Schecter Hellraiser C-7 FR-S Review

More than just djent.

The quality for the price here is incredible. Didn't have a 7 string and wanted to noodle. The bonus here with the Schecter sustainiac bridge pickup is wild. It really just holds the note, until a battery dies. Action is smooth, the frets required zero filing or fiddling. My guys at Sweetwater called me at each step with all the gear I grabbed and they're great. I picked up the… read more matching Schecter case and couldn't be happier; 5/5.

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Quality instrument!

I had a 6 string Schecter with sustainiac that looked great and was well built, but I already had a 6 string Ibanez I preferred and the sustainiac feature just never had enough of an effect, no matter how I adjusted the position or circuit board pots. It also had passive pickups that I didn't care for. But the sustainiac on this one with the active pickups is amazing. The sound… read more of the EMG is better than the on their passive model for the heavier sounds. And the controls are great. The drive knob does have an effect. I suspect that the reviewer that said it doesn't either needs an adjustment of some kind of perhaps the sustainiac pickups vary in manufacturing, with some working better than others? I don't have a problem with the position of the volume knob with palm muting, finger picking, or strumming. The trem is quite tight, and doesn't dive bomb like my Ibanez, but I've been reluctant to adjust it because I've got intonation and action how I like it and tuning is stable, so I'd prefer not to trade stability for more move with the trem. Great construction and finish, nice fretboard. I like the design, unlike some of the cheesier "metal" looking stuff that I consider more for young teens (like the bats or shark fins). I would prefer locking tuners for quicker restringing, but the installed tuners are high quality. I like the position of controls for volume, tone, pickup selection, and sustainiac. I installed a hex wrench holder on the back of the headstock because I can't stand searching for that when I've maxed out the Floyd Rose fine tuners. For a negative, the battery slots for the EMG and sustainiac pickup are so tight that I can't get any of the 3 brands of rechargeable 9 volts to fit. I asked for a recommendation and was told that rechargeable batteries aren't recommended. The other potential negative is, I don't consider this a very versatile guitar for different styles. It does heavy sounds very well. Clean sounds are passable, but I would choose a different guitar if that were my primary interest with it. It's a shame there isn't a middle single coil pickup for that because with my Ibanez H-S-H setup and my pickups of choice, I can dial in an amazing range of tones. The sustainiac pickup doesn't really contribute much in terms of tonal variety, but it's still awesome to have for the creative possibilities with sustain. This is the first guitar I've had with an active EMG and I do like it, but again, wouldn't choose it for the clean tone. There was no kill switch so I had to install my own, which is a great combo with the endless sustain for rhythmic staccato effects, which is shown in my photo. I have it wired to the EMG battery for the led, which also functions as a reminder for my to unplug the cable from the jack when I'm not playing so I don't drain my battery.

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Schecter Hellraiser

Had this Guitar a few days and so far no issues with it the sound is amazing and the feel is awesome and comfortable with a fast playing neck it does take some use to playing it with all those switch’s and Pods in the long run everything works I haven’t had any issues with that volume control like the others specified but I quess it’s in the why you play it

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Good guitar with noticeable issues.

For the $... this 7 string neckthrough is amazing. Glossy finish on the back of the neck might affect the fast movement but helps great to stay in position, I have other guitars from Ibanez with gloss finish so no issue with that.But, there is a severe design flaw, look at the volume knob! It's position makes the palm mutes hard and barely possible to soft mute over the bridge.… read more 7 string guitars demand more control on muting and that volume knob positioning totally damaged that. I literally have to seek for the switch through those knobs. Ohh and the drive knob don't do much anyway so why keeping that?Secondly, sustainiac somewhat works but the neck pickup sound is below average. Quite dissatisfied with the tone of that.Construction is good, not too heavy, not too light either but these two major flaws.I'm in the dilemma whether to return it or keep it.

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2 issues but solid axe!

This is a great guitar, but I have two issues, i always hit the volume knob while playing, so had to mod it. and the big kicker here is the sustainiac, well, it just doesn't work well like it did with my synister gates custom s by schecter. i haven't done any other mods to it, but plan on adjusting the sustainiac some to see if i can get it to work as well as it did on my six string.

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