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I have had my new C-1 FR S Elite for 4 days, and I’m very happy with it. If you’re reading this, you can read or already know the specs. Well, it’s not a list of good specs only on paper, but a crap guitar in reality. Instead, it’s a true, extremely high quality realization of the features listed. When you pick it up, you will feel a solid, but not overly heavy guitar, with a great neck profile that is fast and smooth, but not super thin. The frets are level, the ends are not noticeable while playing because although they are jumbo stainless they are finished properly, the whole way, and the fretboard edge is crisp but not sharp. The Grover tuners seem fine, they are installed properly and there’s no play or cheap feeling to them. The locking nut is perfect and attractive. And the gloss finished matching headstock is not a thick, tacky looking finish, it looks very sharp. The body is satin natural on the back, the woods look and feel like master grade cuts, and the neck “plies” or layers are all perfect uniform thicknesses and all level. The back is contoured very smartly, and is as comfortable as can be. The neck meets up seamlessly with the body as you can see, it is a great design and done perfectly. The top is highly flamed, with 3D figuring that is again, not tacky or overly dramatic. The fade is much prettier than the picture of it on the zZounds product page. The subtle arched top feels great, very classy. The Floyd bridge was level, and seems to be adjusted and travels properly, returns to pitch properly. The fine tuners feel okay, a slight roughness when turning but not resistance. And they are not loose at all. The arm fits pretty good, and there’s a little set screw you can tighten it with. The truss rod wheel is great and turns with no overtight feeling. The gloss on the top I love too, because unlike epiphone les Paul’s and others it is not that thick poured on candy gloss. It’s very nice and has no flaws like checking. It’s thin but beautiful. The fishman humbuckers sound really cool. More on that in a second. The controls are all in recesses, and they are all tight, and they operate smoothly. The switch is very quiet. It’s easy to pull the tone up to select voice 2. This guitar may as well be a core PRS, but with more features. Like the Sustainiac, etc.Now the couple things I had to do. The action of the 11 gauge strings was a bit too high, and I was worried because the guitar wasn’t sustaining very long. The strings were new, seems so. I adjusted the truss rod tighter a bit, and it fixed the string height immediately, and didn’t create buzz, of which there is none anywhere. I saw that the pickups were really close to the strings, so I started lowering them. This first got them to warm/clean up better and sound more versatile. It also increased the sustain greatly. I lowered them just until they sounded correct, and all my worries are gone. I can get great cleans that are fat but pretty, and then move up, all the way through classic and hard rock, to deafening, crushing metal. Although I won’t be going that far often, it’s there. I have to learn to use the sustainiac well, but I can tell you that the neck humbucker is just great, and all 3 positions of the sustainiac produce some killer effects, it’s a lot of fun. Those were the only problems with it, and fixing them was a snap. I ordered the blemished model for 1119, but the only thing I could find were a few super fine scratches around the controls, but you have to have the perfect light to see them. I am grateful for the installment plan, and that I took the leap to buy this Schecter guitar. It’s just not a gimmick, like a cheaper version of a US made guitar. It’s a high quality high class, highly musical, professional level instrument. I am going to cherish it for a long time to come.

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I have been a long time fan of Ibanez Prestige and have tended to stick with them. I had a chance to pickup and play a C1 Platinum at a local guitar shop and was really impressed with the feel and playability and value of it for under a k. I never did go back and pick that up, but I was in the market for something different and saw this one in Evil Twin and took a chance that they would be even better at this price point. I couldn't be any happier with what I received, it exceeded even those expectations. This guitar just feels fantastic, the neck profile is super slippery and solid. The Stainless frets are a real treat. The neck through would be enough for great sustain already, but with the active Fishman and Sustainiac that wouldn't be an issue anyway. I've bought quite a few guitars in the last couple of years and was almost getting jaded to the process, but this is my favorite purchase of the recent lot. Don't let the satin black finish fool you, this thing really pops on stage and on film and has some really super sexy curves that catch the light in all the right ways. I'm getting searing lead tones from it that I previously thought I may have to rethink some of my signal chain to get, the clarity is amazing for chords and harmonics are a breeze. The sustiainiac is just a blast to play around with, eventually at some point I'll figure out how to work it tastefully into my usual playing, but for now if you want some of those really nice, hard to get Joe Satriani dives and the like, you can just switch this on and get 2 octaves up feedback that never ends. Cheating I know, but no one else has to know how the heck you did it lol. Anyway, I fully endorse this guitar and I can't imagine what's not to love. Unless you're strictly a low gain blues type player, You're going to be very happy with this guitar.

