Exclusive lessons, interviews, presales and features from the GW archive
Curated Newsletters
Handpicked guitar news, lessons and gear highlights
Early Access
Our biggest stories will go to Backstage Pass holders first
Achievements
Unlock badges as you learn and explore
Join the Conversation
Connect with fellow GW fans across the globe
Tailored For You
Lessons, gear and stories picked for you
Sign up to Guitar World Backstage Pass
For the quickest way to join, enter your email below. We’ll send a confirmation email and sign you up to Guitar World newsletters with the latest news, gear reviews, lessons and exclusive offers.
Join Backstage Pass for quick access. Enter your email below and we'll send confirmation, and sign you up to our newsletter.
By submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or over,
have read our
Privacy Policy
and agree to the
Terms & Conditions. Geographical rules apply.
When Schecter announced a new signature guitar for Avenged Sevenfold’s Zacky Vengeance earlier this month, speculation that his sweep-loving bandmate Synyster Gates would get the same treatment went into overdrive.
Now it’s been confirmed that Gates has been given a fresh signature build, but it isn’t the headless model many thought it would be. Instead, Schecter and Gates are sticking to the tried-and-tested formula of the guitarist’s take on the Avenger model.
With the Gates signature serving as one of Schecter’s most popular guitars in recent years, it's understandable why it isn't straying too far from that path.
The latest version of that model – the Synyster Custom-S – comes in a Distressed Satin Black finish, with its mahogany body peering through peeling black paint in what appears to be a nod to the cover of A7X's latest album, Life Is But A Dream…
That mahogany body is paired with an ebony fretboard, which is adorned with 24 X-Jumbo stainless steel frets. The ultra-thin three-piece C-profile neck is dotted with Luminlay markers, while there's also a gilded twist on Gates' signature 'SYN' and Deathbat pearloid inlays.
(Image credit: Schecter Guitars)
As is to be expected for a guitarist who has oodles of divebombs in his playing arsenal, Gate's gnarly new-look also features a Floyd Rose 1500 locking bridge, which is paired with Grover tuners.
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
The bridge is armed with a Schecter USA Synyster Gates Signature humbucker, complete with his logo engraved into its black cover.
The inclusion of the Sustainiac means two mini-switches for operating its endless sustain sit alongside the usual control setup of one volume and tone knob apiece and a three-way pickup switch.
Schecter will be hoping that Gates will be more careful with his new toy than King has been with his, after the guitarist was involved in a guitar throw gaff just weeks after his signature Banshee hit the market.
As previously reported on these pages, Synyster Gates has recently been sporting a gold headless guitar on tour – an elusive instrument that has had fans clamoring for an official production release.
If the guitar is indeed a forthcoming Schecter signature, it will represent the American luthier’s first headless build. But with the release of the Custom-S, we’ll have to wait a little while longer to learn more about this mystery guitar, and to find out when A7X fans can expect to get their hands on one.
Fans seem pretty content with this model in the meantime, though, with one Instagram observer calling it “a work of art”.
The distressed signature guitar RRPs at $2,859, but is currently available on the Schecter website for $1,999.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
