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| Schecter Ultra III Guitar Review
I own this Guitar and had been after it for a couple of years after always wanting a Gibson Firebird  VII (the three pick up model). After realising the full price of a Gibson I gave up.
I saw a Schecter Ultra in a guitar magazine and it was compared to the Firebird in shape. I looked it up on the web and found the beautiful Schecter Ultra III. I trawled the internet for two years to find a model in the UK to try. I tried it finally and loved it- but could not afford it!
Months past and I did not see one again. However the internet came through again and I saw one for £300 at my local guitar superstore. When I got to the guitar the Bigsby had the spring missing and the switches were dust ridden and it was in a generally poor state as it had been a display model for two years- It turns out that this Guitar was the very guitar I had tried originally- but a couple of years of shop floor abuse had taken its toll on the lovely beast.
I managed to get the Guitar for £200. New Bigsby spring- switch cleaner and a general clean up the guitar was as good as new- excellent! The wiring was all in place- the Schecter guitars site actually provided a wiring schematic HERE- and it was ready to rock.
Equipment
Three aside headstock with Grover branded tuners- absolutely rock solid. Medium Frets and a fat neck feels a little like a Les Paul in the hand. Three “Duncan Designed” Seymour Duncan mini humbucking pick-up very TV Jones ala Grestch Filtertron inspired. Three mini switches Full Humbucker- Off – coil split. A master volume and a master tone. Big chunky strap buttons.
Of course on this vintage vibe guitar there is the Bigsby licensed tremolo and roller saddle. The amount of standard equipment on this guitar that is first rate is unbelievable!!
The guitar is said to be Mahogany and Rosewood neck. It is a big piece of kit!! Very heavy but a thick wide strap sorts that. I believe the weight and wood of this guitar is the reason it sound so good.
This version is Antique Cream with black scratch plates- It looks cool- It is not too much like a Firebird or anything really – very much in the vibe of current “pawn shop” guitar some manufactures are producing.
Sounds
Unplugged it sounds just great. A nice thick and woody tome to it- I already love it!! I play a lot of vintage rock 70’s etc. The first thing I played on it was the beginning to Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival. WOW- through my little five watt valve amp it could have been the original.
Add a bit of dirt and the guitar can scream- it is excellent for blues and classic rock- pulled off all my Kiss songs and with a bit of “help” from a distortion pedal AC/DC was EASY! Due to the vintage vibe- Pre Revolver Beatles is a must- Day Tripper, I Feel Fine and Get Back riffs are perfect for this guitar- I find after my first sitting with the guitar I have been playing riffs and chops for over two hours!!!
With the coil split options on the three humbuckers there are allegedly 27 different settings to be had, I cannot see me using them all. The Bridge is Jangle and the neck FAT- I tend to leave the middle pick up set to split to balance the tone. Splitting the coils does reduce output to the amp in the terms of sound decibels but the tonal quality of the splitting options and adding to the vintage vibe more than makes up for this.
Conclusion
So many times I have wanted a guitar to be great but when I get it home or try it out in the shop it turns out to be a useless piece of crap. This Guitar is far from that it is great. Perfect for what I use guitars for. I tend to use it for all my recordings as it is so versatile. It probably is not great for extreme metal or shredding due to the vintage vibe. However indie (it manages all the Oasis back catalogue sound perfect), classic rock, blues and all out ROCK it is the guitar.
It looks cools and gets lots of comments. I have had offers for it at gigs and on the net. “I proper love it!!!!” as they say in Wigan even though it is a heavy LUMP!!
I have used this guitar regularly long term now and it is just great. I string it with Ernie Balls “Not Even Slinky” 12s for the authentic vintage vibe ( and keeps this Bigsby equipped gem nicely in tune). It played a dream- it has been gigged on a regular basis and treated roughly and it shows no signs at all of it.
THIS GUITAR IS A GEM!!!
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