Schecter Ultra III - Vintage Red Reviews

I actually bought this guitar brand new for a fraction of the price in an auction I was fortunate to come across and I am glad I did. This is a wonderful purchase for a guitar and is currently a favorite in my collection but is not for everyone.
PROS:
-Gorgeous instrument
-Bigsby tremolo
-selection combination between the 6 pickups gives you an insane variety when dialing in different tones and sound variations.
-One solid piece so the vibrato you can get out of this is wonderful.

CONS:
-It's on the heavier side which I like but that's not to everyone's liking.
-String changes on on Bugsby system can be a real pain in the but until you learn a system such as involving a capo
-the selector switches for pickups are not toggle switches so trying to switch pickups while playing like I would do on my Strat just isn't feasible.

Overall I highly recommend this guitar, its a gorgeous workhorse for your stage

I bought this solely based on its looks. I had no idea how it would sound. I did read some reviews saying it was heavy and the pickups did not have a lot of output. When I received it, I was pleasantly surprised.

First, the fit and finish is exceptional. I have owned a lot of guitars (Gibson, Fender, Epiphone, Squier, etc.) and I believe the quality of this is the best of all. It needed no setup (thanks in part to Sweetwater)! The neck was straight, the action and intonation as good as it gets, and the Bigsby Vibrato works as it should. The fretwork is nicely done.
The overall appearance is stunning - by far the most beautiful guitar I have ever owned (but that is always a matter of personal taste).

This is a heavy guitar - mine is close to 9 lbs. For comparison, a Gibson Les Paul weighs about that much. That weight is a good thing because there is a lot of sustain not found in some of my other guitars that weigh less. I find this easy to play. Whether seated or standing it fits well against the body, and the action is very fast and smooth. It is also well balanced, with no neck dive as is common on some other guitars.

As others have noted, the output of the pickups is not as high as on other guitars. I find this ironic since Schecter guitars are often associated with heavy metal, but their lineup is diverse, and many models are not designed for heavy metal. The lower output is not a problem since this can be compensated for by amp settings or a stomp box. The 3 pickups can be run either as single coils or as humbuckers. There is a 3 way switch for each pickup that lets you use the pickup as humbucker, single coil, or turned off. This provides a rich combination of tones accessible by changing the position of each switch. It should be noted that the output of a pickup in single coil mode is significantly lower than in humbucker mode.

Other nice features include Grover tuners which, along with a Graph Tech Nut and roller bridge keep this guitar in tune all the time! I also appreciate the linear taper of the volume control.

Dislikes? Access to the 22nd fret could be a bit easier. Hotter pickups would be nice, but to be fair, this retro style guitar tries to imitate the retro sound of some 1950's electrics. The size of this guitar makes it difficult to find a hard case it will fit in. I ended up ordering the expensive Schecter case made specifically for this model.

Overall I love this guitar and give it 5 stars.

This guitar is just plain cool. It's unique, has a versatile range of tones, and always turns heads. It's got a certain kind of bright metalic tone that cuts through a band mix nicely without ever being spikey or harsh. Having independent control of the three pickups and their coil tapping capability gives you tons of tones. It's also very comfortable to play with great ergonomics. This guitar should be more popular due to it's quality, tone and looks. Although one of the great things about this guitar is the fact that it's unique and nobody else has one.

Strats, Teles, and Les Pauls are all great guitars and standards for a reason, but if you want something that looks and sounds a little more unique, grab this.

This is now my go to guitar for playing shows. It's got the range to do anything well, feels good to play, and it looks so cool that people will inevitably come up to you and ask about your guitar. I have "higher end" expensive guitars, but this one gets the most love and attention, from me and the audience. In a nutshell, coolest guitar I have ever owned.

This guitar is awesome!! If you"re looking for something different you can"t beat this. This guitar could be three times the cost for the quality of it.

I bought mine a year ago can't be more pleased.

Tons of tone, comfortable, loves distortion, great clean tones, looks great. I love my ultra 3. Special ordered a Schecter case for it to keep her warm and safe and Sweetwater got it super fast.

I have the older model in vintage white . I am currently lusting after the red one and praying that Schecter doesn't do a Burgundy Mist , Shell Pink or Sea Foam Green anytime soon or I will loose it !

I have no actual complaints about this guitar besides it's weight---this is one serious hefty ,hunnka -hunka plank!
The retro cool pawn shop looks will lure you in and once you start playing you cannot put it down! This axe has 3 slider switches that help you cut a pickup out , coil tap or stick in some nasally out -of-phase flavor to your tunes !
The bigsby is ready and willing to throw down "Rock-a-billy style or get your Surfs Up!
Super cool guitar!

I can imagine guitar geeks sitting around deciding what kind of new guitars to make. The people who came up with this are beautifully crazy. This guitar was risky: retro body, Bigsby, 3 vintage-type pickups that can also do hard rock; high quality wood and electronics. I'll tell you one thing, it works. This guitar is a masterpiece.
It was set up and ready to go out of the box. Smooth playing, great Jazz, Blues and Rock tones. Every detail appears to be perfect. I hated to put it down to go to bed. I have over 30 guitars, from vintage Les Pauls to Strats, and a few Jazz guitars. I also have a Schecter Hellraiser. I love that for hard Rock and Metal, but I was afraid this Ultra would be another guitar like that. It is not, but it does have Schecter quality. You may not like the way a Schecter plays or sounds (if you are wacko), but you CANNOT say a Schecter is not quality. I am very impressed by this guitar and I applaud Schecter. I have never given a guitar a "5" rating, but this guitar is a great value. Well done! Thank you.

