Schecter Guitar Research - Diamond Series

Diamond Series

The Diamond Series was first introduced in 1998, and consists of all the non-custom, mass-produced Schecter models. The Diamond Series is further divided into groups of guitars, which share common design characteristics. Schecter has stated that it will not customize any Diamond Series guitar, thus any Diamond Series guitar is sold "as is".

Although there are a large variety of models available in the Diamond range, many are 'mixed and matched' parts from different Schecter guitars. For example, all "Omen", "C", "Hellraiser" and "Damien" basses have the same body shape, although some have set necks rather than bolt on necks, different finish colors, and different woods. However, Schecter produces many different guitars from a smaller number of core parts. This mix and match culture has the benefit of allowing guitarists to find a Schecter to fit their exact requirements, but negatively gives less of a 'core product' range as shown by Gibson Guitars who only have a small range of guitars available.

Some of the best known guitars made by Schecter are the 'C Series' in various configurations such as the "Hellraiser" and "Blackjack" models, and the 'S Series', which included the "S-1 Elite" (double cut) guitars, which held some visual similarity to Gibson's Les Paul Double Cut and double cut Melody Maker — and the "S-1" (a less fancy version of the S-1 Elite). The 'Elite' versions of Schecter's mass-produced instruments often include an arched top, abalone binding, a bound fretboard and a bound headstock with a headstock finish matched with that of the guitar body. Despite all the visually impressive dressing these instruments remained quite affordable and the quality standard did not suffer. Pickups on many of the mass-produced Schecter models are almost always 'Duncan Designed' humbuckers (double coil pickups based on Seymour Duncan's pickup specifications), usually with a 'push-pull' coil splitter control that allows the full humbucker pickup sound to be 'split' into the sharper tone characteristic of single coil pickups.

Schecter has also made an effort to appeal to more select market segments by occasionally producing a very limited run of its mass-produced guitar models equipped with novelty finishes. The 'Aviation Series', which appeared around 2006 and ran for about 1 year, took certain mass-produced model bodies (the PT, Tempest, S-1, etc.) and equipped them with WWII US (and British) aircraft color and marking patterns, and even special pickup covers that look like cooling louvers.

Schecter is also a leader in the seven-string guitar market. Schecters 'Diamond series' guitars have enjoyed a growing positive reputation through the use of quality components such as TonePros locking bridge products on non-tremolo models and Original Floyd Rose double locking tremolos on many of the six and seven string models. Many models also feature USA EMG or Seymour Duncan pick-ups and Grover tuners.