Schecter Banshee-6 FR Extreme Review

2016 was a really amazing year for Schecter. We got a ton of amazing models such as the KM-7 MK-II and the Banshee Elite 7, both of which made it onto our Top 5 Guitars of 2016 article! Now that it’s 2017, Schecter has brought us some more tasty models! Today, we’ll be reviewing a more affordable, “hot-rodded” version of the Banshee, the Banshee-6 FR Extreme.

Let’s check it out!

Features:

– Mahogany Body

– Quilted Maple Top

– Rosewood Fretboard

– 16″ Fretboard Radius

– 24 XJ Frets

– Ultra Thin “C” Neck

– Maple Bolt-On Neck

– Maple Binding

–  Black Chrome Hardware

– Schecter Tuners

– Floyd Rose Special ‘Hot Rod’ Locking Tremolo (Schecter Exclusive)

– Volume/Tone (Push-Pull)/5-Way Switch

– Schecter Diamond Plus Pickups, H/S/S Configuration

Being that this guitar is somewhat of a “Hot-Rodded” Banshee, it is based on the same shape, but features a thinner neck.

The thin neck and super flat fretboard radius make for effortless shredding. The fretboard itself is just a tiny bit rounder than a good ol’ Ibanez Wizard, so if you like those you’d be quite happy with this one!

Aesthetically, this guitar has some really neat appointments and a bunch of cool finish options (I’ll put some pictures later). The addition of the quilted top and pickguard brings a real ’80s feel’ to the guitar.

Of course, no Hot-Rodded guitar could be incomplete without a floating tremolo. The Floyd Rose Hot Rod Tremolo is a great addition to this guitar. It’s comfortable, flexible, and holds tuning quite well! It doesn’t feel as solid as the Original Floyd, but it didn’t feel cheap or anything.

If you are a bit intimidated by setting up tremolos, I’d recommend checking out our Floyd Equipped Guitar Setup Guide.

Tone:

The Banshee 6 FR Extreme features a Mahogany body and Maple Top. The Mahogany has been routed to fit the Floyd Rose and as such has a thinner sound than Mahogany usually provides. While it’s thin, it’s definitely clear and punchy, partially thanks to the Bolt-On neck construction.

This guitar was made to scream, though, so the real test is to plug it into an amp and crank up the gain.

The Schecter Diamond Plus pickups are unfortunately the weakest part of this guitar. They are quite clear have a good pick attack, but are a bit thin. Tonally, they are high output and really heavy in the bass area. They fair decently for rock/metal applications, but it’s not really something I’d use for mid-gain or extreme metal styles.

I would say that for such an affordable guitar with stock pickups, they don’t sound so bad, but throwing in a Seymour Duncan JB or similar in the bridge could turn this into a really sweet sounding guitar.

Quality:

The quality of this guitar really amazed me, actually. It’s a >$600 Indonesian guitar and had a really good feeling neck. It was smooth and the fretboard felt quite comfortable to solo on.

The guitar is an absolute blast to play. The fretwork was smooth along the edges, but had a few dinged frets. Not a big deal on a guitar in this pricerange, and is surpassed by how smooth the edges were!

Like I said earlier in the review, the guitar has some really nice finish work and an impressive feel to it. I was happy with the quality here.

Final Verdict:

Overall, the Schecter Banshee-6 FR Extreme brings a lot of good and only a little of bad.

Excellent finish options, really comfortable necks, and some cool features, but the pickups definitely lacked in the thickness department.

I’d say that this guitar is a great option for a guitarist on a budget looking for a very attractive hot-rod style instrument, or even someone with enough cash on hand to buy one and upgrade the bridge pickup for a live workhorse!

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This article was written by Zac Buras, our editor located in Louisiana.