Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid C-1 FR-S Electric Guitar - Trans Black Burst Reviews

Purchased this beauty after looking for a good backup guitar for my Gibson SG Standard. Including the Sustainiac feature, I have never played a more versatile guitar. I played a gig last night and ended up using this Schecter instead of my Gibson SG for 31 of the 35 songs we played. Switching between pickups completely changes the guitar. I dive bomb like crazy and this thing never goes out of tune. I have said "I love this guitar" to my band mates more that once. Could not be happier with this purchase. Shout out to my Sales Engineer, Sean O'Neil, for the assist in getting this axe in my hands.

The build quality of this guitar is insanely good. No regrets whatsoever.
My one complaint, is the 24 hour wait when it's delivered. That is extremely hard to do when a brand new axe arrives, but it's not worth risking it by being impatient.
My brother purchased a PRS from Guitar Center locally, and had to have every fret removed, and Pleked. If you know anything about PRS guitars, it's that their quality control is extremely good. So I can only assume Guitar Center didn't let the guitar acclimate when they recieved it, causing the fret issue my brother experienced. When I do get another axe, I'll be purchasing it from Sweetwater. Will was my sales engineer; he took plenty of time with me; kept me up to date on the status and just did a great job overall.

I'm a little late on this review, but I was just making another purchase from Sweetwater and saw it in my
Order history. I purchased a Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid C- FRS from them a while back, and I have to say I couldn't be more pleased with the purchase and my experience. First off, my personal Sales Engineer stayed in contact with me during the entire process, and even contacted me a month after I received the guitar to make sure I was happy with purchase. It arrived wishing only a couple days of my order, it was double boxed and packed so well I didn't even need to tune it when it arrived! The setup was perfect, even the intonation a string height were spot on.

As far as the guitar goes, it plays so well and have such good tone that it's revitalized my guitar playing. I have been playing guitar for over 35 years, but still I've found myself so in tune with this exceptional instrument that it's changed my style and how I hold the neck and finger notes. I lose myself in just playing and forget about the strict classical style left hand position I'd ingrained in my playing, and that in itself brought speed and expression that I don't even have to think about.

If I could recommend one guitar to anyone, beginner or advanced player, it would be this guitar!

I've been playing for over 30 years, and this guitar basically smokes anything before it. Once I set it with 9s (came with 10s), it was ready to rock. Great tones (you get that sweet full range in the chords), phenomenal looks, high quality materials, and superb playability. I'm very happy with this guitar, it'll be my #1 for years to come.

I have had this guitar now close to 2 years and I still love it. I dont use the sustaniac really, but just the feel of the neck is still perfect for me. Still says in tune and I only have to occasionally have to tweak the fine tuners just a little. Other than that, this stays in tune still. I have seriously thought of getting a hard tail version also since I don't use the trem very often. I would recommend this guitar to anyone for any style of music. Thanks again Alden for taking good care of me. Sweetwater truly has the best customer service IMO...

The finish is beautiful, the craftsmanship is excellent for this price point, the sound is fantastic. Only a few minor issues (I am very picky) but expected for this price point. There is a slight buzz on the low-E and A strings around the 5-9th frets, but I am working those out. It really isn't an issue. Because I am picky, I am meticulously going through a setup to my own liking, lighter strings (which requires truss rod, bridge and tremolo spring adjustments) and a few other minor setup changes. The guitar is accepting these adjustments just fine and playing like a more expensive guitar. Great buy and the people are Sweetwater are FANTASTIC!

What can I say I totally agree with the previous reviews about this guitar just an all round beast.
Also wanted to give a great shout out to Mitch & Mark for getting me setup and ready to go when I got there and was actually gonna have a couple of things done for the setup and have it shipped to me but they went above and beyond my expectations and got it all done after testing the guitar out and the other items I wanted and put it together with a great price and out the door fully finished and ready to Rock when I got home.
Again thank u Mark Magdich & Mitch Frazier!!
ROCK ON!!

I have been real reluctant to purchase a guitar with out playing it first, after going to store after store and feeling like every guitar I picked off the wall was second at best, and i have had many excursions with nothing but disappointment with this particular prominante guitar store.
Now Being head strung on not buying a guitar with out playing it first, ri reluctantly decided to buy one from sweetwater and to my surprise sweetwater totaly blew me away with the quality of this guitar, I am totally one happy customer and from now you will be my store of choice, thank you sweeterwater for putting some faith back into some of these manufactures! I couldn't ask for anything better in quality and set up straight from the box..thank you very much Andy!!! Sincerely from one very happy customer, William Eads, Anthony Soderlund.

