Schecter HELLRAISER C-VI Baritone 6-String Electric Guitar, Black Cherry

Purchased from the seller "Photo Savings".The 6-string, 30" scale baritone guitar arrived in an Amazon box with no packing materials inside of it that was twice as large as the actual package the guitar was in, which was loosely bouncing around the empty space. The smaller box that actually contained the guitar had small, thin foam pads that did not completely secure the guitar and allowed it to move around as the box shifted (which, the box was loosely taped close by a single strip of tape, and nearly had enough give to open and reveal the guitar without cutting it at all).Inside the box was the guitar in a thin foam bag, a "Strung with Ernie Ball Premium Strings" card on a string which I assume at one point was attached to the headstock, and the allen keys needed to service the guitar in a firm plastic bag that was taped securely to the inside.It arrived with 5 out of 6 strings, the missing one not even appearing to have been broken off -- was nowhere to be found. Two of the three knobs still have the tags attached to them in good condition, and the third knob that doesn't have a tag (don't think it was supposed to) has a residue of dust inside of the divot. Inside of the packaging was relatively dusty overall, and I realized too late that I shouldn't have brushed the body off before taking pictures (note that the picture of the headstock is how it was straight out of the box, not "nasty" but lots of particulates).The 5 strings that are on the guitar are wound to their tuning knobs by a single half-turn, and seem to not be holding their tune because of that (it could also be that they are new strings, but they also had a decent amount of dust near the top pickup, and near the bridge). The action is very, very low and tuning anywhere near the range of where the instrument is meant to be causes it to be unplayable.Bizarrely, the guitar doesn't show any actual significant wear besides very minor signs at edges which I expect are from shipping. I believe I was sold a guitar that is genuinely "new" for the most part, and that it was likely in storage for a long time, was a display unit, went through a pretty troubled shipping process, or any combination of the above.Being a display unit would make a lot of sense to me based on the following:1. Where the dust/residue accumulated2. The very loosely wound strings (ie: by an employee has to work through a lot of instruments)3. The active pickups have a battery already installed- Maybe this is typical, but the last two guitars with active pickups I've owned arrived new with their battery in some sort of "startup" packagingI will update my review when my amp arrives (had lent it away as I haven't had a guitar around, until now), and after I get new strings and attempt to fix the action/intonation. Hopefully the guitar is otherwise functional and just had a poor setup and shipping experience, because it really does look and feel great... it's just unplayable in the state that it arrived in, despite the Schecter Guitar Research "Set Up To Play" sticker on the back.

I have owned 7 string guitars and have even used 7 string sets on 6 string guitars before in the past. I can honestly say that baritone scale lengths make all the difference in terms of clarity,punch,depth, and overall articulation when it comes to low tunings.Even though the Schecter HELLRAISER C-VI Baritone is made for E-E one octave below standard tuning. It is really versatile and can be used for other baritone tunings as well. I found that the 30 inch scale length gave some extra tension and articulation for B-B standard baritone tuning. Even without being plugged into an amp the set of Ernie Ball 6 String Baritone strings (13-72) that I have on the Schecter HELLRAISER C-VI Baritone are really loud,clear, and almost "piano" like.The pickups are good sounding active pickups. The hardware is solid and the locking tuners work great. The finish looks better in person and in certain lighting can even look black at times. I would definitely recommend checking out a Schecter HELLRAISER C-VI Baritone if you are looking for something different for low baritone tunings.

Drop E standard. If You want something like a 6 string bass here it is . I love Schecter guitars ( I have 2 ) I think this oneWas possibly listed as a baritone by mistake.

What a lovely machine! Im still dialing in the string gauges and set up, but short vi's are a challenge because people either dont know how to set them up or aren't sure what you want specifically, given their unique versatility.I didn't realize that it came with coil splits for both humbuckers! Awesome versatility!