I received this guitar in the mail today and ordered it from Zzounds. All I can really say is wow. I was impressed right off of the bat. Appearance: Really sleek, and curvy. Nicely done matte black finish with white binding around the body, neck, and headstock. The dark chrome hardware looks nice with the paint job. Somewhat simple appearance. Nothing too flashy or wild. Very solid looking guitar. Sound: A guitar that sounds absolutely crushing and wretched under a lot of distortion thanks to a beautiful ebony fretboard, 3 piece maple neck, mahogany body, and 28'' scale to provide that extra tightness in the lower register strings. Not to mention the incredible Seymour Duncan Blackout active pickups. These things handle distortion very well. Very tight, crunchy, wonderful pickups. The clean tones are handled beautifully as well. Warm and clear sounding. They do a nice job with massive chords. Every note is articulated, and not one note seems to be louder than the others. Comfort/Ease of playing: This is surprisingly comfortable to play for an 8 string guitar. The SLS stands for Slimline Series, which means the guitars in this series are overall slimmed down. The body feels nice resting against you, and the neck is thinner and more comforting in comparison with the other schecter 8 string models, in my opinion. The ebony fretboard is super slick and lets you move around quickly. The matte finished neck is easier to slide your thumb around on in comparison with glossy finished… read more necks. The only reason why I gave ease of use 4 stars is because when it arrived, the neck was quite warped. But only the weather is to blame for that, because it's awfully cold in the north east. It was easily fixed with a truss rod adjustment. Overall: I recommend this guitar highly. After playing it for hours on end already, and testing out other various 8 string guitars before this one, I can tell that I'll have this one for quite some time. In my opinion, it's the best you're going to get for around this price. It is worth every penny. You can play with a lot of diversity on this guitar. Ranging from crushing heavys to crystal clear jazzy cleans, and anywhere in between. Wonderful job, Schecter.

Musical Background:
Guitar and piano for 7 years each. Playing local shows and small tours. Jamming at home when I can.

Musical Style:
Progressive, Jazz, anything bright and happy sounding. read less