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I love schecters and teles, so mind blown on my part.

Retrothing pickup and a humbucker, could do without honestly. Some Retrothings or p-Rails though and wowowowowow you'd have a sweet guitar. I have no idea if their Diamond Series is higher end for them or not but I've never played a bad Schecter [can't say that for any other brand?]

Double bound? oh yeah


trans wine?

Blocks on some models, would rather have dots personally. I'd probably have to do black over this burst though. Headstock snobs look away.


Does anyone own a Diamond Series Schecter? I see lots of people that like Schecter, but I don't think anyone here owns one except for a Hellcat VI.

lets not forget the Stargazer either!

I don't mind ugly headstocks, usually. I even own an SX tele and don't mind the headstock on it . . .


but that thing is bad. terrible headstock design on a guitar that everything else is designed masterfully.

I've seen these around and played one a while back in a shop. It's one of those Schecters that alot of people would just immediately dismiss as a bog-standard Tele copy, which I guess it is. But it's fucking good. It feels great and the pickups are fantastic. There are two different types I've seen, the one with the filtertron and humbucker and a slightly more "metal" version in black with two Super Rock pickups which are ridiculously good stuff. I think the PT label is from the 80s when they used to be sort of like a Pete Townshend signature when the company had first started.

It's a prime example of taking an established idea, not really fucking around with it too much and just doing it really, really well.

Schecter quality is incredibly surprising. I haven't played many, but I've liked them, and I've only ever read good things.

My Hellcat VI (and purchased, but not arrived Ultra VI) are Diamond Series. If I'm not mistaken, it's a lower, budget range... but, damn, for budget, they're damn good. Fit, finish and construction are incredible; where they skimp is the electronics, which are passable, but not great. Replace the pickups and pots and you have a superbly constructed, great sounding instrument for cheap.
Looking to Wikipedia, Diamond series is just mass produced without any custom options.

portugalwillie wrote:I don't mind ugly headstocks, usually. I even own an SX tele and don't mind the headstock on it . . .


but that thing is bad. terrible headstock design on a guitar that everything else is designed masterfully.

How is it terrible? it keeps the strings in a line, it has their name and model number. Function over form mate. It won't sound any different

It's not terrible at all... is it beautiful? No, it just looks generic.

Haze wrote:

portugalwillie wrote:I don't mind ugly headstocks, usually. I even own an SX tele and don't mind the headstock on it . . .


but that thing is bad. terrible headstock design on a guitar that everything else is designed masterfully.

How is it terrible? it keeps the strings in a line, it has their name and model number. Function over form mate. It won't sound any different

you would rather have dots over blocks but both are equally as functional. I would rather have a headstock that didn't look like piss. The guitars look great but that headstock just looks bad. It doesn't follow the lines of the tele, which is not always a bad thing but it's unimaginative. It looks like they spent about 15 minutes designing it.

you can have functionality AND good looks. For example the G&L headstocks.

moral? if the headstock is shit, don't buy it

Haze wrote:moral? if the headstock is shit, don't buy it

as much as I hate to admit it, I'd be twice as interested in these guitars if it weren't for that headstock. With a $100 SX, I can deal with it. For the price of an actual tele deluxe (I'm guessing on that, I don't actually know what they sell for), it better look decent.

The missus owns a schecter that I think is a diamond series but I can't remember what that means in their model ranking. It plays very well, though I've not heard it through an amp. It's on the right of this photo. I suppose that it actually plays sort of similarly to the Venus pictured.

portugalwillie wrote:

Haze wrote:moral? if the headstock is shit, don't buy it

as much as I hate to admit it, I'd be twice as interested in these guitars if it weren't for that headstock. With a $100 SX, I can deal with it. For the price of an actual tele deluxe (I'm guessing on that, I don't actually know what they sell for), it better look decent.

New these go for $550. Haven't looked at completed ebay listings however. They sell them at Best Buy so I'm thinking what they would be on my discount
Lady Haze loves the C-1 Schecters she's seen. A buddy of mine has a C-1 Classic in a green burst w/ a quilt top and abalone out the wazoo that has incredible workmanship. We're talking PRS and Gibson/Fender Custom Shop levels of quality. High quality woods and finish, quality TOM, Duncan pickups, Grovers... for the price you're getting an instrument that will last a long time. Then again, I feel my telecasters will last forever even if [and I do] beat the shit out of them.

James, the schecters with the vintage style stop tails are awesome, especially the semi hollow bodied ones. I REALLY wish I got on with humbuckers,

Haze wrote:lets not forget the Stargazer either!

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Liek. Maybe even loev? I want to try it out.

James wrote:

Love the Hagstrom I and Coronado in that pic. Very classy!

Schecter have never made anything that stirred any interest in me at all, and this remains true.

Whats your take on these, Tim?
The old Hellcat is awesome - http://www.schecterguitars.com/Vault/63 ... -2005.aspx
and the hellcat VI - http://www.schecterguitars.com/Products ... at-VI.aspx
and some other shapes - http://www.schecterguitars.com/Products ... rsair.aspx
I even like their crazier models but i don't think i would play them - http://www.schecterguitars.com/Products ... Finck.aspx

Not so sure about the need to replace the pickups. Many of the guitars in the Diamond series come with proper Schecter pickups, most of which are far from shoddy. Like I said, the PT Fastback (I think?) comes with some classy pickups that you really wouldn't be mad for changing if you heard them.

My pickup experience is largely with the Hellcat VI It has Duncan Designed mini humbuckers that aren't the best choice for a VI style instrument. Several models use Duncan Designed, which can, all too often, use an upgrade (in general, not commenting on Schecter so much as DD). Sometimes they're just fine though.

I'm all for the Duncan Designed pickups, made to their specs but in Korea so cost is cheaper. I can understand being against a pickup choice for an instrument, I don't think I would like a mini humbucker for a VI style guitar either, but the quality of the pickups themselves is great. Would I prefer a higher quality pickup to a DD? If the sound is there, yes. But I don't be changing them out just because of the make.

I've found Duncan Design pickups kinda hit or miss. It's hard to make a real judgement on them until you try them.
The DD pickups in the Squire Vintage Modified Jazz Bass, for example, sound swank. DDs in my Hellcat are decent, but certainly not optimal. I've played DDs in various Squire and Epiphone models through the years with mixed results. It's certainly not something that would turn me away from trying an instrument, that's for sure.

We'll see how the Duncan Designed FG-101s sound in the Ultra VI when it finally arrives.

The PT Fastback looks pretty sweet. I'm glad that it plays as well as it looks (at least according the the folks who've played it). I own two Schecter basses, both diamond series, and they're really great. The "custom-4" I've got has passive EMGs with an active EQ and the "diamond P" is a full on fender clone but with a humbucker bridge pickup. Both are extremely well put together and have a great feel (although the Diamond P's neck is really really wide).

Aye, I know what you mean about Duncan Designed, but I'm talking about Schecters homegrown pickups. They're actually pretty great and they should probably use them a bit more often. It's just that slapping "Duncan" on a pickup in a factory guitar appears to denote quality.