Schecter Guitar Research Omen Extreme-7 Electric Guitar See-Thru Black

Thought this would be another great choice for a 7 string with a longer scale length. Turns out the scale length is longer than it should be. Scale should be 26.5 but measured in closer to 27. The measurement from the nut to the 12th fret is perfect at 13.25 but the measurement from the 12th fret to the bridge is 13.75. The difference makes it impossible to set intonation. Would not recommend this brand at all sense this was my second attempt at different models of the same brand that have the same problem.

I ordered it online and picked it up in the store today. Here was my experience: * I immediately plugged it in and started to play it after unboxing it and unwrapping it. I bought Duncan Distortion and a Jazz for the neck to go with it because I knew the stock pickups weren't going to cut it. I noticed the stock pickups were muddy, dark and just did not have a good tone. I seriously doubt the combo of Mahogany and maple on the body of this guitar is to blame. * The action from the factory is that low to medium place they always put it at that people complain is "high" who don't care about fret buzz. Ideally, this is where it should sit without buzzing and is a good compromise of tone and playabilty. It buzzed when I played power chords, but not single notes with a medium stroke. I raised the action just tiny bit on both sides and the buzzing stopped. I considered this a win. It's the higher than the factory action I am used to and with no fret buzz. Depending on whether or not you need the strings 1mm away from the frets and don't care about fret buzz, or you can't stand it and will work something higher to eliminate it, this may or may not work for you. You will not get low action without buzzing on this guitar. Consider that I tuned it to Bb+Eb and it's factory tuning is B+E. Loosening the truss rod may have provided better action, but this something I didn't have a chance to address. * So, considering it's playability was satisfactory for me, I ditched the old strings so I could begin working to replace the pickups. That didn't happen. The fret dressing was abysmal. It plays well enough but a lot of the frets were flat on top. It was like they did a fret level and never crowned the frets. This guitar was missing a lot of material off the frets. It'll never play in tune with flat fret crowns. This is a non-starter for me. I'm out of space, but that's where I packed it back up and returned it without any issues. I guess the quality Schecters are Korean.

I use this for jamming with some friends as well as personal playing. Its an excellent guitar. The hardware feels very solid. It's comfortable, and the electronics sound great. Setup was good right out of the box. Unless you're detuning at least a whole step, I recommend getting a pack of 9s instead of the 10s that come with it. The scale is 26.5, so if you're used to a regular 6-string strat style(25.5" scale) with 9s or even 10s, then 9s are probably what you want. The scale length means that 9s are automatically about as tight as 10s on a 25.5" neck. Alternatively, if you plan on drop A tuning, or drop A half step down, you could try a 6string pack of 9s and then just order an extra .54 or maybe even .56 for that low A. If you like the coil split option, you're really going to want to listen on this. Too thick of strings for your tuning will really deaden that single coil sound. Speaking of which, I'm not really a hardcore heavy metal player. I actually use both the full humbucker as well as the coil split quite often. This guitar is great for far more than endless djent. With a capo and a little ingenuity, you can really expand what you can play without retuning or changing guitars all the time. I'd really like to see more hard rock bands with 7strings, the possibilities are definitely there.

I got this guitar as an introduction to 7 string guitars. I wanted to be able to play low tuned heavy metal without having to put too much money into modifying a 6 string or getting a baritone. To start off with, I've never bought a guitar that was set up right out of the box to sound amazing, they always need a few tweaks. This guitar was perfectly set up right out of the box. And it looks VERY nice. The inlays on the finger board are top notch and the guitar as a whole is beautiful. As far as sound, I was very surprised by these pickups. Playing clean they sound crystal clear, and with heavy distortion they hold the lows pretty tight with a lot of clearity in the higher registers as well. It's got a 26.5" scale witch really makes a difference when you tune down to A (I haven't gone lower on it yet, but I'm sure with a heavier gauge string it would sound great) The longer neck helps keep the tone and tension on the strings. As I said, I got this guitar to play metal, and it sounds great. The extra jumbo frets are a dream for any metal head flying through those frets below 15. You couldn't miss a fret if you tried, so it's great for peeps who play a lot of high speed solos and use tapping or sweep techniques. The neck is also quite thin so it allows for even faster shredding. The wider fret board feels very nice, not too bulky. My one issue (though small) is that, for me, the cut away in the body isn't quite as deep I would like. It makes getting my hand in the 22-24 fret position a littl uncomfortable. Though, I'm used to an Ibanez RG series which has a huge cut away. After some time, though, I've gotten used to it. Overall, the Omen Extreme 7 looks and sounds like it's a MUCH more expensive guitar. I was blown away with the quality it is with the low price tag it has. This is definitely the best 7 string you can get in its price range. I would recommend this guitar for any metal head or for someone looking for a very solid 7 string