I have owned a lot of guitars in my time and since my wife and I are celebrating a milestone anniversary (25 years) when she asked what I wanted I said I want my dream guitar. I originally looked at the Ibanes Joe Satriani models with the sustaniac but after playing one in a store I was not fond of the neck for my hands. I also tried a PRS and the neck was great but the price was astronomical. There happened to be a Schecter, which I had heard of but had never played, and I loved the neck on that one but the local store only had one without a trem and nothing fun in terms of sustaniac... That is when I found this bad boy!

One of the things that was hard to tell from pics is that the neck actually does have the carbon fiber binding on it, just not the white pinstriping. I absolutely love the way that carbon fiber looks both on the neck and of course on the body and the pin stripe was an added eye-catcher that just completes the entire look. I waited my 24 hours to pull this out of the box and my wife could not believe the smile on my face and she knows she got me the best gift ever. Who needs rings?!!

Anyway, this guitar is a screamer when you want it to be and I was blown away by all the screaming feedback I was able to achieve at will with the sustaniac on... But even more blown away with the quality of that pickup even when the sustaniac is off. I get amazing clean sounds too thanks to that awesome EMG 57 and honestly I think this is the last guitar I will ever need and I could not have picked a better playing, sounding and especially looking model!

I cannot even think of any cons to this model. I guess if I had to be nit picky (no pun intended) it would be that I do need a better place to store my pick because the tuner layout is not what I am used to (3X3) so the pick doesn't go on the headstock as easily as my older guitars with a straight 6 tuner layout but big deal because none of them sounded or played this great!

Shout out to Kenny for throwing in a gig bag and making sure that I got my favorite Dunlop Rev Willy's 009 strings added with full setup. It was just nice to not have to use the 010's it comes with and deal with a setup later. Those Billy Gibbons strings are the best I have ever used too, in case you haven't heard of them or tried them. I used to use GHS boomers but these are even better!

Do not hesitate. If this is in stock, buy it now!

First off, a few words about Logan Miller (Sales Engineer). Last few times I've ordered a guitar, I asked him to make sure they ship it in the case I purchased along with it (once it was separate transaction) and he took care of it for me. This time I forgot! And I'm assuming the fact that this guitar was indeed shipped in the case I ordered with it was probably his doing. Logan has been awesome ever since my very first order with Sweetwater, either by checking in with me by email, text, or phone call, has always made sure everything was good, and even offered advise when I asked about other items I knew little or nothing about. So.... Logan Miller if you see this, thank you for being awesome and making me a pretty much exclusive to Sweetwater customer. You rock, brother. Ok... I waited the 24 hours they recommend on the sticker they slap on the box before opening. It's soooo hard, but I do that anyway. The guitar came ready to play and mostly in tune. E and A were slightly flat. The Floyd Rose 1500 holds it's tuning very well. The neck is very comfortable even though thicker than what has long been my preference (played Ibanez RG for many years)... but it feels great and did not hinder my playing in the least. The EMG 57 in the bridge position is MEAN! This is my first time using a Sustainiac and I admit I've never even used one, so a bit of a learning curve, but it's extremely fun, and you quickly learn all the cool things you can do with it, especially if you're using it along with the Floyd Rose. This guitar is stunning in looks, tone, and playability and probably should be more expensive than it is. I played it for four hours straight, finally put it down long enough to eat something, and then picked it up to play some more. Mine has the transparent black burst finish and has been named Raveness... it's fitting I think. I have included a photo, although my cellphone camera isn't the best by any means. And once again, if Logan is your Sales Engineer, you've struck gold.

If Schecter doubled their price point they would be compared to "higher-end" guitars such as Ibanez prestige.
In other words, I think they do not get the credit they deserve for their quality instruments because of their price-point.
I have owned and sold a lot of guitars in my 35 years of playing. That would include Gibson custom, Ibanez RG Prestige, and many many others. This guitar hangs with the best of them!
This guitar never ever goes out of time. the neck is slightly thicker than I normally like. That is the only area where I prefer Ibanez. I love the Wizard Neck. However, everything else about this is superior. I normally do not play active pickups but when you engage the sustainiac you are off like a rocket. That's what this guitar is built for. I noticed not too many people discuss the 2 different settings of harmonics for the sustainiac. Double the fun!
I will tell you where this applies the best. It's easy to achieve feedback playing in a live setting because everything is pumped up.
But if you are in a home recording studio generally you can't Crank it up like you need to to achieve really good feedback. The sustainiac mimics that very very well. The FR is a perfect marriage for this guitar as well.
I absolutely love the cross inlays. The binding on the headstock and body are fantastic looking. I kind of wish that they would have done the neck profile as well. But then that can create problems with seeing your dots.
If you are reading this to decide whether or not to buy it...
BUY IT!!!

Best guitar I have ever owned. Thank you Sweetwater!!!

