Disclaimer: When I see a sales trend, I take notice and try to understand the dynamics. Recently, I have noticed that we cannot maintain stock on the Schecter Diamond acoustic guitars. Upon further examination, I was pleasantly surprised and so impressed by what I found, I just had to write the following review. Of course, pizza and beer helped me keep my perspective during this period of intense writing…...
Allan Harrison
Hairball Music
Product:
Schecter Diamond Acoustic Elite
Diamond Acoustic Guitar Suggested Retail:
$499.00
Diamond Acoustic Hardcase Suggested Retail:
$89.00
Hairball Music Diamond Acoustic Guitar Retail:
$349.99
Hairball Music Diamond Acoustic Hardcase Retail:
$64.99
Schecter Diamond Acoustic Elite Basic Features-
- ”Sonically Tuned” oval shallow back.
- Neck/Fingerboard: Set maple neck with rosewood fingerboard.
- Bridge: Acoustic style rosewood.
- Tuning Heads: Gold color Grover tuning heads.
- Headstock: Abalone inlayed logo.
- Inlays: Abalone diamond.
- Neck: 20 extra jumbo frets with 14 frets clear of body.
- Scale: 25.5”.
- Binding: Abalone along face and sound hole. White binding along the body and neck.
- Electronics: Active Schecter piezo bridge pickup with 4-band EQ.
- Controls: Volume, treble, bass, mid, presence and battery check light.
- Other Features: Quilted maple brown sunburst top over solid spruce. Immaculate construction and attention to detail.
- Origin of Manufacture: Korea.
For the longest time, if you thought of a molded back guitar, Ovation always came to mind. Schecter is doing their best to change that thinking. The Schecter Diamond acoustic is one of those pleasant surprises that come along every so often without great fanfare.
The guitar is visually striking with a matched quilted maple top stained with a transparent brown sunburst that reveals beautiful wood grain. The inlayed abalone binding adds to the beauty of the guitar as it snakes around the cutaway body. The thin-line molded body creates durability without worry of belt buckle wear. The neck is surprisingly well set-up and is complemented with the gold colored Grover tuning heads. As received, the action was a bit high for my tastes and required some minor set-up on the bridge saddle. Once set to my tastes, then the fun began.
I was surprised by the projection of this guitar when played as a “stand alone” acoustic. Most molded back thin-line guitars do not project well and clip most of the rich bass tones. The Schecter Diamond acoustic projected extremely well and produced sound quality closer to a dreadnought bodied guitar than a molded thin-line. The neck was smooth and emanated clear distinct sound up to the 19th and 20th frets. The rosewood fingerboard was slightly rougher than I am used to but would wear smooth with normal play and string bending. The fretting was clean and well finished which complemented the playability. The next step was to amplify the guitar and put it through its paces. Using a Hughes and Kettner Montana acoustic amp, I plugged in and let her rip. The first thing I noticed was that you could actually overdrive the preamp by placing all EQ sliders at maximum. Backing all sliders to a mid level, the clear clean sound was as expected. Understanding the nuances of the electronics, I was able to tailor various clean sounds without distortion and accidental overdrive. After an hour of playing, I was convinced that we had hit the mother load of affordable molded back guitars. This guitar played as well as guitars selling for more than twice the price.
Schecter has recently expanded their product line of molded back guitars and now offer a transparent blue quilted maple Elite version in addition to their standard birds-eye maple version. I invite you to play one of these molded back guitars and marvel at the quality and sound for the price. You will be amazed.
And now for the Lighter Guy rating of the Schecter Diamond Acoustic Elite, 8.0 lighters out of a possible 10 lighters. For the money, this guitar is a great buy and a steal.
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