New Schecter Day

MetalHeadMike

Well-known member
Picked this up the other day:

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It's the 2nd guitar I've had with a Wenge fretboard, and I think it imparts a wicked aggressive midrange on the tone. I expected a sub-par guitar, but this really surprised me. Heck of a lot of guitar for the $$$.
 
So fuckin GREEEEEEEN dood.......really dig it. I like this headstock a lot too, much more aesthetically pleasing than a lot of their other offerings.

Good score, HNGD!
 
Thank you sir! The green goblin hahahah! I went way outside my comfort zone on the color for this one. Not a green guy really, but I have to say it's a wicked cool color. It's a crazy bright and articulate tone. Never thought I'd play something I thought was too aggressive, but this apocalypse bridge might be too much. Gonna tweak a bit, but I'm curious what an A-pig would do for this guitar cause it seems to lack a little low end. Very very tight midrange focused tone.
 
Very nice!!

Yours is pretty light colored, with a lot of figuring. I like it. I actually went to GC today, and saw the green one, and charcoal one. The green one was awful. It was super dark, the outside was black and not blue, and there was hardly any figuring, other than one spot where it looked like someone sneezed on it. The neck felt rough, and one of the knobs was falling off. I wasn't impressed.

I thought the charcoal one was awesome looking though. It had a lot of figuring, and felt smooth, and overall just felt higher quality compared to the green one. I decided to grab it while I was there. I added a couple of crappy pictures.

Yes, definitely an aggressive mid focused tone. The neck is tiny, and seems thinner than my Banshee. Plays very fast. I am working on new strings, and adjusting it to my preferences.
 

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Steinmetzify":2a4a3oe4 said:
So fuckin GREEEEEEEN dood.......really dig it. I like this headstock a lot too, much more aesthetically pleasing than a lot of their other offerings.

Good score, HNGD!

The headstock is cooler in person. It is actually beveled on the top of it, so there is more 3D depth to it than it looks in pictures, and matches the contours of the body well. I am not sure if you can see it here, but it looks nice in person.
 

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Shask":1ribyl1w said:
Very nice!!

Yours is pretty light colored, with a lot of figuring. I like it. I actually went to GC today, and saw the green one, and charcoal one. The green one was awful. It was super dark, the outside was black and not blue, and there was hardly any figuring, other than one spot where it looked like someone sneezed on it. The neck felt rough, and one of the knobs was falling off. I wasn't impressed.

I thought the charcoal one was awesome looking though. It had a lot of figuring, and felt smooth, and overall just felt higher quality compared to the green one. I decided to grab it while I was there. I added a couple of crappy pictures.

Yes, definitely an aggressive mid focused tone. The neck is tiny, and seems thinner than my Banshee. Plays very fast. I am working on new strings, and adjusting it to my preferences.

Very Nice!

I agree, tiny is how I'd describe the neck.

I honestly expected I'd box it back up shortly after unpacking it, but to my surprise it's a pretty damn good guitar; especially for $599 ;) Shit, IMO this would be a great guitar even for $1300-$1400. I usually absolutely hate bound fretboards, but this one is actually really really nice; bound with wood not plastic :thumbsup: The fretwork is impressive, and the neck pocket/bolt system seems super tight and stable. It's really cool that it came with a tusk nut and not the typical cheapo plastic. The bridge seems pretty solid too.
 
Congrats! I’ve had some Basses with wenge fretboards and was very impressed with the feel of it. Nice to see it showing up in guitars too.
 
Guitars from that particular Korean factory are all very good: Schecter, PRS SE, ESP LTD, Chapman, Agile, and others like the legendary Tokai S-types. They have quite a history with some excellent craftspeople. My ~$300 Agile ST-625EB could easily go for 2~3x what I paid -- all solid woods, parts and fret work.

Wenge is an excellent neck or FB wood with a tone like Ebony and smooth feel. The only thing about it is it tends to smell literally like crap as it absorbs sweat. I'd take a preventative measure to seal it right away. I'd try Tung Oil or similar, and clean it every string change with something like Murphy's Oil Soap or Howard Feed-N-Wax. I use the later on my porous necks and FB's. It only takes a few minutes, but you may need a small brush to get inside the large pores. Could be messy, but might be worth it. The orange oil penetrates and cleans, while the beeswax seals and leaves a velvety feel that doesn't get tacky due to the orange oil keeping it viscous.

I don't know what an A-Pig is, but the result of all those hard & dense woods, thick Stainless saddles, and high Inductance Fe core pickups makes for a midrangy guitar. If splitting the pickups to parallel mode doesn't do it for you, you could try wiring a ~$35 Wilde 'Q-Filter' onto a P/P pot. The passive LCR circuit functions as a tone knob above ~5, but dips the midrange and increases the peak freq without affecting bass as you turn the knob down below ~5 -- especially useful for high inductance pickups. I love mine. I'd consider replacing split mode with it.
 