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I have been a loyal Ibanez player since I started playing. I ordered an Ibanez Axion Label RG60ALS because I wanted a Sustainiac pickup. I was on the wait list for months!!! I was told they should be in stock at the end of August. I get an email saying that Ibanez discontinued the series. I was super upset!! The only other Ibanez guitar with the Sustainiac system is the Joe Satriani series. They were not my style. I was stumped on what to do. I couldn't believe that Ibanez discontinued the series because they sold so well and had great reviews. I start shopping around and I came across Schecter guitars and it seemed like every single series guitar they made had a model with a Sustainiac system. When I saw this I was like I can't believe that more guitar manufacturers didn't make more models with the Sustainiac system, I did a ton of research on Schecter. I found that they are just as good as Ibanez. I fell in love with a Hellraiser but found out that the C-1 series had thinner necks. I was used to the Ibanez Wizard neck. I took a chance and bought the Schecter C-1 FR S SLS Elite Guitar. IT came and I had the instant WOW factor! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WELL CRAFTED guitar!!! I was instantly in awe! The craftsmanship was second to none. The Swamp Ash body is absolutely gorgeous. The non-stained wood finish was a look I have always wanted. The tone is awesome! I got the black fade burst flamed maple top that is such a beautiful color. I have never owned a neck-through design. I am still smiling at the look and design. The Floyd Rose 1500 is perfectly in tune no matter how many dive bombs I do, this guitar DOES NOT go out of tune. My Ibanez Edge Zero 2 goes out of tune, the Floyd doesn't. The ebony fretboard is beautiful and I glide across it like any other high-end neck I have ever played. The Maple/Walnut/Padauk Multi-ply neck is beautiful. It is just as thin as a Wizard neck. The Sustainiac system is awesome! It is so much fun to use. I would put this guitar up against any Ibanez Prestige series. This guitar is the whole package! Well-built, beautiful colors, and high-quality hardware. The Fishman Fluence Modern sounds amazing! This is my first guitar with an active pickup. I played it both through a solid state and a tube amp and active pickups are made for tube amps hands down. This pickup came alive when I plugged it into my tube amp which is a Peavey classic vtx. If you are thinking about buying a Schecter, BUY IT! I promise you, you will not be disappointed! I am so happy with this guitar.

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Bought both the black fade and antique the Fishman pickups have a great sound very good low end and highs , this sustainiac pickups don't seem to be as sensitive or carry as far as they do on my Gates custom s but still very functional fretboard is absolutely smooth great feeling neck fantastic guitar overall probably my favorite in my collection now..

