Great guitar! I have an Ibanez Jem Jr. (25.5 neck) and all other guitars have to meet that criteria or better. I was looking for a 24.75 neck with an EMG for that early Metallica sound. While the pickups are not 81/60’s, the 57/66 active pickups sound great. The finish is ok, but it’s not the best… like the Jem Jr. But the look of the vintage flat paint is still pretty cool, Satin Silver. It actually is silver gray (actually the color of the pick guard is more like it), not white silver like it look on the website. Action is nice and low, very minimal fret buzz when you power chord (but what guitar doesn’t when power chord), and no fret buzz when soloing. The neck is really nice… the single piece makes a difference when you solo. The Schecter wins on the neck connection area over the Jem Jr. But the Jem Jr. being a bolt-on, you really never feel it because they shaped the area by rounding out the edges. I got the ESP LTD EC-401 Charcoal and returned it to zZounds before I got the Schecter, and the square parts where the neck meets the body always gets in your way… a big hassle for me. When practicing sitting down, the EC-401 jabbed into my sternum too, ouch! Bad design. Had a weird fat “C” shaped neck that I’m not used to and the guitar itself felt ‘cheap.’ Actually, that was the main reason I returned it. BTW, check out these guitars at a guitar shop before you buy from zZounds… I paid $78 dollars to return the EC-401. The Schecter feels like it was made… read more in the same factory as the EC-401. To me, they are the same company, even though they say they are two different companies. I mean look at the bodies of their guitars! Haha. But the difference is the locking tuner, which is awesome (provided you know how to use it… google it!). But this makes for a heavier neck. When playing standing up, the neck tends to want to sag down, kind of a bummer but I mostly play sitting down. I’m keeping this and the Jem Jr.

Musical Background:
Been playing guitar for leisure, really getting into it 2015.

Musical Style:
Metallica, Iron Maiden, Dio, Judas Priest. Ozzy/Randy Rhodes. read less