These days Schecter seems to have a fairly Hard Rock-, Metal- and Widdlemeister-image, especially over here in Finland. It’s true that many of the company’s better-known models are fast Rock-machines equipped with active pickups, but there has always been a more classic side to Schecter, too. The first production models, for example, were Pete Townshend’s Tele-style guitars, and Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) also played a few Strato-type Schecters.
One of the current guitars, which follow classic lines, is the Solo-6 Custom.
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The Schecter Solo-6 Custom (current price in Finland: 915 €) is by no means a straight copy, still, it clearly draws some influences from Gibson’s Les Paul Custom: the mahogany neck – made of three long stripes in the Schecter’s case – is glued to a mahogany body with a maple top.
The ”Custom” in the name points to this model’s multiply binding and ebony fretboard.
A beautiful flame maple veneer tops the Solo-6 Custom’s bound headstock. The Tusq-saddle – made from man-made bone-like material – is the right recipe for juicy tone and full-bodied sustain.
The Schecter-branded tuners are locking units, which keep the tuning rock steady.
Luscious, deep-black ebony is used as the fingerboard material, with genuine mother-of-pearl used for the inlays.
The Schecter’s asymmetrical neck joint feels very comfortable and makes it easy to reach the neck’s ”dusty end”.
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The guitar’s nicely-shaped body sports a bound top. There are separate volume controls for the Solo-6’s humbuckers, as well as a master tone.
A quality Tune-o-matic and stopbar pairing completes the guitar’s hardware.
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The humbuckers have been chosen from Seymour Duncan’s range of USA-made pickups: We find a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom [sic!] SH-11 in the bridge position – a humbucker with a somewhat hotter-than-vintage output, but whose Alnico II -magnet brings a warm bottom end and plenty of mid-range character into the mix. The best-selling ’59 SH-1N has been chosen for the neck position, promising vintage tone and output.
Schecter’s ingenious control knobs include a ribbed sure-grip surface, so sweaty live situations won’t stand in the way of total control. The tone pot’s push/pull switch splits both humbuckers in its up-position for singlecoil tones.
The Solo-6’s clean workmanship is carried over into the control cavity also. Conductive paint and a foil-lined lid take care of shielding against extraneous interference.
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Schecter’s Solo-6 Custom is a gorgeous piece of work, with our test sample even displaying a very comfortable low weight. The instrument balances well and its back contour makes it feel comfortable against your midriff.
A full ”D” shape has been implemented as this guitar’s neck profile – there’s a reassuring amount of wood in your palm, without the neck ever too fat. Schecter’s fine workmanship and out test samples good fret job resulted in a well-playing guitar with a light and comfortable action.
Schecter’s design team must have known exactly what they were doing with regard to this model’s pickups – the results speak for themselves.
The powerful, but still pleasantly warm and juicy bridge humbucker works surprisingly well in conjunction with the vintage-type unit in the neck position on the Solo-6 Custom – regardless whether you’re using the full ’buckers or the coil-split mode. The jump in output going from the neck to the bridge pickup sounds very organic.
Splitting the humbuckers isn’t a mere afterthought in the Schecter Solo-6 Custom, but an extremely useful tool for obtaining quite authentic singlecoil sounds. Thanks to its versatility the Solo-6 Custom is a perfect choice for any guitarist, who wants to get the widest possible palette of sounds from the minimum amount of gear.
In these soundbites you get the split humbucker selections first (neck, both, bridge) followed by the full humbuckers:
Schecter Solo-6 Custom – clean
Schecter Solo-6 Custom – overdriven
This reviewer feels that the Schecter Solo-6 Custom is a well-made, classy and versatile guitar, offering plenty of bang for the Euro.
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Schecter Solo-6 Custom
Current price in Finland: 915 €
Finnish distributor: Soundtools
Pros:
+ bang-for-the-Euro
+ workmanship
+ versatility
+ sound
+ playability
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