We don’t normally cover guitars as news items, we prefer to review them wherever possible. However, this one is not only one we can’t review (it’s a Guitar Center/Musician’s Friend exclusive, sadly) but it’s also marking a major departure from what we’re used to seeing from Schecter, and may indulge in a bit of light speculation.

Schecter has announced the CR-6 6-string electric guitar and we are extremely surprised with exactly what that is.


Straight away you will notice the look of the instrument – reverse headstock, incredible burl top, and a stunning finish – this is completely unheard of from Schecter at this price point.

Those of you who are keen followers will note that these kinds of finishes and tops have been seen on Schecter guitars before, but rarely outside of the USA Custom Shop.

The guitar itself comes out to just above $700 USD, which is an absolute steal of a price considering the specs.

We have USA made Apocalypse II humbuckers, a Graphtech TUSQ nut, Schecter Diamond Hardtail bridge, all in a very streamlined and sturdy package.

We don’t want to overreact here, but this is a whole new side of Schecter that we’ve never seen in this price range. We’re sensing a major shift at the company, and can’t help but wonder if more budget offerings will see this same sort of treatment.

Schecter’s 2019 lineup was unveiled this past October, and with NAMM right around the corner, we are extremely excited to hear more about these models from a hands-on point of view.


If you missed that announcement, you can expect a myriad of new finishes, finish types, multiscale instruments, and way more. Schecter seems to be hitting it out of the park right now, and it seems we’ve found the direction they’ll be heading.

Schecter has always offered very sturdy workhorse instruments for as long as we can remember. While they do have a variety of offerings, they seem to focus on stripped-down, single-color, shreddy instruments. However, that sounds an awful lot like a few other companies we can name as well.

2018 showed us far more variation in finish types, but not a whole lot more in the realm of actual features and unique new models. 2019’s reveal and the rollout of the CR-6’s are now painting a very different future for us, one where attention is now being brought to looks and variety, to features being demanded by their customers, and ultimately a wider spectrum of possibilities.

They’re taking inspiration from other companies and one-upping them. The center guitar in the above photo is essentially something we’ve already seen from Ibanez, but with a nicer top and better features. The one on the right is very familiar to many as an Agile-esque 7-string, but being manufactured by Schecter means far better quality overall, and the quality of the top already hints at that. Did we mention Fishman pickups? The hype around those pickups is quite recent, but Schecter’s already on top of it.

We’re going to go ahead and call it right now: if the rollout of the new 2019 models shows they’ve maintained the same level of quality as previous models, we can safely say 2019 will be an incredibly big year for the company. We’ve got our fingers crossed.

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