Schecter E-1 Custom Special Edition Electric Guitar - Vintage Sunburst Reviews

My first experience with Schecter was I think last year when I bought a van nuys , oh my , I was hooked , so I decided to try this guitar and again they hit a home run with this thing , I put a pair of phat cats by Seymour Duncan in it , and between the two I finally hit that clear , old school type tone , thank you Schecter for building a great guitars , and thanks to my sales guy Geoff

Money well spent. $ with the custom hard case. Pick ups capable of dialing in any tone from old school blues,grinding, or blistering hot tones and beautiful cleans. Guitar feels perfectly balanced standing up or sitting. Setup great from Sweetwater. The guitar is pure class with looks to match.

I bought the E-1 when it first came out 6 or 7 years ago, maybe 8, whatever. This guitar is worth every penny. Sounds fantastic and is tuff as nails. Pinch harmonics from hell, and cleans of the gods. My only gripe is the push pull pot. If I wanted a single coil I would have bought one. That is just me though. This guitar makes my Gibson Les Paul feel like a cheap toy. I recommend this guitar to anyone. Shout out to Nich my sales guy.

I bought the E-1 when it first came out 6 or 7 years ago, maybe 8, whatever. This guitar is worth every penny. Sounds fantastic and is tuff as nails. Pinch harmonics from hell, and cleans of the gods. My only gripe is the push pull pot. If I wanted a single coil I would have bought one. That is just me though. This guitar makes my Gibson Les Paul feel like a cheap toy. I recommend this guitar to anyone. Shout out to Nich my sales guy.

The Schecter E-1 Custom "Special Edition VSB" - Vintage Sunburst - is an excellent value! The quality of this South Korean constructed guitar is extremely high - I could detect no significant flaws in fit, finish, or construction. There are dark black spots up and down the ebony fingerboard. My understanding is that this is a natural occurrence and isn't a filler or defect but I don't have a definitive answer as to exactly what these black spots are. The consensus is that it is a naturally occurring thing with some ebony boards but isn't encountered all that often. That being said, the fingerboard is smooth and the spots cannot be felt.
The guitar played easily right out of the box with what I call a "standard" setup. A few minutes with some tools and I had the action low (2/64" & 2.5/64") with no trace of a buzz. The neck was dead straight so I added a little relief via the two-way truss rod. Neck relief is necessary if you really want to get the action as low as possible. I had to provide the allen wrenches to adjust the TonePros bridge and tailpiece because they were not included with my guitar. No case or gigbag. The TKL 4732 gig bag works perfectly.
My guitar is a brand new 2020 copy. It's absolutely loaded with desirable features like the TonePros, Schecter stamped locking tuners, Schecter USA Custom Shop pickups, push/pull tone knob for single coil jangle, compound 3 piece mahogany neck radius (12" to 16"), previously mentioned ebony fingerboard, TUSQ nut, mother of pearl block inlays, white single ply neck binding and SEVEN layers of alternating thin white/black binding topped off with a thicker white protective layer. I don't know if the quilt maple top has any thickness to it or if it's a veneer. It appears to be a two piece Mahogany body.
Be prepared to adjust your fretting hand grip if you're not used to X-Jumbo frets. You can easily play out of tune with a heavy squeeze. I had to soften my grip to play open chords in tune but this may not be an issue for you if you're accustomed to tall wide frets.
My copy weighs in at 9.8 pounds. The weight is nicely distributed and the guitar is very well balanced when on a strap. The body gets thin at the waist (about 1") due to a belly carve that feels great.
Now about the tone: The Sunset Strip/Pasadena pickups are fantastic. The Pasadena in the neck has a dc resistance of 8.4K and the bridge Sunset Strip reads 12.6K. This places them both in the slightly hot PAF category. There's a lot of change with just a little movement of the VOLUME knob. The TONE control works from 1 to about 3 then has a flat response up until 10. Rolling back the volume just a tad gives a hard rock riffing tone and that little roll-up from 8 to 10 saturates the amp significantly more (a Vox AC30S1 in my case) for ringing, singing lead tones. This guitar really sustains a note even with no pedals. The Red Rox by Dawner Prince paired up with a Barber Tone Press worked particularly well but the Friedman Dirty Shirley and Fulltone OCD pedals also sounded killer. I also love the grippy volume and tone knobs.
Check this: you could bring this guitar to a blues jam and sonically fit right in because the tapped (or split?) pickup tone available via the push/pull tone knob is to die for. You can go from roaring beast to delicate flower with the pull of a knob. This guitar is far from being a one-trick pony.
Don't hesitate due to quality or tone concerns - this guitar is excellent and can cover a lot of tonal ground.

Right out of the box this thing is amazing. Beautiful, smooth, fun to play, and the pickups are well balanced for "hot rodded" style output. In the bridge position you"re in riff country, and in the neck position it"s harmonic and smooth. The jumbo frets and locking tuners are a real bonus. The neck is just perfect. Far better instrument than my Les Paul Studio.

I"m smitten.

Shout out to the Sweetwater team for accommodating my neurotic questions and changes to my order.

