Schecter C1 Elite - Am I crazy??

[JWK]

I played one. I liked it. I don't like 24 fret guitars usually. This sounds good. The neck is OK, not great but OK. It sounds good. It's gaudy and childish. The pickups have to go. It sounds good. It's light and pretty well balanced. It has a TonePro TOM bridge.

I....well I.....just feel.................kind of dirty or something. I can't believe an inexpensive, gaudy Korean guitar could be what I'm looking for right now.

Someone please help me. I could never play this thing out in public. I would wake up the next day feeling like I had gotten really drunk and made a fool of myself. Snobbery?

This will pass; I know it will. Someone tell me the bad things about these guitars. That will help. Please don't let me buy this guitar. Thank you. Thank you all.

 

[KoaFreak]

Ask virtually anyone that is in the know, and they will tell you the recent Korean Schecters give incredible bang/buck. In fact, I bet you could embarrass a few Gibsons with some of them. I have no problem with the Schecters at all, other than a bit of an association with nu-metal in my mind (NOT a good thing for me)and the fact that they are so popular they are becoming a bit overexposed.

In general Korean guitar making skills have gone way up in recent years. I played a Korean Ibanez JS700 guitar with P90s, it freakin rocked and was only $700 MSRP. If you aren't confident enough in your masculinity to play a merely "moderately priced, non USA" guitar, then buy the Schecter as a player and studio instrument. I personally do not give a damn about what people think and play whatever I like.

As for kids or adults that spend their entire (often small) incomes on $4000 PRSs while living in an apartment or with mommy/daddy and driving a '92 Honda, LOL well I've guess they've made their choice. I could afford a very expensive guitar if I wanted one, but I don't mind picking up a great bang/buck guitar at all.

 

[jnavas]

Almost every recent Scheccter I've played has been a great instrument. Those that were a little off were either used or suffering from a high amount of shopwear.

As far as the kids with the 4k prs and the apartment-they may be smarter than all of us homeowners.

 

[gkelm]

Those always catch my eye too, but feel a bit like you do. Go ahead and break the ice for the rest of us.
Greg

 

[Hard2Hear]

I had a C-1 Elite for a little bit. I upgraded the pickups to PRS #7 and it was an excellent guitar. The neck was big, but it was really fast, too. Mine was the amber quilt top and it looked and felt just great. The neck joints on those guitars are just killer. The Schecter is really the only import guitar I would even consider owning again.

H2H

 

[KoaFreak]

Originally posted by jnavas

As far as the kids with the 4k prs and the apartment-they may be smarter than all of us homeowners.

Not really.

 

[GuitslingerTim]

If you like the way the Schecter plays, go to an Ibanez dealer and check out an Ibanez SZ520 or SZ720--you'll be floored at how good the necks feel and how outstanding the setups are--the fact they're Korean built becomes irrelevant once a certain level of quality is reached.

 

[JWK]

The Schecter website claims the body and neck are mahogany. What the hell is "Nato"?

 

[Slipjack]

I played a few Schecter C1 Semi-Hollowbody guitars (page 22 in the Late Spring 2005 M.F. catalog) at some stores. They played VERY nice. If I had the $700 to buy it, it would be on my lap right now. Tone was great, the neck felt o.k., and the piezo system was pretty cool.

You might try one of those before opting for a C1 Elite.

 

[afterosmosis]

I have absolutely no problem with Schecter stuff . I dropped a set of Duncan Pearly Gates pickups in mine (since this picture was taken, that's a C5/Jazz setup), and it's a great player. Been through a lot in 5 years and still holding together well .

 

[afterosmosis]

Originally posted by JWK
The Schecter website claims the body and neck are mahogany. What the hell is "Nato"?

A "cheaper" wood that supposedly sounds and behaves like mahogany. I know the C1+ that I own has a mahogany body and neck, rosewood board, and a maple veneer or photoflame.

 

[Mike Dresch]

Originally posted by JWK
The Schecter website claims the body and neck are mahogany. What the hell is "Nato"?

I believe Nato is an species of mahogany that is plentiful in Asia. Thus the term "Asian Mahogany" is used a lot when describing Nato wood. If that's what they used on my PRS Soapbar SE than I'm ok with it because it's a smoking good sounding guitar (especially after I spent about $140 in pickup, tuner and pot upgrades, total cost on the guitar was still only about $540) . It holds up with my other guitars that cost (literally) thousands more.

 

[aeolian]

Gee, I remember guitar catalogs bragging about using "genuine Phillipine mahogany". As opposed to something from South America or wherever. It's really common on well built boats.

