000, Schecter is hard to beat. I love the feel of the neck on this guitar, the 24.75" scale, set neck, mahogany neck and body, maple top, cool inlays, bla blah blah. The only thing I really don't care for are the Duncan Designed pickups, but upgrading to real Seymour Duncans really isn't all that expensive or difficult, so it's not that big of a problem. Overall, I'm giving this guitar an 8.