Thanks guys!
Timbertoes - the Hellraiser is a
beautiful guitar and more than I wanted to pay!

Glad to be part of the Schecter army!!! More to this story...!
Ed - Haha you are not the only one who would have liked to have played it before I plunked down the $... I actually talked to the seller on the phone and asked a bunch of questions. I told him if there were any issues it would be back on his doorstep! He laughed and said, "I completely understand but I think you will like this one!" He has been a player for over 30 years and gave the right answers to my questions. This one popped up as a buy it now for half the going price. That was the only reason I was considering it as the normal pricing was more than I wanted to spend. Of course that also sent up the red flags... Turns out the sustainiac switch had been broken and he had a new one sent to him from Schecter. He soldered it in and insisted on full disclosure and sent pics. There is no way to tell that anything was done so I appreciated the honesty. Heck even the plexi access panels still have the protective film on them. He just said he wanted to move it fast so I jumped on it. Even came with a hardshell case.
Ed, I don't mind crappy guitars. If they play too smooth it's too easy to wiz around and lose what you are trying to say. I think that's why I was drawn to the strat. You have to work harder and it slows you down to make every note count. OK, here is everyone's chance to make fun of me yet again (SG).... Back in the 70's I went from a LP jr to an SG to an LP to a Strat. I would then go to the Sears catalog and buy Strat and LP copies that I would bang around at the end of the shows. Yup, Sears.... I would change out the cheap pups to make them playable and if something broke, I harvested parts and moved on. Made for a good show. I picked up a no name strat from, yes, Sears and it played better than my real Strat. I scalloped the fretboard per pics I had seen of Ritchie's strat (this was before Malmsteen was out of diapers) and that became my go to guitar for years. I also had a black LP copy (yup Sears) that I had a Dimarzio super distortion pup in that played great as well. Probably my best score was from a fuzzy catalog pic (yup Sears) of an offset headstock guitar for like $189. It was a fricken DEAN! There was a small crack in the routed out body where the neck bolted on (it was where it flared in and wasn't a structural defect) but I sent it back for an exchange. A few weeks later I got a refund saying they were out of stock! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I should have kept it!

When I told Jojo I got a new guitar, he said, "I thought Sears went out of business?" My good buddy......

I was never really a brand hound. If it played good, fit my hands, and didn't go out of tune after every song, I was good. I remember playing in a bar that was a converted grain mill where they would not turn on the heat in the winter until about an hour before the people came in. We literally set up and did our sound check in winter coats. You could see your breath and we were constantly retuning through the night as it got warmer. Or outside shows in the middle of summer with the heat and humidity. Not for the faint of heart cork sniffer guitars.... And if they went out of tune you just turn it up louder, that's how Jimi played Wild Thing at the Montery Pop!
Jim