GCKelloch":1bjpxjri said:
Guitars from that particular Korean factory are all very good: Schecter, PRS SE, ESP LTD, Chapman, Agile, and others like the legendary Tokai S-types. They have quite a history with some excellent craftspeople. My ~$300 Agile ST-625EB could easily go for 2~3x what I paid -- all solid woods, parts and fret work.

Yes, WMI (World Music Instruments) in South Korea makes excellent guitars. I have always had good luck with guitars from that factory.

This guitar was made in Indonesia, but I think WMI opened their own factory down there, so they seem to be better quality than past MII guitars. All my WMI guitars have a serial number that starts with W, and this guitar starts with IW, so I am thinking that means the Indo WMI factory.....
 
GCKelloch":2fnofdft said:
Guitars from that particular Korean factory are all very good: Schecter, PRS SE, ESP LTD, Chapman, Agile, and others like the legendary Tokai S-types. They have quite a history with some excellent craftspeople. My ~$300 Agile ST-625EB could easily go for 2~3x what I paid -- all solid woods, parts and fret work.

Wenge is an excellent neck or FB wood with a tone like Ebony and smooth feel. The only thing about it is it tends to smell literally like crap as it absorbs sweat. I'd take a preventative measure to seal it right away. I'd try Tung Oil or similar, and clean it every string change with something like Murphy's Oil Soap or Howard Feed-N-Wax. I use the later on my porous necks and FB's. It only takes a few minutes, but you may need a small brush to get inside the large pores. Could be messy, but might be worth it. The orange oil penetrates and cleans, while the beeswax seals and leaves a velvety feel that doesn't get tacky due to the orange oil keeping it viscous.

I don't know what an A-Pig is, but the result of all those hard & dense woods, thick Stainless saddles, and high Inductance Fe core pickups makes for a midrangy guitar. If splitting the pickups to parallel mode doesn't do it for you, you could try wiring a ~$35 Wilde 'Q-Filter' onto a P/P pot. The passive LCR circuit functions as a tone knob above ~5, but dips the midrange and increases the peak freq without affecting bass as you turn the knob down below ~5 -- especially useful for high inductance pickups. I love mine. I'd consider replacing split mode with it.

This guitar was not made in Korea but was made in Indonesia. That is the main reason I completely expected it to be utter junk when I opened the box. I've played quite a few low-mid level guitars these last couple years and Agree that many of those that were made in Korea have felt like fairly solid guitars. The Indo made guitars I've played however have left a lot to be desired in quality and fit to finish. This one must have been made on a Wednesday not a Friday :LOL: :LOL: Either that or whatever factory they're using has better craftsman than all the other Indo P.O.S. guitars I've tried.

Shit, guitars seem to be just luck of the draw in my experience regardless of price tag and builder. I just returned a Mayones that had pretty shoty fit to finish.

Interesting tid bit regarding the wenge, good to know.

The A-pig is Bare Knuckle's alnico warpig pickup known for it's thick & relatively warmer midrange. Still ultra aggressive but thick with somewhat subdued highs. I'm thinking that would beef up the low end of this guitar and thicken it up. It's not that I dislike the hyper aggressive midrange and brightness, but that it lacks balance with the lows. Just needs more beef to balance it out.
 
MetalHeadMike":wpy6vemi said:
Shask":wpy6vemi said:
Very nice!!

Yours is pretty light colored, with a lot of figuring. I like it. I actually went to GC today, and saw the green one, and charcoal one. The green one was awful. It was super dark, the outside was black and not blue, and there was hardly any figuring, other than one spot where it looked like someone sneezed on it. The neck felt rough, and one of the knobs was falling off. I wasn't impressed.

I thought the charcoal one was awesome looking though. It had a lot of figuring, and felt smooth, and overall just felt higher quality compared to the green one. I decided to grab it while I was there. I added a couple of crappy pictures.

Yes, definitely an aggressive mid focused tone. The neck is tiny, and seems thinner than my Banshee. Plays very fast. I am working on new strings, and adjusting it to my preferences.

Very Nice!

I agree, tiny is how I'd describe the neck.

I honestly expected I'd box it back up shortly after unpacking it, but to my surprise it's a pretty damn good guitar; especially for $599 ;) Shit, IMO this would be a great guitar even for $1300-$1400. I usually absolutely hate bound fretboards, but this one is actually really really nice; bound with wood not plastic :thumbsup: The fretwork is impressive, and the neck pocket/bolt system seems super tight and stable. It's really cool that it came with a tusk nut and not the typical cheapo plastic. The bridge seems pretty solid too.