I just got mine yesterday. Sweetwater is awesome. That's because of the people. Brock provides the best customer service! Anyway, the guitar HELL YEAH. This thing is beautiful, the pictures on the website don't do it justice. The neck is a bit thicker than I am used to, but it plays like butter. It sounds incredible. I read some reviews where people t a liked about the pickups being a little weak. No way. They sound fantastic. The neck pickup with coil split gives me a nice clean tone (pink Floyd). The bridge on the lead channel has plenty of growl (exodus, lamb of god, slayer, etc.) The body contour on the back and the access to the 22nd fret are very nice. This is a top shelf guitar all the way. The brand loyalist snobs are missing out. This is my 1st schecter, it definitely won't be my last!

This thing is extraordinary. I've taken a liking to Explorers these past few years. ESP's and Gibsons are what I've really taken a liking to. The E2's that Gibson made back in the early 80's were a bit out of reach for me because of price and availability. So when I found this Schecter, I was pretty stoked. I was skeptical at the time because I've never owned a Schecter and because all the Schecters I have played, I have not really had good experiences with them. But I don't regret this purchase one bit.

The Pros: The fretwork is great on mine. The inlays are great and the ebony fretboard are really smooth. The binding all the way around is a great touch. Basically the craftsmanship is really great. The pickups are not too hot and not too low, a great medium output set. You can chug on them if need be, or you can get an older crunch type sound with a Marshall. You have a push/pull for single coil type sounds that's usable, strat like sounds. The strap positions allow for a stable position, no neck diving with this guitar. The TUSQ nut is a great add on, I had to do minimal work to get it just right with the bigger strings I use. But straight out of the box, this thing played great with 10's- Low Action with no fret out. The Quilt Maple on it is very good, mine had a great 3D like effect.

Now for the Cons: Most are personal preference. The Schecter Locking Tuners function properly but feel a bit lower quality. The black pickguard functions, but I removed mine because I felt it was a crime to hide the Quilt Maple. The 3 way switch I replaced because mine had gone out within a couple of months. I also changed the switch/orientation around to my liking because I like the switch closer for easy access. Other than that, I have no complaints. Like I said, mostly player preference on my part.

Overall, a really great guitar with really great parts. Is it a Gibson? No it is not, but it is a great alternative with great playability. I would put this on par with the Higher End LTD products. This thing has become my workhorse and go to guitar for grab and go occasions. No question about it.

Purchased a year ago, now finally a review. Great high gain tone. I have it tuned to CGCFAD. Played through an Orange Crush 35RT it growls and grunts like crazy. I don't need any pedal to get a full on Kylesa / Down / Sabbath vibe.
Equally great sound and playability in either down-stroked muted chugging or ringing higher string work. Very easy for large hands.
Beautiful finish. Great looking guitar with the flame/ curly style top. Looks pretty vintage metal, which suits me, I've played since '79. I wanted a dedicated alternate tuning guitar to spice up riff writing. I leave my Les Paul in standard and my Strat with just a D drop.
This guitar is every bit as nice as those guitars.
Sweetwater is Tops in customer service too!

I have NO negative opinions to throw at this guitar. I am simply blown away by this complete package. The features and the quality of the components WOW. I have been jonesing for an Explorer type guitar for quite a while and I seriously can't think of another company out there at pretty much ANY price point that can beat this guitar. I am seriously HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY with my purchase. This is one of the most resonant guitars I have ever played. I may need another HA HA. Maybe when they offer another color that's has the same or similar appointments. This is a monster ROCK and METAL machine and yep I'll be picking some Classic ROCK with it as well and maybe some modern country. LOVE IT. That YOU Jon G.

So I messed around with deciding to order this guitar and decided to pull the trigger. Man what a surprise. On first inspection after taking it out of the box what a beauty. The binding and finish is to die for. What a stunning looking instrument. Killer finish, locking tuners, USA pickups. Plugged it in and wow what a smoking guitar. What was even more amazing is Sweetwater's 55 point inspection. The guitar not only came to me totally set up but even in tune. No other big box store will even take it out of the box let alone make sure it's set up properly. My sales tech Brock Andrews at Sweetwater is the man.

I went back and forth on pulling the trigger on this guitar because I could not find one to play locally. After some on-line research I decided to go for it - and WOW I'm glad I didn't pass on this one. I bought this with the impression I would be used for heavy rock only, but it gives so much more than that. Wonderful sustain, love the neck and this scratched my Explorer itch for half the price. The finish is absolutely gorgeous. The set-up was great and my SW rep, Andrew was very helpful, patient and as always great to work with.

The guitar arrived w/ bad action (for me, action was too high) and faulty toggle switch. Gave it to my tech for a setup and all is good. It stays in tune, plays great, sounds great and looks even better. $ seems to be a lot of $$$ for some of these reviewers but it's really nothing compared to the competition. IMHO it's a steal.

Beautiful guitar, horrible set up..I am very disappointed in the guitars set up, action is way to high, I know its a simple fix but at this price point I expected more.