Schecter Custom Shop Nick Johnston Signature Demo/Review
Up until 2016, the Schecter USA Custom Shop flew largely under my radar. I had played and owned several import Schecters, all of which I enjoyed, but assumed their USA facilities were used purely for QC and creating extremely pricey one-off builds for signature artists and others willing to cough up a significant amount of cash. This changed when I saw Schecter unveil the original Nick Johnston signature in Atomic Silver. At the time, I was entertaining the idea of picking up another brand’s high end, SSS style guitar. After seeing the Atomic Green version released less than a year later, I made up my mind to go with the NJ instead, largely because I’m a massive fan of Nick’s music and tones. So then, how does this guitar stack up in an ocean of strat-style guitars?
Construction
Alder body
Wenge neck with Macassar ebony fretboard with brass ring inlays
Schecter locking tuners
Schecter tremolo bridge
Schecter Nick Johnston pickups
22 “German silver” (i.e. Jescar Nickel) frets
Black tusq nut
Headstock truss rod adjustment (newer iterations use a spoke wheel at the body end)
Aside from the neck and fingerboard, the spec is fairly faithful to the strats of yesteryear with a slight modern flair. The real thing to be commended here is the craftsmanship. I didn’t expect Schecter’s Custom shop to be a slouch by any means, but the level of perfection in this build is something I hadn’t seen often before, even in more expensive instruments. The finish is probably my favorite take on Seafoam/Surf Green and there's not a single mark or imperfection to be found.
In addition to the stellar finish, the body has two other non-traditional features I found interesting. Firstly, Schecter and Nick elected to have the Jack plate mounted on the side of the body as opposed to the traditional top-mounted jack-plate. Secondly, rather than the bridge posts being mounted directly into the wood, Schecter used threaded metal inserts like those seen on Hipshot’s tremolo bridges. As a result, individuals who like to liberally use the trem can rest easy without fear of stripping out the wood like with a traditional strat trem.
A final standout with this guitar’s construction is the absolutely immaculate fretwork and brass inlays. The frets were polished so well that, on arrival and on first play, I was convinced they were actually stainless steel rather than nickel. Additionally, Schecter went the extra mile with fret installation, not only rounding the fret ends perfectly, but also installing them without cutting all the way to the ends of the fingerboard. As a result, the fret ends are completely hidden, much like what you would see on a bound fretboard.
Feel
Given that Nick is quite the shredder, I assumed the neck profile would be a fairly thin, modern shape. This assumption proved incorrect. The neck feels modern in terms of the width and fretboard radius, but is much thicker than I anticipated. It’s by no means a baseball bat, but it is a noticeably bigger neck than those found on most modern production Fenders I’ve tried. The frets are also fairly tall and wide, something I’ve tended to shy away from in the past. Despite this, and my preference for smaller necks, I find this guitar very playable. The fantastic fretwork means the strings glide smooth during bends, the lovely finish on the back of the neck is insanely satiny smooth.The only personal gripe I have in regards to playability is a result of the neck thickness, my hands cramp up occasionally when playing a lot of bar chords; but again, that's not something I’d anticipate happening with most people.
In regards to the right hand/body feel, this is what you’d expect from a strat-style guitar for the most part. Soft edges and comfort cuts prevent anything from ever feeling like it's digging into you as you play and the tremolo is very smooth and stable. One improvement over a standard strat, for me at least, is the decision to delete one of the tone knobs and move the volume further from the bridge pickup. On a normal strat, I’d often bump the volume knob when strumming, but this layout eliminates that issue.
Sound
This guitar, for me, is how I’ve always wanted a strat to sound. Each of the 3 NJ Atomic pickups has a considerable amount of weight behind each note and chord played, while still having that trademark strat percussiveness and clarity. This is especially apparent on the bridge pickup which, on other strat style guitars, I usually find weak and lacking. Thanks to the added weight/output, this guitar’s bridge pickup can effectively handle rock tones without sounding harsh or brittle in the slightest, even without rolling down the tone. Positions 2 and 4 deliver the signature strat quack that works so well for funky-style licks and delicate, dynamic clean tones. Thanks to the middle pickup being RWRP, you also get the added benefit of these two positions being hum-cancelling. The neck pickup is wonderful for everything from solos to clean chords; blues to searing high gain leads.
Whatever you want to throw at it, these pickups will sound great, assuming you dial in your rig accordingly. If you’re more interested in just replicating Nick’s own incredible guitar tone, this guitar will certainly help you get there much faster, as all the qualities mentioned above are the very same aspects that you hear when listening to any of Nick's music. Just be mindful that these are true single coils, so you will get some 60s cycle hum that becomes more prominent with more gain/volume.
Conclusion
In sum, the Schecter Nick Johnston is a great example of a premium, strat-style guitar. Even though I’m generally not a strat guy and the neck is a little thick for my tastes, this guitar has something special that makes it hard for me to put down. The quality here is second-to-none, and the sounds on tap are some of my personal favorites from a guitar like this. As a result, this is most definitely a guitar that will stay in my collection for quite a long time.
