Sound the alarm. Red Dawn is go. No, we’re not talking about a Cold War invasion. Red Dawn is the name of a new series of high-performance electric guitars from Schecter, presenting five variations on the theme – shreddable hard-tail S-styles with black gloss finishes, red trim, and a lot of spec for the money.
These Red Dawn models (or is it Sunset Red Dawn? Schecter uses both designations) really are stacked when it comes to features, and are bang on the money as far as contemporary metal guitars go – extra-jumbo stainless steel frets, a pair of Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers as standard, Luminlay side dot markers, locking tuners – and you have options.
If you’re operating on the frontier of downtuned chug, or simply are a stickler for on-point tuning at all times, there are EverTune options available for a six-string, six-string 27" scale baritone and seven-string guitars.
Or, say you’re allergic to tuning (albeit once in a blue moon) via a hex key and prefer a TOM-style bridge, Schecter has you covered, too, with six and seven-string versions. No, there's no Floyd Rose-equipped model, not yet at least. But the Floyd is not the be all and end all. Schecter describes these as being for the riffers.
“With its brutal looks, razor-sharp tone, and unbeatable playability, this guitar is the weapon of choice for serious players who want to push the limits of creativity,” says the Californian brand.
Options aside, these all share the family resemblance. Bodies are basswood. Necks are three-piece maple and carved into an “Ultra Thin” C profile. How thin? Well, 19mm deep at the 1st fret, 20mm at the 12th. That thin.
The necks are glued-in, joining the body with a Deep Insert Joint, a double-cut design that opens up all the fretboard, and that fretboard is ebony, has a 16” radius, and has these cool offset reverse red circle inlays.
We would pick one of these up intending on playing some blues guitar. Those pickups are high-output beasts. But there is some range here. The multi-voice electronics means there are more tones than you might expect from a guitar with a single master volume control. There is a five-way switch, push/pull on the volume control, offering a full complement of alternate tones to work with.
Function is always a priority on a go-faster electric like this, and so we have the spoke-wheel for truss rod adjustments at the top of the fretboard. Other things we like with this Indonesian-made series include the Graph Tech XL nut, that sculpted neck heel, and we have to admit that the red single-ply binding, the red switch tip and red inset on the control knob looks nice against gloss black.
The name of this series might be referencing John Milius’ underwhelming Patrick Swayze vehicle from 1984 but now we have had time to think on it that black and red finish feels more ‘80s sci-fi, more Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Anway, Schecter’s Red Dawn is upon us and it is priced from $1,199 to $1,599. You pay more for the EverTune equipped models. Check ‘em out at Schecter.