I"m very impressed with every aspect of this guitar. I decided that I wanted to try the sustainiac model but had some reservations as most of the supporting videos I reviewed lent toward high gain players. They were all great but, I wasn"t sure how clean and quite the Hybrid C-1 would strum. I found the perfect fit... From clean, deep, drippy, flangy echo to full on "moving walls" with crashing drive and distortion then a fade out to an endless sustain and a Floyd Rose drop. Exhilarating to play, comfortable, great action and easy on the fingers. Cheers to Sweetwater"s sales group and techs. This shipped ground though crazy subzero temperatures yet arrived in perfect tune and intonation. If you are somewhere near the edge of a purchase... do it.

This guitar feels much better than the orifinal C-1 Hellraiser, and the build and sound quality of this guitar is phenomenal. It was delivered pretty much in tune and set up with low action with no fret buzz. For 12 hundred dollars, it's worth every paycheck. 10/10, will be playing this guitar untIl the cows come home.

Let me start with saying, this guitar is very, very, well made, the fit and finish is as good as ANY top guitar brand. It has good weight so you know you have a guitar in your hands, it feels solid, the neck and fret board is smooth and fast, the control nobs/ pots are buttery smooth and once the strings are broken in it stays in tune.

For the price you get one awesome instrument that is capable of all genres of music. It sustains for an amazing amount of time without using the special sustaniac option.

Turn on the sustaniac pu and you now have a whole new guitar playing experience that offers an entire new world of expression capabilities.

I'm so very happy to have this instrument in my line up, in the rhythm position/ neck pu you will find a single coil that has a beautiful open organic tone that sounds spot on clean or overdriven, you'll find the same experience in the lead position as well.

Schecter has proven to me to be quite capable of producing musical instruments and I will be back for more thank you.

As long as you know what you are getting (Floyd Rose, Sustainiac, active pickups), this is a fantastic guitar for the money. Build quality is excellent, tone is great, even using the neck pickup with the sustainac off. I would put the build quality, fit, and finish up against any guitar I have. Tone wise, this guitar loves to scream, though it can do a nice clean tone as well. Really nice for ambient texture. The neck feels incredible, and has a nice satin finish on the back so it is easy to move around. The sustainiac is fun to play, though it takes some getting used to. I honestly have no complaints.
As always, Sweetwater was great to deal with. As a testament to their 55 point inspection (and the quality of the floyd rose), the guitar arrived in tune, intonation was spot on, the action was great. I didn't have to do a thing but play.

I have been playing for 40 years and have owned many guitars. Most have been High end guitars with some economy class mixed in. Let me start by saying this guitar is a dream to play. The Fretboard is so smoothe, that even for a rhythm player you want to shred and and thats exactly what you can do. It is extremely fast and getting to the 24th fret is childs play.
I started out this quest by working with my sales engineer Matt Alexander and he treated me like a guitar god. He listened and pointed my in the direction of this beast and has made the entire purchase a breeze. He listened to what I was wanting and took notes. Telling me plusses and minuses to the sustainiac but assured me that I would be very happy with this guitar and he was sooooooo right. I absolutley love this guitar. I may not be the worlds best speller but you get the point. The entire staff at Sweetwater make the experience a pleasure and ensure repeated business by the way they treat you. In fact, everything I have bought from Matt has been spot on and not one item returned for not living up to expectation.
The Floyd Rose is one of the higher end models and does as described with staying in tune while allowing dives galore.
The sustainiac is a hoot. I havent had any issues with the battery yet because its still new. Most literature says just to make sure you unplug the guitar when not playing to save the battery. No problem there.
The quilted top is absolutely beautiful.
I would say that this guitar is a dream guitar and the fact that it's made in South Korea does not matter a bit. The workmanship is top notch and is comparable to any high end guitar I have seen.
If you are on the fence about this axe, pull the trigger and don't look back. You wont be sorry. It is amazing and so much fun to play. I dont buy guitars with the plan on flipping them and this guitar is a sure fire keeper for me and with the way that it's put together, that will be for a long long time.
Thank you Matt for such awesome service and Sweetwater for having such high quality gear and professional sales engineers.

I am blown away awesome guitar, perfect just what I wanted. I sold a beautiful American Standard stracaster to buy this guitar, and I am fully satisfied. Don't be a gear snob these guitars are way underpriced. My first time with EMG pickups and sustainiac system,love them both. Sweetwater is the way to go two year warranty 55 point check before guitar ships and actual pictures and weight of the guitar your getting. The closest you can get online to a in hand store experience . Don't hesitate!

No buyers remorse here this gutiar is amazing beautifull rich tones fantastic neck not to mention the beauty.i love it i highly recommend Schecter cant be beat for value and quality

The sound, look & feel of this guitar is great. Nice to know you're getting a quality piece of gear at a decent price. New to Floyd rose, so still trying to get setup with minimal tuning issues.