Schecter Solo II Custom Black Burst

First, the good. This is clearly a great sounding, great playing, and great looking guitar. The worksmanship on the body and the neck is amazing, and the guitar is loaded with features (nice binding, locking tuners, coil split, etc), all of which contribute to great playability and sound. The fade and the flame maple underneath looks amazing, and even the unstained back and sides look great. The tone is everything you expect from a heavy single-cut model - deep and full, yet pleasantly bright - particularly when using the coil split (which more humbucker equipped guitars should have, and for me was a major deciding factor in my purchase).

As for the bad? In a word, finishing. My guitar came with a number of flaws - all to some extent fixable at home - but nevertheless flaws that I would not expect on a high quality guitar. Most of these were minor - loose screws, nut slots cut too high, switch plate holes drilled poorly, but some were not. The biggest issue was intermittent cut-out of the bridge pickup selector switch. This was fixable - for me - but were I a first time guitar buyer or otherwise not inclined to do my own troubleshooting it would've been a huge pain.

Would I buy this guitar again? In a heartbeat, yes - but I'd be happier doing so were these minor quality control issues fixed. In short, Schecter makes a five star guitar (seriously, the quality of the parts that count is top-notch) but hides it beneath some lacklustre finishing.