New C-1 Custom with some old problems...

**tgifntx** · 01-02-2012

Can I impose on you good folks on behalf of a good friend
sportin' a new C-1 Custom? I'll post his findings to better
describe the problem. Any help/insight is sure appreciated
waaaay out front.
Thanks!

Guitar is setup with 10's.

Problem is that it clearly relates to the E note. It does it at the 17th B string and 12th High E. If I drop the tuning then the dead spot will move to wherever the E has moved to.

The natural resonance of the guitar is cancelling out that note.

YOu can get devices that add some mass to the guitar but as far as I know they only move the dead spot, not cure it.

Have contacted the shop to see about having it looked at.

If I was in the US I could have sent it straight to Schecter. By all accounts their customer service is pretty good but i've got the middle man to deal with and if past experiance is anything to go by then this is going to be a complete headf@ck!

Some peeps would live with it but why should I.... For £700 I want a guitar that plays and sounds right.

**He's done a fresh restring, Checked intonation, Had to raise the action a wee bit
and a small amount of neck relief. Also made a pup height adjustment to put his
mind at ease. Is there an issue that anybody is aware of with the C-1 custom?

**tgifntx** · 01-02-2012

Here's a pic of the bridge. Good pic and nothing kicks ya' in the shin
that I can tell by a photo..? At any rate, Just wanted to drop the pic.
Just a GREAT dude and wanted to try and help him out if at all possible.
Outrageous axeman and cool individual!!!

If your interested, Check him out at YT..?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdEcC5ZaXj8

**viperpit07** · 01-03-2012

only thing i can think would be the action but that shouldnt cause a prob like that... maybe one of the saddles is bad in the bridge? thats all i can think of let us know what you find out as i am interested in knowing what is now. lol

**tgifntx** · 01-03-2012

Originally Posted by viperpit07

only thing i can think would be the action but that shouldnt cause a prob like that... maybe one of the saddles is bad in the bridge? thats all i can think of let us know what you find out as i am interested in knowing what is now. lol

Yes sir, That's what I was/am thinking. Just doesn't make sense for the guitar to
have "natural" dead spots..? I dunno, Sure buggy.

Will do bro, I'll pass along anything that might turn out to be the culprit.
Thanks!

**NecrotizingTyleritis** · 01-03-2012

Can you define dead for me.

You mean like muted or what?

**jcshayden** · 01-03-2012

Originally Posted by NecrotizingTyleritis

Can you define dead for me.

You mean like muted or what?

basically a note without of pitch. Always slightly out of tune, noticeable when playing harmonies etc. or if you have a really good ear

**NecrotizingTyleritis** · 01-04-2012

You mean kind of like a thud. That's the only way I can describe what I think your talking about. Like you expect the full extent of the envelope but instead you just get a short dull hollow sounding noise.

**Justin Mabe** · 01-04-2012

Holy shit, I would be so pissed if that happened to me and I could not correct it, lol. Take that guitar to a guitar shop!!!!!!

**MGBlues** · 01-04-2012

HI folks...

First... Big thanks to my pal Tgifntx who's helping me out by posting this issue here.

Just want to give some extra details about this 'dead spot' phenomenon and what i've done to rule out any other causes such as action issues or fret issues, etc...

It's a little hard to describe but you'd understand immediately if you heard it. The note (In this case E at the 12th high E string, 17th B string and 21st G string) sustains noticably shorter than any other note on the neck.... A half to threee quarters as long. Not only does it sustain for less time but the note decays in an unnatural fashion. A normal note would taper out in sustain / volume but with the dead spot, just as it begins to fizzle out it dies completely - like you've lifted your finger from the fret.

Now, my first thought was that it was fretting out or choking on higher frets as the action was very low out the box so to speak.... About 1mm at the 12th fret High E. I raised it to 2mm at the 17th which is how I like it... Perhaps slightly higher than normal but not too bad for me. Didn't help with these dead spots.

Next, I checked the frets with a straight edge and a fret rocker. All the frets are level, well seated and well finished.

It seems to be something about that E note or it's frequency. Seems like something is cancelling it out. If I tune the string up or down then the dead spot will move... Wherever that E is!!! Changed the strings, checked the bridge and everything looks ok!

Some people would accept it as a characteristic of the guitar... Seems PRS was afflicted with some of their earlier models... Indeed, you can get things that are supposed to help such as the 'fatfinger'...

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/acces...stain-enhancer

TBH, on a new guitar costing £700, i'd rather not have to spend more money on something that may or may not work. Prior to this i'd heard of dead spots but I'd never owned a guitar that ever had one.

It's unrealistic to expect Schecter to spend time checking for this on every guitar, or the shop. It's just one of those things you discover when you finally get some quality time to play it.

Unfortunately, with my style of playing I can't accept it so it's going to have to go back.

There's two other minor issues that I only noticed when I got it home...

The binding and the paint work seem to bleed into each other.... Almost like they painted over the binding a little. ON the side of the fretboard there's a ridge or gap between the binding and the neck... Looks like there was a gap and the laquer has sunken into it as it dried.

They're both minor issues and probably wouldn't have bothered me had it not been for the dead spots.

Not put me off Schecter... My friend has one and it's a fantastic guitar. Every manufacturer has their off days and I got a guitar built on just such a day!

Anyhoo... Not sure what the shop will do... They'll probably want to send it off for repair but in all honesty, i'm not sure it can be.

**Justin Mabe** · 01-04-2012

MGBlues--Sorry to hear about your ass-pain. I hope Schecter can help you out? Did you take it to a local guitar tech to get his view of what is wrong with it? That's cool you not gonna be put off by Schecter over this particular guitar. As most of the guys in the forum will tell you some less that perfect guitars make it out of the warehouse. I have a small paint issue with my Damien Elite-6 FR right next to the Treble (lower) horn. It is my first Schecter and I love the way it plays so I got over it. Since then I bought 5 more different Schecters and I have been very lucky not to have any issues with those. I wish you luck with your guitar!!!!!!!!!!!