If you out this guitar in traditional neck Bridge Humbucker mode- it a beautiful sounding Schecter solid body. It has a great neck and super comfortable body shape. But when you start mixing in the middle pickups, the split coil options for all the the versatility of really GREAT SOUNDING times is remarkable. I'm not a fan of the sound of all three pick ups, engaged together, however. It also seems to lose volume when all three are engaged. Seems like a fair price and the red body carve is CRAAZY

Still in the honeymoon, love the neck especially. The pickups in humbucker mode sound great, weak
in single coil but I don't plan on using that anyway.

One thing that might be an issue is the switch for the bridge pickup needs some fiddling to turn it on in the humbucker mode. Maybe will improve with use.

So far everything else is great.

I bought my Ultra III simply because it looks like a cool guitar and I was impressed by what it had to offer for the price. I was able to find a vintage white one for sale on the Internet and made a good buy on a used one. First of all, it is heavy but I find that it has good balance when I am playing it so I don't really notice how heavy it is. I have a Telecaster, a Gretsch hollowbody, an Epiphone es-135, and a Guild and The Schecter has become my favorite guitar to play at gigs. It can sound like my Telecaster or I can get an excellent rockabilly sound like my Gretsch. The three pickups really offer a wide range of sounds. The neck action is set very low and it plays smoothly with no string buzz. Great guitar for not a lot of money.

Just got mine about a week ago. I was able to snag one of the "demo" models out of the Deal Zone for a great price. I could find no issues with it, it did look like it had been played but that was on the plastic wrap over the pick-guard. The guitar was set up perfectly, good strings etc. etc. The only string sightly flat was the G string, I tuned it to 432 Drop D and found it to be perfectly intonated, no fret buzz, no issues whatsoever. You can not go into the "Major" guitar chain store near my house and pick up any guitar regardless of price and expect to find it in tune or set up properly ever so to get one via Fed Ex and find it ready to play just always blows my mind. This was my 3rd Sweetwater guitar and all of them have been set up perfect. SO on to the actual guitar review. It looks amazing. The Bigsby works very well and the combination of roller bridge, graph nut and locking tuners results in no tuning issues. The neck is very fast, comfy and easy to bend. The pickups for the most part sound quite good. If you play a lot of hard rock like I do the bridge pickup is a bit thin but that's not a big deal. I am giving it 4.5 only because I don't care for the 3 way slider switches, 3 way mini toggle switches would have been much better. The sliders are stiff and a bit of a pain to navigate if you change tones often in the middle of a song. All in all though this is an amazing piece of gear and worth every penny. I have a dozen guitars some are very cheap and some are very, very expensive and this one can easily hold it's own with guitars costing 4 times as much.

First reviewer has it right in every way; it's a tank - in the nicest way. Acquired mine from my son, quite a while after he flung it long distance across a stage during a band practice "conflict". He continued to play it hard and in shows, with a headstock crack going into the neck - played perfectly. I buy it off of him, take it to local luthier for evaluation. He takes all strings off, the headstock just falls off!! He glues it back on - very simple task, near invisible, and it plays like brand new again. No neck adjustment, nothing.

Half a point off only because the bridge pickup has a hard time holding up its responsibilities - have to compensate pretty hard externally. Highly recommend this: substitute with the Seymour Duncan "Seymourized Mini-Humbucker SM-3b" (or some other hot bridge pickup), cut it's selection switch out of the circuit and give it independent control (steal-subst. the tone circuit/knob - the tone control's kinda weak on it anyway).

I returned mine within Sweetwaters 30 day period. I will enplane why below and why I rated it as 1 Strar which means (Just Not Right For Me). My Sweetwater Sales Engineer is Joseph Secu. I like Joe he is friendly and courteous and he will listen to what I have to say even when I just keep talking. He will go to bat for you if there is any kind of problem.
The Schecter Ultra III in Vintage Red is a beautiful guitar. It was like holding Marolin Monroa while I played her. How's that for a rush? I had concerns however. The Bigsby on mine was not articulate and was verry stiff and I could pull it off. I have another guitar with a Bigsby that works much more smootly. While I could pull the handle off if I really pulled up on it, the diffeence was too much. The "Tone" Pot was very weak and try as I might I could maybe hear a difference in tone when I rotated it around it's entire circle of movement. Maybe on the end of the CCW rotation in about 1/4" of rotation there may have been a subtle change in the tone. I was never sure. So these two reasons where my complaints about this instrument.
Too be fair The Schecter is a Metal Shredder as well as possible a Jazz instrument. I can play Metal but I consider it the "Dark Side of the Force" (from Star Wars). I am not into Metal for no other reason except I prefer fresh air and sunshine to midnight grunge parties. That's almost a shame because I can really play Heavy Metal like a demon from hell. It seems to be my forte. Too bad that I am scared of pulling souls out from the wood work as I play Heavy Metal. It's too creepy for me as I am 65 years old.
One other thing. I had sold my Marshall JCM900 and matching JCM900 Lead 1960 A & B Full Stack loaded with Vintage Celestion 30's so I no longer have a rig for Heavy Metal. I forgot all this when I placed my purchase order. MY Bad! Hence I returned my Schecter Ultra IIl. You may love this guitar and have no problem replacing the Tone Pot. Remember it is a "Neck Thru the Body" instrument and the fret board is excellent. The 3 position slider switches look like a good idea in the pictures. I did not like using them, however it's almost impossible to accidentally change the switch position so you won't find yourself playing on the wrong P/U during a riff. Good luck and enjoy yours. -Peter