I spent the night and morning working on this guitar. I shimmed the neck, put on 11-49 in D tuning, Gorgomyte, Oil, Nut Sauce, loosened the truss rod a bit, and raised the pickups. This thing is a monster now. Effortless to play. Raising the pickups seemed to help them get more chunk, and not be so sizzly in the top end. They kind of remind me of a Dimarzio set in some ways. :rock:

Mine has a finish flaw or 2, but I am not worried about it. They are small, and the good massively outweighs those few spots.
 
Shask":2x9n80r4 said:
MetalHeadMike":2x9n80r4 said:
Shask":2x9n80r4 said:
Very nice!!

Yours is pretty light colored, with a lot of figuring. I like it. I actually went to GC today, and saw the green one, and charcoal one. The green one was awful. It was super dark, the outside was black and not blue, and there was hardly any figuring, other than one spot where it looked like someone sneezed on it. The neck felt rough, and one of the knobs was falling off. I wasn't impressed.

I thought the charcoal one was awesome looking though. It had a lot of figuring, and felt smooth, and overall just felt higher quality compared to the green one. I decided to grab it while I was there. I added a couple of crappy pictures.

Yes, definitely an aggressive mid focused tone. The neck is tiny, and seems thinner than my Banshee. Plays very fast. I am working on new strings, and adjusting it to my preferences.

Very Nice!

I agree, tiny is how I'd describe the neck.

I honestly expected I'd box it back up shortly after unpacking it, but to my surprise it's a pretty damn good guitar; especially for $599 ;) Shit, IMO this would be a great guitar even for $1300-$1400. I usually absolutely hate bound fretboards, but this one is actually really really nice; bound with wood not plastic :thumbsup: The fretwork is impressive, and the neck pocket/bolt system seems super tight and stable. It's really cool that it came with a tusk nut and not the typical cheapo plastic. The bridge seems pretty solid too.

I spent the night and morning working on this guitar. I shimmed the neck, put on 11-49 in D tuning, Gorgomyte, Oil, Nut Sauce, loosened the truss rod a bit, and raised the pickups. This thing is a monster now. Effortless to play. Raising the pickups seemed to help them get more chunk, and not be so sizzly in the top end. They kind of remind me of a Dimarzio set in some ways. :rock:

Mine has a finish flaw or 2, but I am not worried about it. They are small, and the good massively outweighs those few spots.


Nice :thumbsup: Yeah I'm thinking I'll throw a .11-.50 set on there and tweak the setup, and it'll make an already good sounding guitar even better. I'll eventually swap the bridge pup for a DD, PK, and I might even try the MM I have in my other guitar, but I still think if this guitar sticks around long enough that I'll grab either a C-pig or and A-pig for it.
 
those look like cool guitars. The pics on the web make the green one look kinda like a peacock but yours looks cool! :rock:
 
GOHOINC":3oj11v7s said:
Great looking finish color. Cool looking axe.
Thanks! Would be a 10 out of 10 if they would have went one step further and did stainless frets on these. I gladly would have coughed up a few hundred bucks more. I checked with my local luthier, and he said he could throw some EVO or stainless frets on it for about $300-400 which I think I'd eventually do if this sticks around. I know I keep saying it, but this particular guitar really surprised me with how good it is.

thenine":3oj11v7s said:
those look like cool guitars. The pics on the web make the green one look kinda like a peacock but yours looks cool! :rock:
:thumbsup:
Yeah it looks pretty cool. I usually gravitate towards less flashy/bright colors, but I do really like this finish.
 
Going up a gauge of the same type of strings isn't the best solution for softening the attack of a "hard" sounding guitar. The higher freq, sharper longitudinal wave of the tighter strings can actually make the attack sound more harsh. I tried 11-50 (from 10-46) on one bright guitar and the attack was even "harder". You'd have to tune down to bring it back down.

As someone else said, try raising the pickups with the pole pieces set below the bobbin top on the low E and plain strings. That will increase the fundamental to upper harmonics power per note for a warmer sound. If it's still too middy and bright, try a set of Sfarzo 'V-Strings' in your normal gauge. They are a special Ni/Fe alloy with a high wrap to core ratio for increased slinkiness. That combination gives them stronger fundamentals than most strings and a smoother attack without sounding dull or weak like some pure Ni wraps. The plain strings feel slinky as well -- possibly from an "annealing" process used on the Swedish Steel. Too much flexibility would of course make strings sound dull. I'd describe the V-Strings as warm, fat and clear. You might then want to lower the pickups again to reduce the fundamental warmth and attack strength for the balance you want. It may take some experimentation, but a lot cheaper than a new Bare Knuckle pickup.
 
