Schecter Reaper-7 Multiscale Review

This thing is Gorgeous

I absolutely love this guitar! Originally it was not what I had my eye on but due to unavailability my amazing sales engineer Jake Trethaway recommended the reaper. I seriously couldnt be happier, it plays like butter, sounds amazing, looks fantastic. The neck is the perfect material, its so easy to navigate. I have 6 other guitars and ever since ive gotten the Reaper 7 i havent… read more touched any of my other guitars. When i first got the reaper 7 i was a little annoyed by the pickup placement as it was a little uncomfortable for my right hand. It took a couple hours to adjust but after that i havent had a problem and have loved every second with it.

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Can Do It All

Killer guitar that has the ability to play all styles including heavy djent-style and metalcore, all the way to gospel and worship through cleaner tones.

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Awesome guitar

This thing is a fantastic guitar. Pro's: Gorgeous tops Neck is super nice feeling with the satin finish, and the carving for the higher fret access. The fretboard edges nicely worked. Light body Pickups sound great, with the split coils easily letting you approach Strat-glassyness (with some compression) Con's: Intonation of 7th string was a bit of a pain but got it figured… read more out with proper action, a 59 gauge string, and some spring removal in the bridge. Multiscale makes first fret cowboy chords an adjustment/reach for my baby hand, but everything else is great

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Surprisingly poor playability from a familiar brand

Was really excited for this guitar but the intonation quality is much lower than expected for an almost $1000 instrument. I own another schecter of equal price, and that guitar has near perfect playability in terms of intonation and string height. I don't know how I didn't see in the pictures, but the bridge sadles were slammed as far as they could go on the bridge, so much so that… read more the low B string's spring was removed to make room... and it's STILL sharp. The lower 3 strings are all like that, the upper 4 are actually intonated correctly, but only because they're saddles are also nearly all the way distanced from the nut... All of this while the guitar is tuned in standard... I literally cannot postion the saddles any further for down tuning, and they already aren't far enough for standard tuning. What's the point in a multi-scale 7 string if you can't even tune below standard, and can't play in tune even in standard?...Clearly the bridge is positioned too close to the nut, so my only option now is measuring and drilling new holes for the bridge to mount, and then routing the bridge so the string-thru holes will still work... I don't think I'll ever buy a guitar without seeing it in person again. Very disappointing.

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Sick guitar

This was my first 7 string so it took a minute to get acquainted with it but it is an amazing guitar. The strings that came with it were a bit too thick but once i threw some ernie ball cobalt regular slinkys on there it sounded and played amazingly. Very solid construction and the fanned frets took zero adjustment. They felt perfecly natural from the start. Love the looks and the… read more satin finish as well. Best 7 sting I've ever played. Shout out to sweetwater and my sales engineer Ben Robinson for the amazing customer service!

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Surprised

Guitar played excellent right out of the box. Multiscale took little to no time to get acquainted too. Great looking craftsmanship as well! Thank you Ryan from Sweetwater!

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Love it

Its the first 7 string I bought and I use it to play at a gig and it is never out of tune, a very raw and heavy sound I love, it's good for alot of hard rock and metal, I am In love.

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Tough call!