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I have been playing this guitar now for some time and despite some minor issues, I remain impressed with this instrument. For your info and as an example of my rating, I would rate numerous US-made, Custom Shop Fenders or Gibsons I have played somewhere between 1 and 3 stars. Consequently, giving this South Korea-made guitar 4 stars (overall) clearly reflects an uncommonly high quality of this relatively affordable guitar.Construction, design and intonation:In general, the satin-like finish, design, balance and ergonomics of this guitar are much better-than-average. Its neck’s shape and thickness are very similar (at least I cannot feel any substantial difference) to those found in Ernie Ball Music Man JP models, which I really like, and the accessibility of higher frets in the Evil Twin is – due to its neck-through construction – even better! In addition, the slick, stainless steel frets of Evil Twin are very smooth, with no sharp edges and the ebony-fretboarded, graphite-reinforced, multi-ply maple-walnut-padauk neck plays really well with an incredibly low action and no buzzing. After I changed strings (I prefer the German Optima/Maxima strings) and adjusted the intonation, I was very pleasantly surprised how well this guitar can be intonated. In a nutshell, no matter what type of player you are, the playability of this very fast neck is second to none.Floyd Rose bridge:From my standpoint, one of the big pluses of this guitar is that its Floyd is very user-friendly to installing the EVH D-tuna. (Not all Floyds are so friendly in this regard.) Installing the D-tuna (which involves the elimination of the pitch-increasing function of the Floyd tremolo) is very convenient if you 1) play lots of tunes in drop-D tuning, 2) need to continue playing after you break a string during gigs and 3) want to change strings and tune your guitar VERY QUICKLY, which is close to impossible, if the pitch-increasing function of the Floyd tremolo is not blocked. Indeed, installing the EVH D-tuna in this guitar was one of the easiest out of many D-tuna installs I have done. Electronics cavity:The electronics cavity was only about 80%-painted with the conductive shielding paint and the soldering looked as if done by a 3-year-old, who never had a soldering iron in her/his hands before. When correcting these 2 little problems and unscrewing the pots (so that the control cavity could be fully re-painted to ensure proper shielding), the gentle manipulation resulted in the ground wires literally falling off the volume pot (obviously, the pot was not properly cleaned before soldering or not enough heat was applied, or both), which was not too surprising given the apparent very poor quality of the soldering job. Nevertheless, it was a piece of cake to fix these 2 little problems.Pickups:The sounds of Evil Twin’s pickups played through several different amps are outstanding. The ‘regular sounds’ of the sustainiac pickup in the neck position are somewhat reminiscent of the Seymour Duncan Jazz SH-2N pickup (which is one of my favorite neck pickups) and if you’ve ever played with the sustainiac pickup utilizing its controlled feedback sustain function – then you really never want to play without it! The Fishman Fluence bridge pickup also sounds great, although I probably slightly prefer the Allan Holdsworth KH12B (made by Kiesel) or Steve Stevens Rebel Yell (made by Bare Knuckle) in the bridge position. The guitar has a 3-way blade switch, sustainiac controls, one master volume and one master tone pot, which is “push-pull”, switching between 2 different sounds of the bridge pickup.My rating explanation:So why am I rating this amazing guitar only 4 stars after completing all my minor repairs/modifications described above? If this guitar 1) had an ergonomic scooped arm contour similar to that found in the Ernie Ball Music Man JP6 or JP16 models (this is not meant to imply that playing Evil Twin is somewhat awkward; merely, I wanted to suggest that theoretically and practically, the comfort of playing may be still increased), 2) was slightly lighter (my Evil Twin is 7lbs 6oz, which is definitely not ‘very heavy’, but I personally prefer guitars weighing around 6lbs or less) and 3) had a kill-switch – then undoubtedly, I would rate it ‘5 stars’. Typically, I replace the tone pots, which I never use, with kill-switches; here – if I want to preserve the 2 very useful sounds of the bridge pickup – I will have to acquire a push-pull volume pot to replace the factory-installed pot, before replacing the tone pot with the kill-switch. Of course, there is another possibility – to drill a new hole for the kill-switch.Conclusions:This is one of 10 best guitars I have ever owned; the remaining 9 being incomparably dearer custom-made instruments. Kudos to Schecter for designing such a winner!

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Almost done with the installment plan and having this guitar for almost a year now and feels really good to have this long and will further have in mind seeing this beautiful guitar hang on my wall. I'm a noob guitarist but me don't know. I like playing fast O_o. Just have to learn a few music's. All I listen to is Gojira.

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If I can buy a foreign made guitar of this quality at this price point...well all can I say is I just sold my Fender USA Elite Strat to buy this guitar and it blows the Fender away in every aspect. The Fender was a great guitar mind you but this...this is a step up in quality, sound and versatility for $500 less than I paid for the Fender. This is a rock machine but can be mellow as well. The Fishman pups are excellent and the Sustainiac is sonic bliss! The down side is no case or gig bag is included. That's the only reason I gave a 4 star review. I think if you're dropping over a grand on a guitar they can at least give you a gig bag.

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