GCKelloch":8dvnoj9s said:
Going up a gauge of the same type of strings isn't the best solution for softening the attack of a "hard" sounding guitar. The higher freq, sharper longitudinal wave of the tighter strings can actually make the attack sound more harsh. I tried 11-50 (from 10-46) on one bright guitar and the attack was even "harder". You'd have to tune down to bring it back down.

As someone else said, try raising the pickups with the pole pieces set below the bobbin top on the low E and plain strings. That will increase the fundamental to upper harmonics power per note for a warmer sound. If it's still too middy and bright, try a set of Sfarzo 'V-Strings' in your normal gauge. They are a special Ni/Fe alloy with a high wrap to core ratio for increased slinkiness. That combination gives them stronger fundamentals than most strings and a smoother attack without sounding dull or weak like some pure Ni wraps. The plain strings feel slinky as well -- possibly from an "annealing" process used on the Swedish Steel. Too much flexibility would of course make strings sound dull. I'd describe the V-Strings as warm, fat and clear. You might then want to lower the pickups again to reduce the fundamental warmth and attack strength for the balance you want. It may take some experimentation, but a lot cheaper than a new Bare Knuckle pickup.

Thanks for the info for sure, that's a lot of detail :thumbsup: But I think maybe I made it seem like I don't like that type of tone when in fact it's right up my alley. I actually prefer a very sharp attack, especially on the low strings, and I do tune down. Typically I play in drop C but just haven't got to set this guitar up for that yet. With the stock strings (Probably .10-.42 I'm assuming) tuned to drop D it sounds ok, but I usually use .11-.52 or .11-.50 and really like those gauges for the tunings I play in for the added beef and grunt they lend to the tone.

I've played with the height a bunch on the stock pup (bridge, I don't play neck pups often), and it's just too thin/lean on the lows I think for my taste. Could be I just need to get the heavier strings on there, so I wont right off the Apocalypse yet. The mids and overall voicing is cool, but it's just too unbalanced for me; needs more low end to balance it out. I typically always prefer my bridge height set very low on high out put bridge pups, and I prefer high output pups as opposed to low output pups.
 
Ya know guitar pickups don't actually have "bass" response in the technical sense. It's really a mater of fundamental harmonic strength per note. Higher wound pickups actually have less fundamental strength for the given output, as more of the coil is further away from the strings and picks up a greater ratio of lower strength string harmonics -- it's complicated. Lotta times what seems like more bass is really more lower-mids. The way to get stronger fundamentals is to have the majority of the total coil closer to the magnetized portion of the string. Thinner coil wire will do that, along with opening up the high end a bit due to the lower Q-factor. That's especially helpful in the bridge pos where the string fundamentals are rolled off the most.

For ~1/2 the cost of a BK pickup, you can get an 8H Wilde Twin Blade series 'L90' wound with with ~44AWG wire. First introduced in the mid 70's, the wide-spaced Stainless blades don't have inter-coil cancellations or the high end roll off of PAF-type Fe core pickups. The sound is warm, full, clear and detailed. The clear strong fundamentals give the strings more punch, and keep notes from farting out with distortion. The rectangular casing is a bit different, but the thin wire coil is also more sensitive to height changes. If not a Wilde L90, I'd get something like it wound with thin coil wire. Wilde even makes ~46AWG wire SC-type pickups with special alloy adjustable pole screws and a "moderated" Neodymium magnetic circuit. I have those. They are the most punchy, warmest, fullest and quietest "true" SC's on the market.
 
^^^
:confused: Way above my head man :LOL: :LOL: I just know I need a bridge pup with more meat in the lows/low mids. I like BK pups, and I rarely buy new, so price isn't that big a deal for me. I'll probably be looking for an A-pig and maybe a C-pig too just to try both. I'm probably gonna pull the MM out of my Carvin and try that first though because it's full of lows/low mids.
 
MetalHeadMike":3af7lakx said:
Shit, guitars seem to be just luck of the draw in my experience regardless of price tag and builder. I just returned a Mayones that had pretty shoty fit to finish.

What was wrong with your Mayo?
Was yours an older model, Did you buy it used?
I’ve only Played two mayo’s, cause I’m left handed. But I could not find a flaw on them. One of the best guitars I’ve put my hands on.
They were both 2017’s though. I’ve heard the older ones had some “things” before they got everything figured out.

Funny about this thread, I read it because I’ve been eyeing an ESP LTD ec-metal.
It’s Indonesia, and that’s what scared me.
But the new ESP LTD Metal series has gotten rave reviews, so I may just give it a whirl and gamble on it.
Congrats on the new guitar day!
 
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