NGD: 2012 Schecter Diamond Series Blackjack SLS C-1 P Hell's Gate Edition

[Number Of The Priest]

Catching up with setups and photo posts for various guitars I acquired towards the end of 2016.

Specs: http://www.schecterguitars.com/inter...-s-gate-detail

You think Jackson has long and confusing model names for their guitars like SLATQHWTFBBQOMGLOL? I still don't fully understand Schecter's naming system but I'll try below.

Diamond Series = Mass production models made at the World Musical Instrument Co. Ltd. factory in South Korea
SLS = Slim Line Series
P = Passive pickups, originally equipped with Seymour Duncan Full Shred and '59
Hell's Gate Edition = 12th fret MOP skull inlay instead of offset dots

The Wikipedia page for Schecter suggests the C-1 denotes the shape while the Blackjack denotes a level of trim or style of construction. You'd think it would be the other way around.

I previously hinted at this guitar in a previous NGD photo post: http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/151...ez-Gio-GRG7221

This is a very substantial, feature-loaded instrument and reinforces my admiration for guitars coming out of the World Musical Instrument Co. Ltd. factory. Really great specs and quality build. I basically paid nothing for this practically mint condition guitar, the details of which are detailed in the above link. The heel of the set-neck is carved in such a way that makes it look and feel like a neckthru. Awesome upper fret access.

A previous owner swapped the Duncans for Railhammer Chisel neck/bridge models. http://www.railhammer.com/pickups.html I hadn't heard of them before acquiring this guitar. Not many good demos on Youtube to my taste, so I was cautious when the previous owner offered me the Schecter in a trade for my LTD EC-1000. Fortunately the Schecter sounded great through my rig and played in my 80s style, and I prefer superstrats anyway, so it was a mutually satisfying trade. Harmonics fly off the fretboard and the pickups seem thick and articulate. Are the pickups worth the boutique pricing and unique look? No idea. My rig seems to make most halfway decent pickups sound good.

I am trying to get accustomed to a fretboard that is nearly devoid of inlays by relying solely on the side dots. Time will tell whether I succeed.

Full sized versions on my new Imgur account: http://notp1.imgur.com/

[toejam]

That looks pretty neat. I really like those archtop bodies.

I had a 7-string Schecter years ago with only an inlay at the 12th fret, and I realized that I mainly used side dots anyway. I've now got a 7-string LTD with no inlays at all on its ebony board, and it's not a problem at all.

[chrisolson]

Schecter does SUCH a good job. Other companies should be following their lead.

[xenophobe]

Grats! You will love the WMI build quality. They make great guitars!

FWIW, WMI Korea isn't mass produced. They're mostly hand crafted.

[VitaminG]

The Wikipedia page for Schecter suggests the C-1 denotes the shape while the Blackjack denotes a level of trim or style of construction. You'd think it would be the other way around.

That's correct. The C-1 was just one of the models offered in the Blackjack series. So if you like the trim but wanted a different shape, you could get a Blackjack SLS or a Blackjack Avenger. Similar to their other series, like the Damiens with satin black finish, bat inlays & EMGs and the Hellraisers, etc

[Number Of The Priest]

Thank you everyone!

Grats! You will love the WMI build quality. They make great guitars!

My second WMI guitar that I've owned, though have played a few more than that (several PRS SEs, several LTD 1000 Series, a DBZ/Diamond, and this Schecter). All impressive and consistent, as though you can anticipate picking a guitar off the wall at a music store, seeing the WMI identification marks on the back of the headstock, and knowing you'll likely enjoy playing it.

FWIW, WMI Korea isn't mass produced. They're mostly hand crafted.

Poor choice of words on my part, or perhaps on the part of the Wikipedia article for Schecter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schecter_Guitar_Research) which states:

The Diamond Series was first introduced in 1998, and consists of all the non-custom, mass-produced Schecter models.

Several months ago, after watching the Rob Chapman tour of WMI, I certainly fostered a greater appreciation for how much personal attention there was. A couple years ago, I was also surprised to discover the Chinese factory making Yamaha acoustic guitars also had more handwork than I thought:

That's correct. The C-1 was just one of the models offered in the Blackjack series. So if you like the trim but wanted a different shape, you could get a Blackjack SLS or a Blackjack Avenger. Similar to their other series, like the Damiens with satin black finish, bat inlays & EMGs and the Hellraisers, etc

Still sounds confusing/backwards to this newbie, but I'm sure the naming scheme will become more intuitive to me with more exposure to the brand. Thanks for the tip.

[VitaminG]

Still sounds confusing/backwards to this newbie, but I'm sure the naming scheme will become more intuitive to me with more exposure to the brand. Thanks for the tip.

it's no different to Fender's different series (eg. Blacktop, Deluxe Player, Road Worn, Classic Vibe, etc). They decide on a basic spec/ethos for the series and then apply that to all of the various models within that series. So Road Worns - up-specced pickups, reliced nitro finishes & distressed hardware, jumbo frets - were available as a J-bass, P-bass, tele or strat.

Schecter are doing the same thing. In this case, instead of "strat" the model name is "C-1"

[Number Of The Priest]

Ah, thanks!

When you mention Fender, that makes sense. As an example, the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster has company-trim-shape nomenclature and that order does apply to Schecter nomenclature.

No idea why I originally approached it from Gibson-style nomenclature (example: Gibson Les Paul Custom) which has company-shape-trim nomenclature.

[markD]

How do you like those pickups? I just started seeing them around....

[Number Of The Priest]

Short answer: This guitar sounds great. These pickups could be a contributing factor.

Long answer: But then again, all my guitars tend to sound "great" through my heavily processed tone, with my playing style. I'm either lousy at evaluating subtleties between pickups/guitars, or my philosophy that pickups play too small a role in my personal signal chain hinders me from being an effective judge.

I admire Joe Naylor's ideology and pioneering spirit behind Railhammer. I understand why he would apply a seemingly unorthodox mix of rails-and-nails (hence the name Railhammer) to achieve his objectives. Do those have an effect on MY tone in MY signal chain and played in MY style? I have no idea.

I should PROBABLY do a recording/video comparing some of my guitars playing the same material and recorded uniformly.

[markD]

I get you. It only became recently that I began to explore the tonality of my GUITAR and took the processing/amp out of the mix as much. I am playing lower gain than ever, and concerning myself with what the instrument adds. When I was playing heavier music it was a bit easier - if the amp had a certain level of mids and gain I could do whatever I needed.

Surprisingly, since going 100% modeling I find myself go "straight into the amp" and not bothering too much with the effects. The video I posted on the PRS thread, for instance. That guitar tone was pretty much dry. The delays and reverb were set so low that they really didn't come out too much. It was all about making the guitar "sing".

Yeah, it would be cool if you did a video where you played the same riff on all your guitars and spliced between the footage to hear the tone difference!