I tried one of these at GC once and had a ball. It had this great "bite" to the sound. Couldn't figure out the controls though. Until the salesman came around and said something about the piezo. That knob that seemed to add bite to either pickup was rolling the piezo in. When I turned the regular pickups off, I could see what was happening. Not really very usefull as an "acoustic" guitar. Maybe in a mix of a band it might sound more like an acoustic than electric. But with overdrive, adding in some of the piezo gave it great response over the top of the humbuckers that I've never heard from a regular guitar. The chime and bite of single coils with the thickness of humbuckers. Pretty fun to play.

 

[afterosmosis]

Originally posted by Gary Ladd
Most of the guitars coming out of Korea & all the guitars coming out of China that say they're Mahogany are made from "Nato", a.k.a. Phillipine Mahogany.

Some people claim that "Nato" is a member of the Mahogany family, but actually it's not...it just looks & sort of sounds like it

Most people could never tell the diff either...how many guitar companies do you think actually ship wood to Korea? LOL

I meant to say supposedly made of mahogany, as I often wondered about the very point you brought up (wood being shipped overseas). Bad time for an omission

 

[aortizjr]

I actually really like my Schecter C1 Elite. I think it feels great and is very well balanced. And I got mine for $400 brand new.

It is not as nice as custom American Made Schecters that I have played, but those are also in the 2K range.

I think of the imports, Schecter is the best. He he, I have 1 American Schecter Avenger 7 string, an Omen-4, a older C-7 korean, and the C-1 Elite. All very solid, have survived countless travels, need minimal setup season to season, and sound great. With new pickups, stellar.

 

[Thelonius]

Although I don't currently own one, I have liked the schecter guitars for a while now. They look nice, and feel extremely nice for their price range. Probably the only bad thing I could say about them is they just don't stand out. Of course when comparing them to a BC Rich, that could be a good thing too.

Hold the fort though, today I got to play a C1-Exotic. WOW that guitar felt nice. It is basically the same as the C1-Elite except it has a flamed maple top and is oil finished for a terrific natural wood finish and feel. It also has upgraded pickups that I would make every attempt to replace before I let it violate my Fargen.

It was a very nice guitar. If it was priced the same as the C1-Elite I would have walked out with it today. Being a couple hundred more, the jury is still in deliberations.

 

[mosesblues]

Bought a Schecter PT Custom (power tele style with Gibson scale) about 2 years ago while visiting a guitar shop in my hometown. I was playing several Gibson USA Les Pauls, and the clerk suggested that if I didn't mind an import - he had this new Schecter that all the guys in the store were digging.

Played it and liked the feel - and bought it. First import electric I have bought since the lawsuit Ibanez models in the late 70's. Once it was shipped home I swapped the pickups and input jack and it is a nice gigging guitar that you don't have to get too worried about. Plus, there is alot of inlay work that looks nice.

The gold hardware finish will begin to wear off within 2-3 months in spots. Once inside the pickup cavities, you'll see alot of excess glue in the neck joint. But, for the money, I can't fault the guitar at all.

Schecter brand management is overly focused on the hardcore thrasher image right now. Works for the youth market, but they probably lose some image credibility with the older players who like to see a sunburst finish.

Hope this is helpful.

Moses

 

[The Basscat]

Since this is my first post here, I apologize for the people I'm about to piss off - but here goes.

In my former life I was a hardwood lumber wholesaler for 25 years. "nato" is a structurallly engineered wood product that is 25% hardwood / 75% bamboo It started its life as flooring planks but over the years has been sold to make furniture parts, musical instrument parts and where ever a stable wood is needed. Of course, what's driving it is $$$ - it's dirt cheap compared to just about any other wood - hard or soft.

I would imagine that the sonic properties or tonally it's somewhat equal to concrete! It's ranking on the Janka Hardness Scale is 2820 - 3000 PSI. Compare that to Hard Rock Maple @ 1450 PSI and African Mahogany @ 830 PSI. Ebony is 3692 PSI - Rosewood is 3280 PSI but remember Ebony and Rosewood are just thin fingerboards

I would guess "nato" is even harder than the graphite necks with double truss rods that wre floating around a few years ago - can't remember who was using them but they were going for stability instead of just cost.

The bottom line IMO? - always go with what sounds good to you - no matter the cost or brand or the fad of the moment. I will say this - you will NEVER have any movement in a "nato" neck.


The Basscat

 

[McCap]

I own a 006 Blackjack which basically a C1 Blackjack with a slightly different bodyshaping (a very cool one , i think). The Blackjack series had SD JB/59 PUs.

What can I say, great rock guitar. Nice middy sound with character, imho. Excellent access to higher frets via the set neck which looks like neck-through.
For that price, great !!

Plus, Schecter builds lots of guitars for us lefties

 

[Mikey2201]

i have the hellraiser w/ floyd and i love it. I would never consider buying one before, but i tried it loved it and bought it.

Schecter makes really nice guitars. I would like to try something from their custom shop