Schecter C-7 Blackjack

[Pachet NOX]

Hi @all,

does anyone of you guys already own this guitar? Any opinions about it? Would be killer if somebody could send me some pics other than the catalogue pics.

Thanks,

P.N.



ps: I think its a real bargain for 599

[guitarkatana]

I'm definitely going to look into buying one of these! They look great, and I could really use a 7-string!

[Ancestor]

I have an A-7 that really is a great guitar. It's actually the best guitar I've ever had in terms of tone and what I can do on it.

Schecter has always made quality guitars, but I haven't checked out a Blackjack, yet.

[The Dark Wolf]

Haven't tried it or seen it live, but man, that looks like a sweet guitar. I'm dying to try it out. I'll probably buy one, to be honest, if it's half-way decent.

[Two hands31]

I've got a Schecter Revenger-7 (the cheapest 7-string they ever made) and it's great, quality-wise. The only problems I have with it are the body shape (could use an elbow contour) and the pickups. And neither of those are problems that the Blackjack has, since it's a different body shape, and it's got Seymour Duncans in it.

Not to mention the extended scale-length

[Pachet NOX]

Thanks for the replies folks!
No negative opinians at all? Sounds good, but doesn`t anybody have pics or played it yet? I'm getting more and more into buying one, but I do not have the chance to try one...

[darren wilson]

My Dean is very similar to the Blackjack in terms of specs: Mahogany body with maple top, mahogany neck, rosewood board, tune-o-matic bridge (not the TonePros version, though) with strings through the body, Grover tuners, Seymour Duncan JB and '59 pickups.

Those pickups are awesome, and they sound amazing in a mahogany-bodied instrument. I couldn't be happier with mine. I would add either coil splitting or series/parallel switching via push/pull pots for more versatility.

I think the Blackjack is a great guitar, especially for the price.

[Jim Soloway]

I've owned a bunch of Schecter 7-string, but their Korean Diamond series and their USA Custom models. They were all nice guitars, well designed and decent craftsmanship. Several of the Korean versions needed some cleanup work and all of them needed pickup replacements. The Blackjack looks like it combines the best of their 7-string design features over the years. I haven't played one, but I suspect it's a very nice guitar, expecially for the money.

[Wound]

that guitar is awesome! I'd love one of them!!!


Kim

[The Dark Wolf]

Originally Posted by darren wilson

My Dean is very similar to the Blackjack in terms of specs: Mahogany body with maple top, mahogany neck, rosewood board, tune-o-matic bridge (not the TonePros version, though) with strings through the body, Grover tuners, Seymour Duncan JB and '59 pickups.

Those pickups are awesome, and they sound amazing in a mahogany-bodied instrument. I couldn't be happier with mine. I would add either coil splitting or series/parallel switching via push/pull pots for more versatility.

I think the Blackjack is a great guitar, especially for the price.

You're dead-on about those pickups in mahogany, Darren. My buddy has a Brian Moore, same as your dean spec-wise, and those pickups. It KILLED. I can only imagine the C-7.

The C-7 Blackjack has no maple top, and the neck is maple, however. Myself, I'd rather the maple top, but, I'd also rather the maple neck, so it's 50/50 I suppose. I'd get that guitar, (I think it has 5-way switching. If so, I'd get my coil-tap/parallel from that, but right on on needing it) and put in a Graphtech Ghost piezo kit. I bet it'd be an easy retrofit. Just swap out the volume for a concentric volume/tone, and put the Ghost volume where the tone was. Viola! No drilling necessary. My 2027 has me spoiled with acoustic sounds. Couldn't live without it.

[trajectory fish]

i'm not certain, but isn't the blackjack also a 26" scale?

[Pachet NOX]

its a 26,5" scale neck which makes it a baritone with a slightly shorter neck. standard long scale guitars have a 25,5" and standard baritones usually have a 27" scale neck...
The string-thru construction make that up with tension imho.

[Jim Soloway]

Originally Posted by Wordwolf

You're dead-on about those pickups in mahogany, Darren. My buddy has a Brian Moore, same as your dean spec-wise, and those pickups. It KILLED. I can only imagine the C-7.

The C-7 Blackjack has no maple top, and the neck is maple, however. Myself, I'd rather the maple top, but, I'd also rather the maple neck, so it's 50/50 I suppose. I'd get that guitar, (I think it has 5-way switching. If so, I'd get my coil-tap/parallel from that, but right on on needing it) and put in a Graphtech Ghost piezo kit. I bet it'd be an easy retrofit. Just swap out the volume for a concentric volume/tone, and put the Ghost volume where the tone was. Viola! No drilling necessary. My 2027 has me spoiled with acoustic sounds. Couldn't live without it.

You're VERY mistaken about the lack of drilling. The Ghost saddles each have a wire coming off them that has to interface with the pre-amp controls. That means drilling through the base of the bridge under each saddle and then drilling a channel under the saddle that leads to the control area through which you feed the wires. Installing the Ghost is NOT a trivial operation.

[darren wilson]

Originally Posted by Pachet NOX

its a 26,5" scale neck which makes it a baritone with a slightly shorter neck. standard long scale guitars have a 25,5" and standard baritones usually have a 27" scale neck...
The string-thru construction make that up with tension imho.

I've said this before, and i'll say it again: Baritone instruments are determined by their tuning, not their scale length. There is no set "standard" scale length for a baritone. The Mike Mushok model is 28" scale and the Ernie Ball Music Man (and OLP) baritones are 30" scale, and i would consider both of these to be more "true" baritones, because they're designed to be tuned B-to-B or A-to-A.

The 27" scale is still great for drop-tuning and 7-strings, but is a more suitable (and versatile) compromise for players more accustomed to standard-scale instruments. A lot of chord voicings and scales would be nearly impossible on a 28" or 30" scale guitar, unless you have HUGE hands.

The 26.5" scale Schecter chose to use is a little odd, but will still give you better string tension than 25.5".

And running the strings through the body won't affect your string tension. It might tighten the "feel" a little bit when bending strings because there will likely be more pressure across the bridge saddles (therefore less slippage) but it won't change the tension.

[Jim Soloway]

Originally Posted by darren wilson

I've said this before, and i'll say it again: Baritone instruments are determined by their tuning, not their scale length. There is no set "standard" scale length for a baritone. The Mike Mushok model is 28" scale and the Ernie Ball Music Man (and OLP) baritones are 30" scale, and i would consider both of these to be more "true" baritones, because they're designed to be tuned B-to-B or A-to-A.

The 27" scale is still great for drop-tuning and 7-strings, but is a more suitable (and versatile) compromise for players more accustomed to standard-scale instruments. A lot of chord voicings and scales would be nearly impossible on a 28" or 30" scale guitar, unless you have HUGE hands.

The 26.5" scale Schecter chose to use is a little odd, but will still give you better string tension than 25.5".

And running the strings through the body won't affect your string tension. It might tighten the "feel" a little bit when bending strings because there will likely be more pressure across the bridge saddles (therefore less slippage) but it won't change the tension.

I absolutely agree about the concept of baritone being related to tuning rather than scale length.

26.5 inches actually makes some sense for Schecter. Their necks are substantially beefier than Ibanez and I would guess that they were concerned about maintaining proper neck/body balance. 26.5 inches may be as long as they could go without becoming head heavy.

There's also a question of neck stiffness as you go longer. Increasing stiffness can be a very expensive proposition. I've got a pair of embedded graphite rods and my new necks are all 3 piece laminates. Both of those make building a neck an expensive proposition (even if you're building them in Korea) and given the price point that the Blackjack is being sold at, I'm sure that Schecter is very conscious of the production costs.