This is my first 7 string and first multiscale guitar of any kind. First impressions were quite positive. The low B and E strings were tight and articulate and the pickups really bring the scooped machine gun style I was looking for. Not a giant fan of the tones coming from the higher strings, but that's a personal thing so take that for what it is. Also initially I found the… read more playability and feel, specifically during soloing/sweeping on the higher strings, just did not stack up to the level I'm used to. Then things took a turn for the worse that nearly had me packing it back up and returning it the same day I got it. Full disclaimer here: I opted to not use Sweetwaters setup service (solely just to get it to me quicker), so this is in no way a hit on them! These guys really do go far above and beyond any other store I've ever used and if there is any option at all to buy from them I always do. Anyway, it arrived in pretty good tuning but the intonation was tragic. Not unexpected and no problem for me at all. I've been doing my own setups for years. Well...I ended up having to remove the spring from the B string saddle because I needed more travel to get it dialed in, but even after slamming it all the way to the end of the bridge I found that it was still just a bit sharp. Not horribbly bad, but certainly enough to make me question whether or not this was a keeper. After it was all done I found that 4 of the 7 strings intonate just fine at 12 but not at 24. Again, not bad, but enough to raise an eyebrow. None of my other guitars act like that. So that was pretty much my first day with this guitar. On day 2 I just sat around jamming on it and messing with my effects to see what I could get out of it. By the end of the day I'm feelin like maybe I kinda like this thing. Day 3 I record a few tracks, and was really pleased with how well the Reaper sits in the mixes. It's filling space, it's super agressive when I want it to be but is easily dialed back, and the clarity and punch is actually quite nice for what I do. So then...the point of all this. Well as the title says, this has been a tough call for me. The intonation issue I thought was gonna be a deal breaker immediately. Couple days of messing with it and now it seems like it's gonna be OK. I'm still not "in love" with the playability and feel of the higher strings, but from the D string down it's pretty much money for my style of heavier proggy/metallish sort of things. Barring anything popping up in the next couple weeks I think this guitar has found a home with me. However...if this were going to be my main rig for live work or club gigs...I don't believe it would make the cut for me. Bear in mind though that I am comparing this against my other guitars (Am Std strat, '96 PRS, jap ESP) so that is admittedly a high bar. For what I want/need this guitar for I believe I'm gonna be happy with it. And one last thing. If you are on the fence about whether or not you should try a multiscale, you definitely should! I'm already sold on the whole thing after just a few days. It honestly never even felt awkward and the benefits, to me, are tangible.

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Great Feeling Neck

My favorite thing about this guitar is the neck, it has a nice satin feel to it not glossy and I like the shape its definitely thin not quite wizard thin but not far off. The frets are all nearly perfect no complaints there and the fingerboard even has nice slightly rolled edges. The fan frets are barely noticeable I picked it up right away and started playing. The tuners are not… read more locking but feel like solid tuners I'm fine with them and the pickups are nice middle of the road not amazing but versatile and they sound good. The hipshot bridge of course is great nothing to complain about there. I did preorder this guitar so I did not get a choice but my main complaint is weight. I can see now they are right around 7 - 8lbs which is nice and light for a 7 string especially. My guitar weighs in at over 11lbs, I dont know why that is but it makes the guitar feel incredibly bulky. So for everyone else buy in confidence it looks like they've since started using some lighter timbers. Thats my only downside to this instrument also make note this definitely is more of an orange finish in person rather than red.

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Impressive

This guitar has the craftsmanship of a much more expensive guitar. It sounds great, and the multiscale and fanned frets are easy to adjust to and a lot of fun to play. If you're looking for a 7 string, you would be hard-pressed to find a higher quality instrument at this price.

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Better than I imagined...

My first fanned fret guitar, and when first picking up the thing I was blown away how light it was. Then playing the neck, it was so smooth, and honestly it was set up perfectly for me. This guitar is awesome, and I highly recommend to purchase for recording and/or live performances. Certainly a gem.

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Wow this axe has it all

This is my first seven string and my first fanned multiscale...so I didn"t have a clue if I could even play the thing. I am a big fan boy for schecter ....compared to Ibanez , Schecter provides more hi end components for the money....and I prefer the necks on the Schecters . And of course the Sustaniac is awesome Anyway...I started to do some basic shredding when I got it and forgot… read more that it has a fanned fretboard... it"s is actually as advertised faster and more ergonomic...go figure. The neck is flat as a board and smooth as silk. No problem playing the low B even with my baby hands. Sound wise this guitar sings and the clarity is really excellent. Dialed down it sounds very articulate which I didn"t expect from these pickups. Overall really pleased with what Schecter has been making lately...I also have the Super Shredder which crazy good. Highly recommend this guitar for someone looking for a professional instrument and wants to get into the seven string world...no fear ...you will wonder why you didn"t do it earlier... .

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